[Fluffy]

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Match points, you lead ♥A wich only shows the King, and partner plays ♥Q wich only shows ♥J.

After you tell me how awful my carding agreements are, you can tell me what would you play at trick 2.

[Codo]

Okay: Your carding agreement is so awful...

For the second trick, I see two possibilities: A trump or a Heart.

If I try a trump, I hope that partner has a black ace and declarer 3 Hearts and no way to discard them in time on diamonds.

If I try to cash a second high heart an than:
If I try a trump, declarer has someting like AQTxxxx,xx,xx,Ax
If I try a diamond, declarer has AQTxxxx,xxx,K,xx
If I try a club, delcarer has KQTxxxxx,xxx,Kx,-

I go with a high spade lead at trick three.

[ArtK78]

I really think that partner's ♥Q is suit preference in this situation. I cash a heart and play a diamond at trick three. Just in case declarer has solid spades and the ♣A, I want to cash the heart. Assuming that declarer is missing either the ♣A or a trump trick, it is necessary to play a diamond.

If declarer has the ♦K without the ♣A and we lose our club trick, I will be surprised.

[whereagles]

It's a bit of a guess and my guess is a diamond now. This works if pard has 1 trump trick and the club ace or 1 trump trick and can ruff a diamond.

[phil_20686]

partner is basically certain to have a black suit trick. No one would open with AKQS and a club. He could easily have both a spade honour and the club ace. If he as something like A A in the blacks, a club switch could be the winner. Later he can cash the heart J and play back a club.

Still that seems less likely than a diamond. Suppose that I cash two hearts and play a diamond, can that go wrong? Yes, definitely, declarer could be AKxxxxxx xx x xx, but he is 100$ cold in this case. AKxxxxx xxx x xx needs a trump switch not a diamond.

I am favouring the spade J at trick 3 atm but not that sure.

Too hard for me. Will think a bit more and get back to you.

[gnasher]

If I cash another heart, what will partner signal on that trick?

[ArtK78]

phil_20686, on 2012-February-06, 09:32, said:

partner is basically certain to have a black suit trick. No one would open with AKQS and a club. He could easily have both a spade honour and the club ace. If he as something like A A in the blacks, a club switch could be the winner. Later he can cash the heart J and play back a club.

Still that seems less likely than a diamond. Suppose that I cash two hearts and play a diamond, can that go wrong? Yes, definitely, declarer could be AKxxxxxx xx x xx, but he is 100$ cold in this case. AKxxxxx xxx x xx needs a trump switch not a diamond.

I am favouring the spade J at trick 3 atm but not that sure.

Too hard for me. Will think a bit more and get back to you.

Wow. 4♠ vulnerable in first seat on AKxxxxx xxx x xx? Too rich for my blood.

He could have AKxxxxxx xx xx x, in which case a diamond switch is required.

[quiddity]

Cashing the ♥K seems wrong from general principles; we will likely have to pull dummy's trump at trick 3 and partner will be left guarding all the suits.

[billw55]

I admit I looked at dummy and thought, attack the sure entry diamond switch wtp? Maybe I don't think enough about these things.

[Phil]

ArtK78, on 2012-February-06, 10:47, said:

He could have AKxxxxxx xx xx x, in which case a diamond switch is required.

We can try a 2nd heart on this layout and then shift to a diamond (or a club) depending on partner's spot (which should be SP) as Gnasher suggests. AK(or AQ)xxxxxx xx Kx x seems within the set of 4♠ openers.

I will pay off to an odd number of hearts in declarer's hand - a trump seems like a longshot to be critical, and I don't think I can also cater to AKxxxxxx xxx x x (note declarer can still take 10 tricks if the position is read - edit - on a trump shift).

This post has been edited by Phil: 2012-February-06, 12:54

[mikeh]

gnasher, on 2012-February-06, 10:04, said:

If I cash another heart, what will partner signal on that trick?

This is surely the critical question.

To Art: whether you think the heart Q should be preference is irrevelant: you are told that to this partner the Q says he has the J and says absolutely nothing about suit preference....the question is, then, in those circumstances, how do you continue?


Clearly we want more information. Partner can tell us. There is no rush to lead trump at trick 2...so long as we make the right decision at trick 3, cashing the heart K cannot cost.

[ArtK78]

mikeh, on 2012-February-06, 11:26, said:

This is surely the critical question.

To Art: whether you think the heart Q should be preference is irrevelant: you are told that to this partner the Q says he has the J and says absolutely nothing about suit preference....the question is, then, in those circumstances, how do you continue?


Clearly we want more information. Partner can tell us. There is no rush to lead trump at trick 2...so long as we make the right decision at trick 3, cashing the heart K cannot cost.

No argument there. But it certainly makes sense in a situation like this one that partner would be trying to let me know what he has as soon as possible.

[gnasher]

quiddity, on 2012-February-06, 10:59, said:

Cashing the ♥K seems wrong from general principles; we will likely have to pull dummy's trump at trick 3 and partner will be left guarding all the suits.

That's true. Maybe a diamond is best.

[Codo]

gnasher, on 2012-February-06, 13:12, said:

That's true. Maybe a diamond is best.

But not cashing a heart may be a desaster on some layouts where partner can cash 2 Trumps and 3 Diamonds, someting like AQTxxxx,xxx,Kx,x or KQTxxxx, xxx, x,Ax will make partner real unhappy with our switch at trick two... And it is still Matchpoints.

[Fluffy]

mikeh, on 2012-February-06, 11:26, said:

Clearly we want more information. Partner can tell us. There is no rush to lead trump at trick 2...so long as we make the right decision at trick 3, cashing the heart K cannot cost.

what about 8311?

[mikeh]

Fluffy, on 2012-February-06, 18:14, said:

what about 8311?

if he is 8311 what switch do you suggest? And why does that switch have to come at trick 2?

[Fluffy]

ah right, the problem is declarer can also be 7321, and a suit preference won't help you to decide what to switch anyway. Count won't help either.

[mikeh]

Fluffy, on 2012-February-06, 18:35, said:

ah right, the problem is declarer can also be 7321, and a suit preference won't help you to decide what to switch anyway. Count won't help either.

I'd expect suit preference, not count. We need to guard against the club A going away when declarer holds the diamond K, and partner will realize not just that but also that we may have the ♦ K and it is finessable.

So he will tell us to lead diamonds with either both minor cards or just the K. He will tell us to lead clubs with only the club A.

If he tells us to lead diamonds, we are back guessing....since if declarer is 8=3=1=1, we need to play a spade instead. Since 8311 is an unlikely shape I will pay to the fact that we can't usually cater to it.

I suppose that a middle heart could/should suggest a trump switch, but opener can jerk us around on some of these hands by falsecarding and I can't imagine partner having a hand where he sees we need a trump play at trick 3.

If declarer is 7=3=2=1, and partner has both minor cards, he is going to ask me to play a diamond...so we only beat it 1....I don't feel terrible about that. I forget whether this was mps, and if I look, I have to start typing all over again, so I won't...but even if I beat it only 1, it's not the end of the world....if I kill the heart ruff, I lose our diamond trick, don't I?

[bluecalm]

The important thing here is not what Q♥ shows but what would small or big spot show.
Partner surely have plenty of both, he has chosen to play a queen to show a jack would he do that with K♦ ? Wouldn't he be tempted to play a high spot then ?

Anyway, diamond looks natural without any information. It seems like it loses rarely. Declarer needs stiff K and stiff club or Kx with partner ruffing with natural trick while it's all too easy to imagine spade costing us with xx/xx or x/xx in minors in declarer hand (or stiff A♣ and xx diamonds).

[gnasher]

mikeh, on 2012-February-06, 18:22, said:

if he is 8311 what switch do you suggest? And why does that switch have to come at trick 2?

If he is 8311 with solid trumps and no minor honour, we have to, at some point, play a spade to stop the ruff. If we cash the heart first, then play a spade, declarer can run all of his trumps to squeeze partner in three suits.

Even if we play a trump at trick two, it will take some careful discarding to avoid an endplay.

Against this layout, a diamond switch is OK, and it simplifies the discarding problems. We still have time to switch to a trump later if declarer plays a heart.