[pclayton]

My teammate had played 3N on the following cards last night:

Scoring: IMP

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Auction: 1♣ - 1♠ - 2♥ - 2N - 3♣ - 3N.

Your LHO is John Swanson who leads the A♠, low (discouraging) from RHO. A low diamond is played at T2.

Plan the play.

[Apollo81]

Cash the ♦AJ and play 4 rounds of hearts.

[pclayton]

Apollo81, on Mar 8 2007, 11:26 AM, said:

Cash the ♦AJ and play 4 rounds of hearts.

What if hearts are 5-1? Isn't it better to try the hearts before the ♦A-J?

Anyway, they aren't. LHO shows out and pitched a middle club on the 3rd heart.

Proceed.

[han]

Seems like double dummy your best chance is to hope for a 3-3 diamond split.

However, this is a tough hand for the opponents, especially RHO may well play a spade at some point. I think I will play the diamond jack and ace (hiding the diamond lay-out from RHO, the opponent that will most likely make the mistake).

Then I exit with a club. It isn't clear to me yet if it is better to play the king or low. The king seems to be the best play in isolation, and it might also hide the club layout better. On the other hand, if I play low then they may not be able to cash their clubs before exiting in hearts and they might be endplayed to give me the contract even if hearts split 4-2.

[han]

Darn, I like Noble's line better.

[Apollo81]

pclayton, on Mar 8 2007, 03:31 PM, said:

Apollo81, on Mar 8 2007, 11:26 AM, said:

Cash the ♦AJ and play 4 rounds of hearts.

What if hearts are 5-1? Isn't it better to try the hearts before the ♦A-J?

Anyway, they aren't. LHO shows out and pitched a middle club on the 3rd heart.

Proceed.

yes, yes better to play ♦A, 2 top hearts, then ♦J

[han]

pclayton, on Mar 8 2007, 02:31 PM, said:

Anyway, they aren't. LHO shows out and pitched a middle club on the 3rd heart.

A middle club? Gotta be the 6. (5 is the lowest and the 9 is significant).

Noble's heart exit still looks good.

[pclayton]

Here's the entire layout:

Scoring: IMP

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My teammate played 3 hearts, then ♦, ♦ (overtaking in hand). -1.

The hand is nearly cold if you play along Noble's line. Three top hearts, then two top diamonds.

You can exit a club or a heart at this point. Say you play a heart. They can't play a spade or a diamond, so a club lead comes from your right, You specifically need Ax on your left and QJ9x to go down.

Exiting with a middle club works just as well I guess. A club spells doom if LHO has Q(J) x. At least a middle club forces RHO to play the 9, but then is stuck.

[Halo]

I would have cashed AJ of diamonds and exited with a club. Looks good whenever its not A to four in clubs.