rhm, on 2013-November-25, 04:29, said:
There are two ♦3
Assuming one of them was the ♦2, West heart switch is strange.
Maybe he had no club exit card left.
He did not switch to trumps, so probably has the ♠Q or possibly a singleton trump.
He did not switch to a low diamond, fearing declarer has the queen.
I back my judgment and play West for six diamonds and two clubs. Now I play ace of hearts and if the heart king does not drop I ruff a heart.
I presume West is not good enough to drop the heart king prematurely, in which case I will know how many trumps he has.
If he does I will congratulate him to his fine defense.
Rainer Herrmann
I drew the same inferences about the minors as did you: however, I think he would have switched to a trump with the stiff Q.....it would take great visualization to see that that was less dangerous than a heart away from the K.
Meanwhile, the main reason I rejected the attempt to ruff the hearts was that he twitched over 1
♠. I think he has an oddball hand, and I wouldn't play him for Qx Kxx AK8xxx Ax.
Say that LHO counts out to be 1=4=6=2, how are you continuing? I assume you ruff a diamond high and take the first round trump hook.
If LHO counts out as 0=5=6=2, you again ruff high, take two hooks in spades, and end up in the trump coup position.
If LHO counts out, either accurately or by way of a fine play of the heart K on the third round, as 2=3=6=2, I assume you simply play spades from the top, playing for 2-2, and thus being able to eventually ruff your last diamond low.
Thus your line seems better than mine in that you gain on Qx Kxx AK8xxx Ax, and lose only to a great defence from x Kxxx AK8xxx Ax.
Depending on the opp, I'd say that almost all the time it is more likely that LHO chose 1
♦ on the 2=3=6=2 than that he played the heart K prematurely.
Does that make sense to you, or have I missed something?
'one of the great markers of the advance of human kindness is the howls you will hear from the Men of God' Johann Hari
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