[Fluffy]

I had an interesting defence problem today on BBO, I reproduced it here:
http://www.bridgegod.com/playprob.php?probid=206&artid=99

EDIT: Added an article to explain the hand.

[Lord Molyb]

Spoiler

I don't get it. Declarer always has 1 spade, 2 hearts, 5 diamonds, and a club no matter what I lead or what I falsecard.

[Fluffy]

Lord Molyb, on 2014-February-24, 14:32, said:

Spoiler

I don't get it. Declarer always has 1 spade, 2 hearts, 5 diamonds, and a club no matter what I lead or what I falsecard.

Spoiler

this is the end position with 6 top tricks for declarer outside

---

If declarer is in north he can try both finesses, but if he is in south he can only try one of them. That's your task, make sure declarer can try only 1 finesse, and given that you hold 5 cards in the majors instead of the 9 partner has, he will fail to guess which

[Lord Molyb]

never mind I got it

[Fluffy]

The thing to note about this hand is that you can totally take your time before covering a trick like this. Declarer knows the position totally, and you have a legit reason to think whatever you decide in the end and whatever the rest of your cards, so you are not giving away any info at all.

[Cyberyeti]

Fluffy, on 2014-February-24, 16:47, said:

The thing to note about this hand is that you can totally take your time before covering a trick like this. Declarer knows the position totally, and you have a legit reason to think whatever you decide in the end and whatever the rest of your cards, so you are not giving away any info at all.

OK, I completely missed the point of the hand, given that I forced him to take the winning finesse at trick 1.

[Fluffy]

if you led a heart you had the same problem with reversed solution, if you cover ♦10 he has an extra tempo to play spades from dummy, maybe he should play a spade to the queen since it gives more chances of extra trick (♠Jx behind), but giving free options is not something good and here declarer plays low spade to the 10 if you cover, so not coverting at least saves the overtrick.

[Fluffy]

On a side note, I could also forbid the heart lead, but when I did it on the past some people complained about not being able to do what they wanted, what do you think its better?

[Cyberyeti]

Fluffy, on 2014-February-25, 07:04, said:

if you led a heart you had the same problem with reversed solution, if you cover ♦10 he has an extra tempo to play spades from dummy, maybe he should play a spade to the queen since it gives more chances of extra trick (♠Jx behind), but giving free options is not something good and here declarer plays low spade to the 10 if you cover, so not coverting at least saves the overtrick.

I don't see anywhere whether this is pairs or teams, and declarer claimed so I didn't really see what he did, just trusted the claim.

[HighLow21]

Irrespective of the results on this hand, in this spot I rate a heart lead as twice as likely to beat the contract as a club.