[661_Pete]

This cropped up a few days ago (love all dealer S):

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I chose to open 5♣; west overcalled 5♦ and my partner raised to 6♣. I suppose I was thinking of at best a decent sacrifice so I was pleasantly suprised to discover, once A♦ had been led, that twelve tricks were cold . So my interest turned to seeing whether an overtrick might come my way, which, as I saw it, meant guessing which major to finesse.

As it turned out, I chose ♠, wrongly (E held both kings). So I was left with my 12 tricks. Could I have done any better? Not that it mattered much.

[Zelandakh]

I think I would try the following: ruff the opening lead, cash ♥A, ♣A, ♦K throwing a heart, ♥Q ruffed with ♣6 (if East covers you are home). If clubs split: ♣5, ♥ ruff, ♠ finesse; if not just the spade finesse. Compared to the simple finesse line, you make if either defender holds ♥Kx or ♥Kxx as well as if East makes a mistake covering the queen (or at least pausing to think about it).

If there is a useful squeeze line here then I am missing it. Everything looks to be positional and therefore not to be particularly useful; but I daresay Rainer will come up with something almost guaranteed to make in due course.

[ArtK78]

Speaking of freak deals, here is one that I played last night in the BBO ACBL MP Pairs game:

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6♠x went down 1 for a near top for EW. However, NS would not have done much better in 6♣x, as most of the field was allowed to play in 4♠ or 5♠.

I happened to be West on this hand.

Personally, I find North's 4♠ bid to be somewhat odd. Opposite a red Ace plus the ♦K (and the KQJxx of spades that we already know about) slam is cold, and a grand is not out of the question.

[rmnka447]

You might consider what would cause West to bid 5 ♦ over 5 ♣. Since partner started with 3 ♦, there are 10 ♦ between the opponents. If you think it's not likely that West would wonder into this auction with just 5 ♦, then the odds of East holding either of the Ks is greater by a vacant places consideration.

If West holds 6 ♦, then East holds 4 ♦ meaning vacant places in their hands are 7 and 9 respectively. So it's 9/7 that East holds a particular king.

If West holds 7 ♦, then East holds 3 ♦ meaning vacant places in their hands are 6 and 10 respectively. So it's 10/6 (5/3) that East holds a particular king.

So if you're just going to select a finesse, playing East for the ♥ K is more probable.

Zel's line gives you some extra chances in addition.

[RedSpawn]

ArtK78, on 2017-May-08, 08:39, said:

Speaking of freak deals, here is one that I played last night in the BBO ACBL MP Pairs game:

Personally, I find North's 4♠ bid to be somewhat odd. Opposite a red Ace plus the ♦K (and the KQJxx of spades that we already know about) slam is cold, and a grand is not out of the question.

Who are you telling? I had to wipe my screen a couple of times to make sure I was seeing right.

If my partner opens 1♠ and I have eight spades, we have a 13 card fit in spades and both opponents are void of spades. That means both of my opponents are void of our trump suit and are actively searching for a fit elsewhere. I need to bid 5♠ as a minimum to force them to think twice about bidding a 6 level contract.

A 4♠ bid allowed East to communicate a 4NT unusual takeout bid and for West to bid his void spade suit. That is way too much intelligence sharing.

If you are playing against moderately assertive players they will not let 4♠ stand uncontested.

[Zelandakh]

RedSpawn, on 2017-May-10, 16:25, said:

Who are you telling? I had to wipe my screen a couple of times to make sure I was seeing right.

If my partner opens 1♠ and I have eight spades, we have a 13 card fit in spades and both opponents are void of spades. That means both of my opponents are void of our trump suit and are actively searching for a fit elsewhere. I need to bid 5♠ as a minimum to force them to think twice about bidding a 6 level contract.

A 4♠ bid allowed East to communicate a 4NT unusual takeout bid and for West to bid his void spade suit. That is way too much intelligence sharing.

If you are playing against moderately assertive players they will not let 4♠ stand uncontested.

One of the alternatives to 4♠ would be 5♣, which offers the possibility of getting some additional information before the main decision. Another reasonablke strategy on hands of this type is walking the dog, perhaps starting with 2♠ or even something like 2♦. There is no clear strategy winner on hands like this one so suggesting that a call like 5♠ is mandatory is rather missing the point. There are at least half a dozen calls that could easily lead to success, probably more.

[rmnka447]

ArtK78, on 2017-May-08, 08:39, said:

Speaking of freak deals, here is one that I played last night in the BBO ACBL MP Pairs game:

6♠x went down 1 for a near top for EW. However, NS would not have done much better in 6♣x, as most of the field was allowed to play in 4♠ or 5♠.

I happened to be West on this hand.

Personally, I find North's 4♠ bid to be somewhat odd. Opposite a red Ace plus the ♦K (and the KQJxx of spades that we already know about) slam is cold, and a grand is not out of the question.

I wouldn't be surprised if most of the pairs allowed to play 4 ♠ or 5 ♠ had started with a strong NT rather than 1 ♠. North will ensure that they reach 4 ♠ and compete to 5 ♠ if necessary. Even if West intervenes over 1 NT, I'd think many E/W's would have problems competing past 5 ♠ because of the fog of the hand.

[RedSpawn]

Zelandakh, on 2017-May-11, 02:30, said:

One of the alternatives to 4♠ would be 5♣, which offers the possibility of getting some additional information before the main decision. Another reasonablke strategy on hands of this type is walking the dog, perhaps starting with 2♠ or even something like 2♦. There is no clear strategy winner on hands like this one so suggesting that a call like 5♠ is mandatory is rather missing the point. There are at least half a dozen calls that could easily lead to success, probably more.

When you allow the opposition to share information back and forth when you are sitting on a known 13-card fit, they are guaranteed to have and find their own trump fit.

That is a luxury I can ill afford.

I wouldn't walk the dog on a hand like this one because I don't want them to find their fit and challenge our awesome ♠ fit.

I am not suggesting 5♠ is the only bid, I am suggesting that 4♠ shut-off will accomplish very little against moderately assertive opponents who are sitting on a lovely ♥ and ♣ fit. I refuse to provide them the bidding space to uncover this fit. 4♠ gave them just enough bidding space to pull back the curtain and look into other contract possibilities.

[Jinksy]

I'd be choosing whether to psyche 2♣ or 2♥ on Art's N hand.

[wank]

your partner's 6♣ was off-the-chart-bad, as, I suspect, was west's 5♦

[smk96]

I would consider 4!C as a splinter to show slam interest with single or void club and to find out if partner has a control in !D. 5!C as voidwood is not that good of an option since we might lose AK in !D.

[smk96]

I would consider 4♣ as a splinter to show slam interest with single or void club and to find out if partner has a control in ♦. 5♣ as voidwood is not that good of an option since we might lose AK in ♦.

[gszeszycki]

ArtK78, on 2017-May-08, 08:39, said:

Personally, I find North's 4♠ bid to be somewhat odd. Opposite a red Ace plus the ♦K (and the KQJxx of spades that we already know about) slam is cold, and a grand is not out of the question.

The 4s bid is indeed odd but the 6s bid is other worldly bad. Once p has been warned you have a no defense distributional hand
that x is done with malice (and a mallet) leave it in.

[gszeszycki]

trick 1 ruff (yay)
trick 2 heart ace
trick 3 club to ace Hoping for 11 split
trick 4 dia K pitching heart

If clubs split 11
trick 5 low heart ruff (you never know lho might have started with a doubleton K or a singleton)
trick 6 small trump to dummy
trick 7 Now I think the heart Q intending to take a ruffing finesse seems right since it seems reasonable lho has at least 2 spades
(dia ace seems too risky with a singleton) 2 hearts 1 club 7 dia seems reasonable so only 1 vacant space left vs a TON for rho.
this is only a small improvement over Zelandakh

If clubs fail to split flip a coin and good luck