[luckyloser]

♠KD87
♥T63
♦T65
♣D85

pairs. opps are vul (not very strong). you lead high from even, show count and lavinthal. odd is encouraging.
p passes, rho opens 1♦. lho bids 1♠. rho bids 2♣ and lho now bids 2♥ (natural, not strong). rho bids 2NT which is passed out.
you lead 8♠ dummy goes down with

♠AT54
♥DB82
♦8
♣BT32

dumms plays low an p the 6 (count). you hold the lead and continue with the 7♠. dummy inserts the T and p wins with the J, decl discards a ♦.
P returns the 9♠, won by the A in dummy (decl again discards a ♦. dummy now leads the ♣J passed to you (p playing the 6). What now? Be specific!

[manudude03]

Can you please use the English AKQJ notation for displaying hands. Anyway, I guess I cash the spade and watch declarer's discard and probably returning the suit he throws.

[Cyberyeti]

manudude03, on 2014-July-25, 03:38, said:

Can you please use the English AKQJ notation for displaying hands. Anyway, I guess I cash the spade and watch declarer's discard and probably returning the suit he throws.

Actually using the hand editor is best.

[Zelandakh]

Was ♠9 neutral or did it show a heart card? (or something else). If neutral, what would the small spade have meant instead?

[luckyloser]

Zelandakh, on 2014-July-25, 09:48, said:

Was ♠9 neutral or did it show a heart card? (or something else). If neutral, what would the small spade have meant instead?

a high spade shows interest in ♥. yes

[Zelandakh]

luckyloser, on 2014-July-25, 10:57, said:

a high spade shows interest in ♥. yes

I guess you are looking for us to play partner for ♥AK9x then.

[rhm]

Zelandakh, on 2014-July-28, 02:14, said:

I guess you are looking for us to play partner for ♥AK9x then.

AKxx and even AKx (less likely) is probably sufficient for -200, if you do not switch to the ♥T.

Rainer Herrmann

[gszes]

too easy for p to lay down the heart K to make sure we know how to set this
contract so the only practical reason for p to signal for a heart is if they
held something like (AKT not this hand) or AK9 and needed us to have 2 entries
to set up a extra heart trick.

Heart T before cashing the spade so we can take advantage of p signal and
the T will make sure they know how to defend if the heart was correct:)

[rhm]

gszes, on 2014-July-29, 16:19, said:

too easy for p to lay down the heart K to make sure we know how to set this
contract so the only practical reason for p to signal for a heart is if they
held something like (AKT not this hand) or AK9 and needed us to have 2 entries
to set up a extra heart trick.

Heart T before cashing the spade so we can take advantage of p signal and
the T will make sure they know how to defend if the heart was correct:)

This is pairs.
Every trick counts, whether the contract makes or not is irrelevant.

Declarer's diamond discard marks partner with a top card in diamonds
Assume the layout is something like this

---

It would never occur to me to lay down the heart king when the queen and jack are visible in dummy.
Also the ♠9 return is a clear signal that South prefers hearts
If North switches to a low heart and again when in with the fourth spade, most declarers will insert both of dummy's heart honors and give the defense 3 tricks in hearts for minus 200.
Even if declarer guesses right the play costs nothing.

Rainer Herrmann

[gszes]

rhm, on 2014-July-30, 06:12, said:

This is pairs.
Every trick counts, whether the contract makes or not is irrelevant.

Declarer's diamond discard marks partner with a top card in diamonds
Assume the layout is something like this

---

It would never occur to me to lay down the heart king when the queen and jack are visible in dummy.
Also the ♠9 return is a clear signal that South prefers hearts
If North switches to a low heart and again when in with the fourth spade, most declarers will insert both of dummy's heart honors and give the defense 3 tricks in hearts for minus 200.
Even if declarer guesses right the play costs nothing.

Rainer Herrmann

[gszes]

rhm, on 2014-July-30, 06:12, said:

This is pairs.
Every trick counts, whether the contract makes or not is irrelevant.

Declarer's diamond discard marks partner with a top card in diamonds
Assume the layout is something like this

---

It would never occur to me to lay down the heart king when the queen and jack are visible in dummy.
Also the ♠9 return is a clear signal that South prefers hearts
If North switches to a low heart and again when in with the fourth spade, most declarers will insert both of dummy's heart honors and give the defense 3 tricks in hearts for minus 200.
Even if declarer guesses right the play costs nothing.

Rainer Herrmann

Using your example hand it would seem to be a poor idea to show heart preference when your partner has
an obviously limited number of entries. Showing a dia preference would go a long way toward getting that
vitally needed extra trick (if there is one to be had) and saving your heart preference for a holding where
a heart play from partner (vs a dia) might yield that vital extra trick. Even a holding of AK9 of hearts can
be an effective attempt to gain a trick if diamonds look terrible.

Partner showing a heart preference here with some holding like AKx(x) makes little sense since declarer has been
tossing diamonds in order to retain hearts a holding of KJx(x) in diamonds needs only Txx from p to gain an
extra trick and timing is important if opener has Txx of hearts (declarer is keeping hearts for some reason).

There is also little to no reason to assmume declarer (if they hold xxx hearts) does not intend to play toward the
QJ twice themselves so a heart switch here either gains nothing or loses a vital tempo if we need to set up a
diamond trick.

[rhm]

gszes, on 2014-July-30, 07:09, said:

Using your example hand it would seem to be a poor idea to show heart preference when your partner has
an obviously limited number of entries. Showing a dia preference would go a long way toward getting that
vitally needed extra trick (if there is one to be had) and saving your heart preference for a holding where
a heart play from partner (vs a dia) might yield that vital extra trick. Even a holding of AK9 of hearts can
be an effective attempt to gain a trick if diamonds look terrible.

Partner showing a heart preference here with some holding like AKx(x) makes little sense since declarer has been
tossing diamonds in order to retain hearts a holding of KJx(x) in diamonds needs only Txx from p to gain an
extra trick and timing is important if opener has Txx of hearts (declarer is keeping hearts for some reason).

There is also little to no reason to assmume declarer (if they hold xxx hearts) does not intend to play toward the
QJ twice themselves so a heart switch here either gains nothing or loses a vital tempo if we need to set up a
diamond trick.

Of course because South "knows" that North has the ♦ten?
This was just an example hand and West can just as well have only 2 hearts and 5 clubs.

Your arguments are double dummy
First you claim South should play the heart king and on your next post you argue South should signal a diamond switch.

I suggest you make up your mind before posting!

Rainer Herrmann

[gszes]

Your arguments are double dummy
First you claim South should play the heart king and on your next post you argue South should signal a diamond switch.

I suggest you make up your mind before posting!

Rainer Herrmann

Sorry I cut out some of the quote I reread my first post and it was based on the concept that partner
would only signal heart preference with something like AKT(xx) or AK9(xx) where they needed an
immediate heart switch since we would then have only 1 more entry to lead hearts again. The hand in
question I would signal diamond preference as a no pain way of finding out if our side needs to continue
diamonds or not. When p returns a low dia from Txx we can then safely continue to knock out declarers
other dia honor before they can set up a heart (there is no reason to assume the heart T is in p hand).

If we do not like partners choice of dia card return it is not too late to discourage further dia plays
and fall back on making declarer guess in hearts (hoping p has the T). Sorry I left out the fact that I
would give a dia preference vs hearts that may have led to some confusion:)