[han]

West opens 1D, North doubles (?), South bids 3NT.

---

Your partner is new to bridge, so over her take-out double, you decided to bid 3NT right away. It turns out that her double was a little bit unusual.

How do you try to make your contract after the lead of the diamond king?

[pclayton]

Hannie - I think there is more to this hand that meets the eye. I will withhold comment for now.

[hrothgar]

You have 24 HCP. 16 are missing....
LHO is makred with the KQ of Diamonds and rates to have both Aces...

The key to the hand is to continually end play West.

Win the first Diamond in hand and lead a Heart to the Queen...
If LHO wins the Ace, then your home free.

If LHO ducks, win the Queen of Hearts, cross with a Club and then lead a Spade to the Queen...

[jtfanclub]

Hannie, on Nov 8 2004, 02:32 PM, said:

How do you try to make your contract after the lead of the diamond king?

I'll hide it for now...

Spoiler

Take the first diamond, spade to queen, if it holds, club back, heart to queen, if it holds, the remaining clubs and the J of diamonds. Whatever West leads gives me my 9th trick.

I'm counting on West having both aces to go with the KQ of diamonds...of course, if he doesn't he only has 10 hcp. I'm also counting on him having either the ten of diamonds or five of them. Those don't *seem* like bad odds.

Did I miss something?

[han]

jtfanclub, on Nov 8 2004, 03:15 PM, said:

Did I miss something?

Yes, there is a problem. When west wins and plays Q10 of diamonds you have to discard from hand.

So you'd better watch west's discards very closely to guess which ace west has blanked (if that is a word).

[inquiry]

Win diamond ACE.

Low heart to the Queen (better than low to the spade QUEEN, there is just enough for a distributional WEST to open with 12 hcp if missing one ace.. if it is the heart ACE, you have better chance of blocking the heart suit than the spade suit due to the extra card).

If the queen wins, Cash the club ACE, King, and if necessary one more club, then exit with the diamond jack to END PLAY WEST.

[jtfanclub]

inquiry, on Nov 10 2004, 09:10 AM, said:

Win diamond ACE.

Low heart to the Queen (better than low to the spade QUEEN, there is just enough for a distributional WEST to open with 12 hcp if missing one ace.. if it is the heart ACE, you have better chance of blocking the heart suit than the spade suit due to the extra card).

If the queen wins, Cash the club ACE, King, and if necessary one more club, then exit with the diamond jack to END PLAY WEST.

Doesn't work.

You play the diamond Jack, West wins, and plays the Ace and another heart.

You'll take 2 hearts, 1 diamond, and 5 clubs. Unfortunately, when you try to take the 9th trick by either leading spades or diamonds, West wins and takes the 13th heart for 1 down.

[luke warm]

Hannie, on Nov 8 2004, 09:32 PM, said:

West opens 1D, North doubles (?), South bids 3NT.

---

first of all, i might not make this at the table... it ties in with the other thread on thinking long at the table... anyway, i think ben is right except i would run the clubs before exiting with the ♦J

jtfanclub said:

You'll take 2 hearts, 1 diamond, and 5 clubs. Unfortunately, when you try to take the 9th trick by either leading spades or diamonds, West wins and takes the 13th heart for 1 down.

what is west throwing on those clubs?

[jtfanclub]

luke warm, on Nov 10 2004, 08:05 PM, said:

jtfanclub said:

You'll take 2 hearts, 1 diamond, and 5 clubs. Unfortunately, when you try to take the 9th trick by either leading spades or diamonds, West wins and takes the 13th heart for 1 down.

what is west throwing on those clubs?

Spades, of course. He needs to keep three cards: QD, AS, and the 13th heart.

You, on the other hand, end up having no way to get rid of the Kxx of spades or the J diamonds. So after you run the clubs, you're stuck giving him either three of the last four tricks, or all four (if he keeps the QT of diamonds). Since he's already taken one heart, this isn't good.

[luke warm]

don't understand... after i run the clubs i just lead the ♦J

[Flame]

jtfanclub, on Nov 10 2004, 04:06 PM, said:

inquiry, on Nov 10 2004, 09:10 AM, said:

Win diamond ACE. 

Low heart to the Queen (better than low to the spade QUEEN, there is just enough for a distributional WEST to open with 12 hcp if missing one ace.. if it is the heart ACE, you have better chance of blocking the heart suit than the spade suit due to the extra card).

If the queen wins, Cash the club ACE, King, and if necessary one more club, then exit with the diamond jack to END PLAY WEST.

Doesn't work.

You play the diamond Jack, West wins, and plays the Ace and another heart.

You'll take 2 hearts, 1 diamond, and 5 clubs. Unfortunately, when you try to take the 9th trick by either leading spades or diamonds, West wins and takes the 13th heart for 1 down.

I think Ben forgot to write his thoughts, you need to do the same trick with the spade as you did with the heart before you play J♦. So take A♦, then heart to the Q, club back, spade to the Q, and only now its time for the endplay.