[eagles123]

edit: WesleyC presented it much better than me, see below for hand diagram and play so far

its MP:

thanks

Eagles

[WesleyC]

Matchpoints!

---

The play:

1. ♣2, ♣7, ♣K, ♣A
2. ♣6, ♣4, ♥3, ♣5
3. ♦J, ♦8, ♦2 ♦Q
4. ♠K, ♠3, ♠X, ♠2
5. ♠X, ♠5, ♠J, ♥5

What next (playing MPs)?

[billw55]

I would decide who I think has the ♠A, and place the ♥Q in the other hand. Playing the ♠Q on the second round would have helped with this plan. Having failed to do so, I will check their carding - what means the ♠9?

Also I would ask about 3♠ in the auction.

[eagles123]

billw55, on 2015-May-19, 13:39, said:

I would decide who I think has the ♠A, and place the ♥Q in the other hand. Playing the ♠Q on the second round would have helped with this plan. Having failed to do so, I will check their carding - what means the ♠9?

Also I would ask about 3♠ in the auction.

i actually played the T of spades when the 2nd spade was returned, the reason is i thought it was obvious W had the Ace as E would surely lead a spade holding the AK so it was more useful to find out who held the J?

3s - "undiscussed"

[billw55]

eagles123, on 2015-May-19, 13:52, said:

i actually played the T of spades when the 2nd spade was returned, the reason is i thought it was obvious W had the Ace as E would surely lead a spade holding the AK so it was more useful to find out who held the J?

3s - "undiscussed"

Indeed, it certainly *seems* like east has the ♠A. Clever opponents have been known to deceive me before, however. In this case particularly, they ask me to believe that west overcalled on at most 8 very raggedy points, vulnerable. Maybe he did, but I would rather be certain of the ♠A location. The ♠J is too small to tell me anything useful.

At any rate, if you believe that east holds the ♠A, then west either has the ♥Q or is ... adventurous. In fact, even ♠Kxxxx ♥Qxx ♦ Qx ♣Jxx is already a pretty feeble overcall.


edit: switched east and west to match the new presentation made by Wesley and accepted by eagles. Note, original version by eagles specified that east followed with ♠9 on first round.

[gszes]

Let's back up to trick 2 and review what we have learned. Lho lead a club (3/4/5) surely if they held the spade AK that would seem like a much stronger lead than a club lead. That means we should mentally assign not only the club K but one of the top spade honors to rho. There are very few hcp left for lho to hold 1 top spade honor DQ CJ HQ even for a 1s overcall hard to imagine them not having pretty much the rest AJxxx Qxx Qx (J)xx is still pretty ugly (I have seen worse sigh). How about that 3s bid did rho bid 3s with Kxx xx xxx Kxxxx or the far more likely Kxx x xxx Kxxxxx?
My money is on the second hand since that first offering seems way too much like a 2s bid:)

IMPS

I answered the quiz question finesse lho for the heart Q because I feel they are a huge favorite to hold that card given the bidding but since we are huge favorites to lose only 1s 1h 1d I feel it is totally wrong to do anything at trick 3 beside lay down the heart A and lead another heart (playing for the drop if possible). There is actually a pretty fair chance we should not be taking the dia finesse at all much less early in the hand when there is still danger of a dia ruff lurking about.

MP

If this were MP some risk is tolerable I would exit dummy with a low spade at trick 3 intending to ruff a spade and finesse lho for the heart Q.

[WesleyC]

Everything that's happened so far in this hand is bizarre.

At T2 my thinking would be: The opening lead marks RHO with ♣K and almost certainly the ♠K in a hand good enough to preempt 3S with only 3 card support (e.g. often some shape). That leaves West to have overcalled vulnerable opposite a passed partner on a hand that is pretty rotten. Would they really overcall [AJxxx Qxx xx xxx]? Seems pretty suicidal, and i'm usually a fan of suicidal bids.

Adding all this together makes me place the ♦Q pretty firmly with LHO. Even worse, LHO holding a hand like [AJxxx x Qxxx Txx] is one of the few layouts that actually does make sense, and on that layout your line would be a disaster. Finally, even if the diamond finesse wins, there's no guarantee you'll actually be able to use the diamonds. So I agree with Gszes that ruffing a club to take finesse diamonds is too greedy.

However once you do choose that line and LHO wins and switches to the ♠K it's yet another WTF moment. Did LHO really overcall [Kxxxx x Qxx xxxx] or [Kxxxx Qxx Qx xxx] and then lead a club rather than a spade? billw35 is right that at this point that a spade trick isn't worth anything, so you're better to confirm the layout by playing the Q♠.

So now you're at trick 6 and still have pretty much no idea who has the ♥Q. Either both opponents have made weird bids or one of them has outright psyched, so this feels like a spot where you should be making your decision base more on table feel and knowledge of the opponents than normal logic. I'd certainly make a mental note to penalize this pair aggressively in the future!

[Trinidad]

My reasoning:
RHO seems to have jump raised with three card support. He must have a singleton. This singleton is going to be in a red suit.

If the singleton would be in diamonds, I would expect that LHO could have read that when we finessed in diamonds. He c/should have beaten the contract by giving RHO a diamond ruff (with suit preference for spades), getting a spade back and giving a second diamond ruff.

So, probably RHO's singleton is in hearts. I will finesse the 1♠ bidder for the ♥Q.

The complete hand might be:

---

Rik

[KurtGodel]

Things we know:

1) Spade honours are split. (Top one not led, continuing with a small one after playing the K, restricted choice to some extent about which card to lead)
2) West doesn't have a singleton diamond. (Didn't lead one, didn't try and put partner in after diamonds were played)
3) West made a strange lead. Why not just lead a spade? Your holding is a bit dodgy, but still. If they had xx or xxx of trumps they could easily have led one instead of Hxx(x) in clubs.
4) West has 3/4 clubs.
5) West probably doesn't have ♦Qxxx, as they might have played a diamond back (you are marked with some length).
6) East probably has 8x in diamonds. Since we weren't told they play reverse count, I don't really buy that they would play the 8 from 8xx.
7) West seems to have overcalled with junk. They probably have Q♥.
8) Vacant spaces suggest that West cannot hold 3 hearts, unless he is 5323 which requires his partner to have given false count, and for him to have exactly 3 clubs.

I would cash the A♥ first, see if the seven drops on my left, and then probably play for the drop anyway.

[billw55]

I am having a hard time making a construction where the ops actions all make sense. Rik is close, but leaves the question of why a top spade was not led.

[mcphee]

The line of play forces you to hook lefty for the Q of trumps. Wesley was too kind when he said ruffing a club a trick 2 was greedy, it's bonkers and possibly the best way to go down!

Information is zero so I just assume this is not the strongest of opposition. It would not surprise me to find my LHO with 4 trumps Q and at trick 2 I would simply have played a trump to the 9 and soon claim. I like claiming, it's fun to be sure of your plus. Leads from Jacks are a stab in space and not very productive in building tricks. In fact my favorite wish is my pard does not have a jack to lead from!

[GrahamJson]

I'd be incline to play AK and another diamond at tricks 2, 3 and 4. Win the return, play two round of hearts and run diamonds. Bingo.

[billw55]

mcphee, on 2015-May-20, 07:58, said:

The line of play forces you to hook lefty for the Q of trumps. Wesley was too kind when he said ruffing a club a trick 2 was greedy, it's bonkers and possibly the best way to go down!

GrahamJson, on 2015-May-20, 08:17, said:

I'd be incline to play AK and another diamond at tricks 2, 3 and 4. Win the return, play two round of hearts and run diamonds. Bingo.

eagles stated that this is a matchpoints problem. +450 will likely be worth a lot more than +420.

[WesleyC]

Playing IMPs it's not a tough problem at all.

You win the lead and play a Spade which (practically) guarantees the contract.

[alok c]

Bidding of East is revealing in vulnerable condition with only 3nos of spades.He is short in one suit(probably D) & from bidding expecting west to be short/void in other suit i.e hearts.I will play East with all missing H.

[MrQde]

Anyone thought of maybe lho overcalled 1♠ on a 4 card suit? That still leaves the question open, why he didnt came in with a take out double. In that case the reason is probably length in ♥, so i play him for the ♥Q third.

[zillahandp]

Oh dear play aqx of clubs riuffing third round then spade assuming best def ruff next spade , ht to ace ruff spade then kh now we are getting count better and can take view on ds and the opps may have made a mistake by this time and led ds or even trumps earlier D finesse at trick three is incorrect

[ggwhiz]

zillahandp, on 2015-May-20, 14:46, said:

D finesse at trick three is incorrect

I agree and would have led a spade to the ten at trick 2 finding out the spade honors position and bluffing an impending crossruff. Many ways for them to step on the banana peel with my diamond strength hidden.

Say they win the jack and return them, I'll ruff, ruff a club and another spade and have many clues as to distribution with a fallback of the diamond queen dropping. A local GLM is a retired auditor who plays accounting signals and with an audit trail. You can take her distribution to the bank on a hand like this by trick 4 or 5.

[bananatree]

I'll enter with my first post here and answer based on the level I view the bidding and play so far. At my level I often see the bidding being a little optimistic which colours this post.

We know RHO raised with 3 card support, so it wasn't on length.
LHO overcalled with either AKxxx or next best K9xxx. I'm giving RHO the AK and they have the QD. An AK9xx overcall is not going to be the last bid so is not that bad, but 3S may be, and it risks a push to game. Thus I think 3S both needs to have points to come close and plans on defeating 4H. Neither may be true and the lack of agreement of 3S and signals as they are don't change these assumptions.

I think the ops have both taken an over-optimistic view - LHO at the 1 level, and RHO due to points and potential defence. The QH is then with RHO and LHO may be void but too weak to dbl with 5S. But since we have already ruffed a C the 4-0 split doesn't matter any more.

[PhilG007]

WesleyC, on 2015-May-19, 13:30, said:

Matchpoints!

---

The play:

1. ♣2, ♣7, ♣K, ♣A
2. ♣6, ♣4, ♥3, ♣5
3. ♦J, ♦8, ♦2 ♦Q
4. ♠K, ♠3, ♠X, ♠2
5. ♠X, ♠5, ♠J, ♥5

What next (playing MPs)?

Play for the drop you have 9 cards "Eight ever,nine never"