[jocdelevat]

Scoring: IMP

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West North East South

 -     -     -     1♥
 Pass  2♣    Pass  3♣
 3♦    4NT   Pass  5♠
 Dbl   6♣    Pass  Pass
 Pass   >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>lead 6 spade

1. Play this 6c
2. I watched this teammatch and I post before the other tbl biding(noone responded with x after 3d) which was 1h 3d then north double and final contract is 3dx. who to blame? North said he wanted to show a strong hand.

[han]

I'd take the spade finesse.

edit: I didn't see the double. I guess I'll go for the 3-3 heart split then.

[the hog]

I will play W to be a 4261 shape and hope he has the HQ and the DA. H 3-3 seems far fetched on the basis of the 3D bid and the X of S.So win SA, (taking S hook leads to a quick 1 off I suspect), and hook the H knave. If this wins cash the HK, cross to the Q of C, ditch my last S and play the DQ. I can then win any retun, ruff a D, ruff the return and draw trumps.

[cherdano]

The_Hog, on May 22 2007, 12:28 AM, said:

I will play W to be a 4261 shape and hope he has the HQ and the DA. H 3-3 seems far fetched on the basis of the 3D bid and the X of S.So win SA, (taking S hook leads to a quick 1 off I suspect), and hook the H knave. If this wins cash the HK, cross to the Q of C, ditch my last S and play the DQ. I can then win any retun, ruff a D, ruff the return and draw trumps.

I don't think the double shows more than ♠Kx.

[the hog]

cherdano, on May 22 2007, 01:35 PM, said:

The_Hog, on May 22 2007, 12:28 AM, said:

I will play W to be a 4261 shape and hope he has the HQ and the DA. H 3-3 seems far fetched on the basis of the 3D bid and the X of S.So win SA, (taking S hook leads to a quick 1 off I suspect), and hook the H knave. If this wins cash the HK, cross to the Q of C, ditch my last S and play the DQ. I can then win any retun, ruff a D, ruff the return and draw trumps.

I don't think the double shows more than ♠Kx.

I would say that is a very foolish X. Nth can still possibly have a S suit for this bidding. Further why pass and then come in with D if you have a s/s D hand? Further still, why X the S response with Kx? Why suggest a S lead with that holding.

[cherdano]

The_Hog, on May 22 2007, 12:40 AM, said:

cherdano, on May 22 2007, 01:35 PM, said:

I don't think the double shows more than ♠Kx.

I would say that is a very foolish X. Nth can still possibly have a S suit for this bidding. Further why pass and then come in with D if you have a s/s D hand? Further still, why X the S response with Kx? Why suggest a S lead with that holding.

Well as far as I am concerned passing then bidding 3♦ is foolish anyway. However, when you have a Kx in a side suit and an ace, and you want to beat a small slam, your best bet is almost always to have partner lead to your Kx.
Most partnerships can't play in a doubled or redoubled cuebid at the 5-level anyway, so there seems little risk in doubling 5S.

[the hog]

"Well as far as I am concerned passing then bidding 3D is foolish anyway."

Agreed.

"However, when you have a Kx in a side suit and an ace, and you want to beat a small slam, your best bet is almost always to have partner lead to your Kx."

Only if the lead is likely to be through the Ace. On this auction the doubler has no idea if this is the case. Given that the 4NT bidder will hold the stronger hand the A of S is more likely to be with him anyway. Else all you do is to alert the opps that a possible finesse is now going to work. I will admit that against a poor player, who knows what the X of 5S I meant to be? Anyway I still play the same line. Even if H are 3-3 based on your Kx of S scenario, my line should still make if the H finesse is working.

[cherdano]

The_Hog, on May 22 2007, 02:21 AM, said:

"However, when you have a Kx in a side suit and an ace, and you want to beat a small slam, your best bet is almost always to have partner lead to your Kx."

Only if the lead is likely to be through the Ace. On this auction the doubler has no idea if this is the case. Given that the 4NT bidder will hold the stronger hand the A of S is more likely to be with him anyway. Else all you do is to alert the opps that a possible finesse is now going to work. I will admit that against a poor player, who knows what the X of 5S I meant to be? Anyway I still play the same line. Even if H are 3-3 based on your Kx of S scenario, my line should still make if the H finesse is working.

Due to the 5S bid you know both have two keycards, so it doesn't matter who is stronger. If the ace is behind you you still win if partner has the queen. If your king is in the finesse then you probably aren't beating this slam anyway.

[han]

I agree with cherdano that Kx is not a worse lead director than Kxxx, but it may be that Kxxx in spades deterred west from preempting in diamonds immediately. I don't know though, it is hard to get into the mind of somebody who bids 3D over 3C on a gameforcing auction while they passed over 1H.

If this is true then playing for the Qx onside is your only chance. Not a very good one though, even shy players would likely find a bid Kxxx Qx AJ10xxx x.

[Simplicity]

At the table I think i'd take ♠A, hook the ♥J, cash the ♣A, ♥K, and cross to the ♣Q keeping the ♣3 in hand.

If clubs were 2-2 and hearts no worse than 4-2 i now have a trump entry to table to ruff ♥s good and take a diamond at the end.

If clubs are 3-1, i'll cash the ♥A pitching my ♠ and exit the ♦Q hoping the ♦A isn't with the reamaining trump so i can get a ♦ ruff

[foo]

This is not a bad 6C. Simply an aggressive 6C. I've been in worse.

The missing cards are the SK, the HQ, the DA and the DJ.

W rates to have all of them given the bidding and the lead directing X.

So win the SA. We now have a S loser and a D loser. We have to get rid of one of them. Before They get in and cash out.

If the HQ is onside, we can toss the SQ under a high H.

Since you only have 2 entries to dummy, you have to time the play properly.