[mikeh]

I was given this hand by a friend, who played it against very strong opposition. 4D promised a void and 4 spades. South led the club King, seeking count. North showed an even number. South switched to a low spade, won by north’s Ace. North returned the H 3. Plan the play.

---

[nullve]

Spoiler

If South has

Qxxx
KJT974
---
AKx,

then he will become the victim of a progressive squeeze.

Edit: But I suspect I wouldn't have been careful enough at the table. (I missed an important detail.)

[mikeh]

nullve, on 2021-February-10, 02:20, said:

Spoiler

If South has

Qxxx
KJT974
---
AKx,

then he will become the victim of a progressive squeeze.

You’re on the right track, but if that were all there was to the hand, I’d like it (such hands are rare) but I wouldn’t love it.

[nullve]

mikeh, on 2021-February-10, 02:24, said:

if that were all there was to the hand, I’d like it (such hands are rare) but I wouldn’t love it.

I gambled that you loved it because he is your friend and opps were very strong. I was a bit naïve there...

Spoiler

I love this hand, too, if the solution is what I now think it is. (Progressive squeeze + very nice detail (that I missed).)

[Evies Dad]

How do I hide behind a spoiler?

I think you can ruff out the Ace clubs to perform a coup on North.
In that line Souths cards are largely irrelevant except AKx Clubs and the assumed diamond void.

[mikeh]

Evies Dad, on 2021-February-10, 06:05, said:

How do I hide behind a spoiler?

I think you can ruff out the Ace clubs to perform a coup on North.
In that line Souths cards are largely irrelevant except AKx Clubs and the assumed diamond void.

Explain your line of play. Bear in mind that north has a singleton heart and Q10xx in trump

[Cyberyeti]

I think there is one wrinkle to make the progressive squeeze work, not sure I'd spot it at the table.

Spoiler

if I'm right you have to unblock a heart higher than the 2 on the first heart, so that you can play the other under dummy's other top heart, and if S unguards the hearts, you can run the 5 and stay in dummy so the club/spade squeeze works

[Cyberyeti]

Evies Dad, on 2021-February-10, 06:05, said:

How do I hide behind a spoiler?

Either of 2 ways, put spoiler at the start and /spoiler at the end with both enclosed in square brackets or highlight the text you want to spoiler, go to the dropdown box where it says "other styles" select spoiler and click add.

[mikeh]

Cyberyeti, on 2021-February-10, 09:59, said:

I think there is one wrinkle to make the progressive squeeze work, not sure I'd spot it at the table.

Spoiler

if I'm right you have to unblock a heart higher than the 2 on the first heart, so that you can play the other under dummy's other top heart, and if S unguards the hearts, you can run the 5 and stay in dummy so the club/spade squeeze works

indeed, my friend played instinctively at trick 3 and then, as he told me, began to think, by which time it was too late

i saw it when given as a problem. i think i'd get it at the tablemif on my game, and that on other occasions I'd land on my feet simply by following a practice that I recommend to everyone.

As declarer, when playing to a trick, whether leading or following, and with 2 or more irrelevant spot cards, consider playing randomly, with an emphasis on NOT playing your lowest.

This isn't because one anticipates a blocking situation. It is to create ambiguity in the minds of the defenders.

In reality, the typical or average player ignores almost all of the information available from the bidding and the play, but good defenders spend a lot of time and mental energy working on picturing how the cards lie, including shape. They do this by observing partner's cards, although sometimes partner is trying to win a trick or force declarer to play a certain card rather than giving count. But they also do it by watching declarer's cards, with (against good declarers, some degree of scepticism)

The random play can delay a defender's working out of shape or cause some doubt.

Consider you are leading towards a suit in dummy, and you hold 862. If you lead the 2, and LHO follows low, he may well be giving count, and your leading the 2 means that his count signal is almost always going to be read correctly. Playing standard count, he plays the 3...now he has an odd number. Assuming that the 6 is never going to be a meaningful card, lead it instead. Now, when LHO plays the 3, his partner may not be able to be confident that this is not from some even holding, with his partner having the 2.

These plays are rarely in and of themselves a big deal. But when one frequently falsecards as declarer, even against opps who know you sometimes do this, you create additional stress for the opps: you become, relatively speaking, a 'difficult opponent', which is what we would all like to be. All of us have limited mental resources/stamina. The more you can make your opps think, the more likely it is that they will tire or lose focus.

Cyber, I am not lecturing you:) I think you already know this, but I also know, from playing a lot with and against non-expert players, that most such players don't even know that these issues exist.

I was playing in a Seniors team trials, the round-robin stage, with one of my two regular partners, and my wife was watching over my shoulder. On several hands where I was dummy I predicted to Debbie which card Gord would play next....it was NEVER the lowest spot in his hand unless it was already known what was going on, or one side or the other was cashing out.

So on this hand, getting back to it in a round-about fashion, I think there would be a very good chance that, if I played too quickly at trick 3, my instinctive play would be to conceal the 2, which (usually with no true gain) would cause LHO to be uncertain whether his partner led from 32 or stiff 3. If he felt that it was maybe 32 doubleton, he might miscount the hand. On this hand it wouldn't matter in terms of his play but over time, these subtle plays lead to slightly enhanced results.

[Cyberyeti]

This hand actually keeps on giving.

Am I right in thinking a spade return rather than a heart would have beaten the contract by removing the late entry to ♠J and thus breaking up the squeeze ? (or is there some kind of ruffing squeeze leaving a trump behind ?)

Now assume one of two things, either the bidding is different and S cannot have 13 points, or you feel the world champion N would have found the spade return if this was the layout, so that you assume the same layout but with the ♠Q and a small one are swapped.

I don't think you can legitimately make this contract if N returns a heart as he did at the table. Do you see your one chance and the other possible "played too quickly" mistake on this hand ?

[mikeh]

Cyberyeti, on 2021-February-11, 04:14, said:

This hand actually keeps on giving.

Am I right in thinking a spade return rather than a heart would have beaten the contract by removing the late entry to ♠J and thus breaking up the squeeze ? (or is there some kind of ruffing squeeze leaving a trump behind ?)

Now assume one of two things, either the bidding is different and S cannot have 13 points, or you feel the world champion N would have found the spade return if this was the layout, so that you assume the same layout but with the ♠Q and a small one are swapped.

I don't think you can legitimately make this contract if N returns a heart as he did at the table. Do you see your one chance and the other possible "played too quickly" mistake on this hand ?

A spade return beats the hand and, of course, an initial heart lead also beats the hand.