[Phil352]

Dealer S Green vs Red

---

You arrive in 3♠ after the auction
1S (x) 2S (P)
3S AP

Play:
♦ 4 5 Q 2
♦ 7 A 9 6
♥ 7 A 2 3
♠ 5 6 A 4
♣ 9 2 A! 4
♦ J (♠7) 8 3

So I'm in dummy with

3
K98
-
Kx


KQ108
-
10
Qx

Now I suspected trumps were 1-4 from auction and fact that E hadn't continued them after winning ace/west didn't play another when they won the A♣.

Do you bite the bullet and play a spade to the 10 straight away or do you play for the trump coup with RHO having 4333? or is there another line?

[SteveMoe]

The play in the ♣ suit is peculiar. Any AJ10 in LHO garner's a duck, not an Ace to the 1st trick. Have to assume LHO holds something like A10x (or A10 or AJ). Doubletons don't really fit a first action takeout double so I presume RHO led from J9x and LHO holds A10x. A10xx is NOT possible as RHO would not lead 9 from J9. So if the cards are true, ♣s are 3-3.

♥s appear to be 4=5=3=1 around the table (LHO to declarer).
♦s survived 3 rounds.

I think I'm playing the ♥K pitching my ♦10. Ruff a ♥ then ♣Q and ♣ to dummy's K. Assuming all that lives, I lead a ♥ for the ruff with the ♠10.

[Phil352]

I played the same line Steve except you can afford to cash the K♠ after ruffing the first heart to check that trumps are 4-1. However as the title of the thread may suggest LHO had AJ10xx and RHO 9x so I went off whereas if I'd just played a spade to the 10 I'd have been home.

I think I took too much inference from the opening lead. LHO had led a low diamond so i immediately had assigned her 4 diamonds. However after she turns up with both aces I should have stopped and allowed for only 3 diamonds. Coupled with the lack of spade continuations from the defence I'm convinced I would have been better off allowing for poor defence in clubs (this was just a regular club night), and playing a spade to the 10 straight away. Even if spades are 2-3 i'm 66% (possibly more as would they shift to a spade from Jx?)

[kgr]

Phil352, on 2012-June-23, 07:48, said:

I think I took too much inference from the opening lead. LHO had led a low diamond so i immediately had assigned her 4 diamonds.

RHO played ♦Q, returned ♦7 and played ♦8 under his partners ♦J.
With ♦Q87 he would have played Q,8,7 - so it looks that he has KQ87

LHO did lead ♦4, then played ♦9 and returned ♦J.
You should ask how they lead (3th, 4th, ?), but it looks like he has ♦J94.
With KJ94 he would have played 49KJ: returning the ♦K from KJ (the Q already played).

I would play for distributions 1435-4342 or 2434-3343.
Given that opps are weak I would not draw too much conclusions from the play and play LHO for 2434.
♥K, ♥ruff, ♣K, ♥ruff...you never know that RHO ruffs this ♥