[Hanoi5]

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Total imp's. West led the ♣K and continued with the ♣A. Then she played ♦A and another which went to the 9, 10 and a small heart from me

Spoiler

If you play the Jack East also covers with the Queen, or if you play the King and ruff a diamond East shows up with QTx in diamonds

. I was thinking of finessing the hearts but from the lead and continuation I supposed West held the Heart Queen, so I played the ♥K and a small ♥ towards the table glad to see the ♥Q with West on the second round and hearts breaking 2-2. Time to tackle spades so I'll give you the wheel...

[gnasher]

What cards did East play on the first two tricks, and what did they mean?

[billw55]

gnasher, on 2013-October-10, 06:38, said:

What cards did East play on the first two three tricks, and what did they mean?

Fixed.

[TWO4BRIDGE]

kgr, on 2013-October-06, 06:42, said:

The responsive one for me.
(I hope partner will DBL again when I have a penalty pass).

I think West is 2 2 5 4 because if 5-5 in the minors,West might have bid Un2NT .

So, with 2 cards ♠, they have to be either x x or Q J tight .
Your guess is as good as mine whether to play A K off the top or finesse East twice ( you still have 2 entries in ♥ ) .

[Zelandakh]

TWO4BRIDGE, on 2013-October-10, 09:01, said:

I think West is 2 2 5 4 because if 5-5 in the minors,West might have bid Un2NT .

I think West has 6 diamonds and was hoping it was partner that had the singleton diamond. The ♦J might have been a better idea than the 9 to see which opponent holds the queen. But as others have said we need more information about carding. For some, leading the king followed by the ace shows a doubleton, which would make West 3262 (and give East ♣JT97632). Presumably we would have been told this. We also were not told with which heart we ruffed trick 2. I assume the 5 or 6 because in that case we can afford to lose an entry to get more information in the diamond suit by ruffing to the ♥J. We still have ♥T and ♥4 as entries for the spade finesses.

To be honest, I am missing the vital clue on the hand to drop one or both stiff honours offside. Presumably that is the point or the hand would not be here. But perhaps the answer will leap out once we have the answers to the carding questions...

[Hanoi5]

If you read the spoiler on the op you'll get the diamond position. Which should shed some light on the club position (Besides the clue from the lack of unusual 2NT from West).

[rhm]

Easy.
Win the second diamond with the king and ruff a diamond.
West seems to have at most 9 cards in the minors.
I need West to be short in spades, therefor long in hearts.
♥K. If no queen heart finesse to the ten, double finesse in spades.
This may not win, but looks like the best chance.

Rainer Herrmann

[rhm]

double post

[Zelandakh]

Bah, spoilers! Sometimes it is more fun to think about a hand first. Now I can see where the 2254 comes from though. And that is a shocker of a diamond suit too. So the question to ask is whether this opponent would overcall with xx/Qx/Axxxx/AKxx. That said, we also need to know their UNT style, no? I know many players for whom Q/Qx/Axxxx/AKxxx would be a 2♦ overcall and not 2NT. Assuming that that is not possible though, I am guessing this is what the OP is getting at - does the marginal hand with poor suit push the odds over the edge to make dropping better than the normal finesse. Against myself it probably would be; against a typical club player probably not.

[rhm]

Zelandakh, on 2013-October-10, 11:47, said:

Bah, spoilers! Sometimes it is more fun to think about a hand first. Now I can see where the 2254 comes from though. And that is a shocker of a diamond suit too. So the question to ask is whether this opponent would overcall with xx/Qx/Axxxx/AKxx. That said, we also need to know their UNT style, no? I know many players for whom Q/Qx/Axxxx/AKxxx would be a 2♦ overcall and not 2NT. Assuming that that is not possible though, I am guessing this is what the OP is getting at - does the marginal hand with poor suit push the odds over the edge to make dropping better than the normal finesse. Against myself it probably would be; against a typical club player probably not.

Playing for a singleton honor with West or QJ doubleton with West is clearly less likely than playing East for both spade honors.
Of the 1-4 spade breaks 40% of the time West will have a spade honor and East 60% of the time both spade honors.
Of the 2-3 spade breaks there is only one combination for West (QJ) but there are 3 combinations where East has both spade honors.
Overall chances for dropping are 9% versus 25% for the double finesse
The overcall over 1♠ is clearly more attractive with the ♥Q than with the ♠Q or ♠J.
In fact for offensive purposes possession of low spade honors is worse and therefor less attractive for an overcall than holding small cards in spades.

Rainer Herrmann

[TWO4BRIDGE]

Zelandakh, on 2013-October-10, 10:07, said:

I think West has 6 diamonds ....

West has 5 cards ♦.
I got ♦ count from the spoiler ...
East has 3 cards ♦ ... Q T x .

[nige1]

Deleted

[gnasher]

billw55, on 2013-October-10, 07:31, said:

Fixed.

It's a good idea to watch all of the opponents' cards, but I don't see what you hope to learn from looking at West's card at trick three. After winning the second diamond and ruffing one, we'll know the layout of the suit. Are you hoping that he'll use the order in which he plays his diamonds to tell us his major-suit holdings?

[billw55]

gnasher, on 2013-October-11, 02:02, said:

It's a good idea to watch all of the opponents' cards, but I don't see what you hope to learn from looking at West's card at trick three. After winning the second diamond and ruffing one, we'll know the layout of the suit. Are you hoping that he'll use the order in which he plays his diamonds to tell us his major-suit holdings?

Mostly was just being pedantic.

[ahydra]

I'm gonna take the double finesse. A8xxx is a horrible suit to overcall with, so I reckon West is 5-5 in the minors.

ahydra