[croquetfan]

I was berated by partner for this hand.
After 1NT on my left (12-14), X by partner (15+), 2C RHO described as 2 suiter clubs and any other:
I held
♠ 42
♥ A7653
♦ J754
♣ 94
Right or wrong I passed and led S4 to this dummy
♠ QT3
♥ 94
♦ KQ63
♣ AK65
ten from dummy, J, A.
declarer led a small ♣ to dummy and returned a H to his 8 which forced my A.
Partner is a strong player.
What now?

[rhm]

If you want to have replies I do not understand why you do not bother to use the standard features for hand diagrams on this forum:
It is so much easier to see the deal correctly:

croquetfan, on 2017-July-07, 02:41, said:

I was berated by partner for this hand.

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After 1NT on my left (12-14), X by partner (15+), 2C RHO described as 2 suiter clubs and any other:
Right or wrong I passed and led S4 to this dummy
ten from dummy, J, A.
declarer led a small ♣ to dummy and returned a H to his 8 which forced my A.
Partner is a strong player.
What now?

You should also specify the exact cards played by you, declarer dummy and partner to ALL previous tricks, even if you think it does not matter.

Why is it so difficult to follow this standard???

Rainer Herrmann

[The_Badger]

rhm, on 2017-July-07, 04:14, said:

If you want to have replies I do not understand why you do not bother to use the standard features for hand diagrams on this forum: It is so much easier to see the deal correctly:

You should also specify the exact cards played by you, declarer dummy and partner for ALL previous tricks, even if you think it does not matter.

Rainer is absolutely right. Small cards matter...

But in the absence of these a ♠ continuation seems best as declarer has shown up with the ♠A so you hope to gain one♠, one ♠ruff, 2♥,♦A, and hope that partner has ♣Qxx for the setting trick. (But truthfully I am a bit bemused what is happening in the ♥ suit at trick 3.)

[steve2005]

What does it matter if North is a strong player? You didn't say what North played on the club or the heart. So partner might as well be a complete beginner for all we know they would have played the same cards.

[Tramticket]

We know that declarer has a maximum of six points and has already played the ace of spades - so can have a possible two further points. So partner has the ace of diamonds, king of spades and the king of hearts. Partner also knows that you have the ace of hearts and has chosen to let you win trick three.

It looks safe to continue spades, declarer can't have a singleton - surely partner is bidding further with a six-card spade suit. [why isn't partner bidding anyway? Have we not made a forcing pass?]. The queen of spades is a potential trick for declarer (e.g. if declarer has the nine), so it looks normal to play a second spade and have partner return a third spade to neutralise this.

What is declarer's second suit? We can't be sure and partner's carding may have given us clues on this. I don't think declarer's second suit is diamonds - partner might have risen with the king of hearts played the diamond ace and put us in for a diamond ruff. Returning a spade will certainly work if declarer's second suit is spades. If declarer's second suit is hearts, then I think that partner must have the queen of clubs.

[rhm]

There are a lof of inferences you can draw at this point:

Since declarer has shown up with the ace of spades, most points are accounted for.
The heart play seems unlikely if declarer has a low doubleton, in which case partner would have played small from KQJx in hearts.
If declarer has 3 hearts he must have an honor, most likely the queen. Hence partner seems marked with the rest of the points.

Accordingly declarer has only a four card club suit and since I would expect partner would bid his major in last position when holding a five card major, declarers second suit should be spades.
Since declarer played the spade ten from dummy at trick one partner should have the spade 9.
Accordingly if my analysis is correct the layout is an open book and should be close to something like

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Play a spade and after partner cashed his heart king he should play for a trump promotion in spades by you ruffing the fourth one for 2 down.
If partner has ♠KJ9x ♥KQJx ♦Axx ♣Qx you need the same trump promotion for one down.

There is another less likely layout where declarer has a 5 card spade suit:

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In this layout you have no trump promotion, but partner is in grave danger getting endplayed if you do not continue spades.
Say you play a club. declarer wins in dummy and continues heart. partner wins cashes his trump and is stuck.
Best continuation would be a heart, declarers queen winning, spade discard from dummy.
Now declarer plays a spade to partner.
Partner would now need to find the return of a middle diamond (not the 2 and not the ace) to get the contract one down.
If partner returns the diamond two delcarer wins in dummy and continues with a low diamond discarding a spade.
Anything but trivial even for a strong player.

Rainer Herrmann

[The_Badger]

An awesome bit of analysis, Rainer. Another +1 The only thing missing is a name for that (potential) endplay in the second diagram, if the defence do go wrong. (And even I missed the potential for an uppercut in diagram 1 if North holds QJx to put declarer two down.)

By the way, I was surprised that East didn't cash a second round of trumps when in with the Ace. Obviously worried about a 4-1 split and totally losing control of the hand, I assume. And swapping the ♠8 and ♠9 between North and East would make a difference too.

Which brings me neatly around again to the point that all cards matter, however small. And I am sure you are in agreement with that.

[Tramticket]

Yes, I think that the logic is correct - partner would have bid with a five-card suit, so the second suit will be spades. And declarer must have heart honour (Q or J) - otherwise, why cross to dummy to lead hearts?

In my experience, the second distribution is less likely. With 5 spades/4 clubs players tend to bid 2♠ (or use whatever mechanism they have to escape to 2♠). It is worth asking the opponents in more detail what shapes a two-suiter can include.

[croquetfan]

thank you.
I did not know how to use the standard format, so I will look up how to do that. Thanks Rainer for displaying the correct layout.

then I will display the exact layout.
Bottom line is partner screamed at me for not shifting to a trump. "obvious to a beginner"

[croquetfan]

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[croquetfan]

I thought E was setting up his ♥ KT98 or better and continued spades.

Would anyone else have overcalled ♥ with that suit? I was surprised bidding stopped at 2♣

Thanks for your replies