[Fluffy]

IMPs

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A: What would you do over partner's double?

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B: Partner leads ♠K asking for standard count, would you play [p]J or ♠6?


C: Partner switches to ♥K and puts you in with ♥A showing ♥KQ104, declarer ♥Jx, what next?

[monikrazy]

Edit: Didn't realize I had posted to the expert forum, sorry. My (non-expert) answer in spoilers.

Spoiler

A. 3H. (I feel just barely too weak for 4C)

B. 6.

C. I think 6D is best here, but I'd be curious to hear what alternatives could win out.

[rhm]

 Fluffy, on 2014-February-04, 18:43, said:

A: What would you do over partner's double?

I probably bid 4♣ taking the view that it is better to overbid but make sure you are in the right strain

Quote

B: Partner leads ♠K asking for standard count, would you play [p]J or ♠6?

I think the ♠6 is the normal card.

Quote

C: Partner switches to ♥K and puts you in with ♥A showing ♥KQ104, declarer ♥Jx, what next?

I assume you won the second heart.

Switch to a low diamonds of course. It looks like partner has ♦KT and wants a diamond switch
This can only looses if declarer has ♦KJ doubleton or a singleton spade and ♦KT9 or ♦JTx.
I bet against that.
If declare had this spade-diamond holding, partner should have continued with the ♥Q and another heart (or switched to diamonds himself after ♥Q).

Still switching to the ♦Q could possibly loose in case declarer has ♦KTx with a singleton spade, since declarer wins with the king and squeezes partner between diamonds and spades.

Rainer Herrmann

[wanoff]

A. 3♥ but prepared to be persuaded that 4♣ is better.
B. ♠3 to discourage spades.
C. ♥. It's probably better for us if W has ♦K as we may have hit par. A heart will kill a possible squeeze.

[mfa1010]

A. 3♠. It is 3♠ or 3♥. 4♣ is a huge overbid with this mirrorish, crappy hand. I know the theory about getting both suits in, but this is too extreme imo. Bidding 4♣ with this little will also kill our slam bidding on other hands, where partner has extras, and we have a real 4♣ bid.

B. ♠J. But this is about style I suppose, I can live with the 6. Good hand for partnership discussion.

C. I would try a small diamond. As Rainer says, partner might have continued ♥Q, if a diamond shift is wrong.

[wank]

 mfa1010, on 2014-February-05, 05:07, said:

A. 3♠. It is 3♠ or 3♥. 4♣ is a huge overbid with this mirrorish, crappy hand. I know the theory about getting both suits in, but this is too extreme imo. Bidding 4♣ with this little will also kill our slam bidding on other hands, where partner has extras, and we have a real 4♣ bid.

B. ♠J. But this is about style I suppose, I can live with the 6. Good hand for partnership discussion.

C. I would try a small diamond. As Rainer says, partner might have continued ♥Q, if a diamond shift is wrong.

a+c agreed. b is just about partnership agreement.

[fromageGB]

I'm posting a non-expert reply because I don't see why experts should have everything for themselves.
A) 3♠

B) ♠6. I would love to play ♠J as a heart signal, but it is possible that partner with 5 would assume the suit breaks 3532, so attempt to give me a ruff.

C) ♥2 to not give a diamond trick away and indicate a guard in diamonds.

[Fluffy]

I asked my partner and he said play ♠6 for standard count.

However I have trouble with that, say I had ♠J1098, what then?, for me a high card signal denies the inmediately higher when signalling, so only the Jack sounds good.

[gnasher]

 Fluffy, on 2014-February-05, 07:28, said:

I asked my partner and he said play ♠6 for standard count.

However I have trouble with that, say I had ♠J1098, what then?, for me a high card signal denies the inmediately higher when signalling, so only the Jack sounds good.

In a position like this, if you play the 6 from J6xx, you should play the 10 from J10xx. That way, the jack is known to be from shortage.

[Zelandakh]

Note, not an expert but I think Fluffy will forgive me.

A. 3♠
B. ♠6 is the normal card but ♠J would be ok if this does not show the ten. Fluffy's example in #8 is an obvious ♠J - more interesting in that case is which card to play from JT98 playing udca. Note that I am not a fan of the king count style, having been exposed to it a great deal in the UK.
C. It looks to me that a diamond is called for. Presumably partner is worried about declarer establishing their ♠Q for a diamond pitch but has a ♦ holding where it was better to attack from our side. I am trying to see if it makes a difference which diamond we play here but have not seen anything yet - perhaps one of our experts can highlight that. If exiting passively with a heart was correct then partner would probably have done that themselves because the likelihood of declarer holding ♥Jxxx is rather low.

[Fluffy]

just to clarify, we don't norally give count over the king, but we have the agreement of doing it when the contract is 5 or higher, as oposed to leading the ace, which will often be unsupported and asks for the king. When it is doubled perhaps we should not consider it the same, but you know you cna't have perfect agreements on that matter.

[jogs]

 monikrazy, on 2014-February-04, 20:57, said:

Edit: Didn't realize I had posted to the expert forum, sorry. My (non-expert) answer in spoilers.

Spoiler

A. 3H. (I feel just barely too weak for 4C)

B. 6.

C. I think 6D is best here, but I'd be curious to hear what alternatives could win out.

That's what I would have done.

C. Heart loses when West is 2=2=2=7. West has time to set up ♠Q for diamond pitch.
Spade loses when West is 1=2=3=7. West can play diamonds on spades. Loses only 4 tricks instead of 5.

[phil_20686]

 Fluffy, on 2014-February-04, 18:43, said:

IMPs

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A: What would you do over partner's double?

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B: Partner leads ♠K asking for standard count, would you play [p]J or ♠6?


C: Partner switches to ♥K and puts you in with ♥A showing ♥KQ104, declarer ♥Jx, what next?

A) 4C - I dont mind overbidding at teams.

B: 6, we have the rule that in this kind of position you always play the second highest from four. It make it means that a lot of doubletons can be distinushed - not such a problem here with the preempt, but still riglt.

c) a diamond looks normal. only a disaster if declarer holds KJ tight. Partner would probably have cashed a heart and played a diamond through if he had only low cards in diamonds, so this seems unlikely.

[Fluffy]

diamond was a bad return as declarer had ♦K109x

I though afterwards that I should had seen the 6♣ in declarer's hands because of partner's failure to bid over 5♣X

[Zelandakh]

Here I can see an advantage of returning the ♦Q over a small one - declarer might play South for having the knave too - but is there also a disadvantage?

[gnasher]

 Zelandakh, on 2014-February-08, 12:46, said:

Here I can see an advantage of returning the ♦Q over a small one - declarer might play South for having the knave too - but is there also a disadvantage?

It costs a trick if declarer has x xx K10x KJ10xxxx, because it sets up a squeeze against partner.

It costs trivially if declarer has xx xx Jxx KJ10xxx, but that's not a likely hand.

[whereagles]

A. 3♠, intending to bid 4♥ later on if necessary. My hand is only so-so.

B. The 6 seems canonical. J is too deep for me.

C. ♦Q. The switch should not matter in most cases, but if declarer has 2227 it is necessary before he sets up a spade for a diamond discard. The queen is better, in case something goes wrong, as it went

[wanoff]

 whereagles, on 2014-February-09, 10:04, said:

C. ♦Q. The switch should not matter in most cases, but if declarer has 2227 it is necessary before he sets up a spade for a diamond discard. The queen is better, in case something goes wrong, as it went

It does matter.
Isn't declarer 1-2 in the majors because with ♠AKxx ♥KQxx, partner would surely lead ♠A.
So you need to lead a heart to beat the double squeeze when partner has ♦Jxxx.

[rhm]

 wanoff, on 2014-February-09, 13:16, said:

It does matter.
Isn't declarer 1-2 in the majors because with ♠AKxx ♥KQxx, partner would surely lead ♠A.
So you need to lead a heart to beat the double squeeze when partner has ♦Jxxx.

The only possible late entry in dummy is the ♦A after running clubs
For a squeeze to operate dummy would need an entry in one of the threat suits.
A heart is never necessary to kill a squeeze on this layout.

Rainer Herrmann

[gnasher]

 rhm, on 2014-February-10, 03:44, said:

The only possible late entry in dummy is the ♦A after running clubs
For a squeeze to operate dummy would need an entry in one of the threat suits.
A heart is never necessary to kill a squeeze on this layout.

I'm going to take the risky step of disagreeing with Rainer about a technical card play.

If declarer has x xx K109 KJ10xxxx, a heart is necessary to break up a guard squeeze. On a spade or trump return, declarer cashes his trumps to reach

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The last trump forces North to bare his ♦J, after which declarer can finesse against South's ♦Q.