[lamford]

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IMPS. European Ch Final. Israel v Norway.

Debbie Rosenberg drew attention to this interesting hand on Bridge Winners. How would you play 4H by North on the lead of the ace of clubs, followed by a trump switch? Four declarers out of 15 went off.

[helene_t]

Finesse ♦J. If W has four diamonds to the queen I am down.

[phil_20686]

 helene_t, on 2015-September-03, 06:27, said:

Finesse ♦J. If W has four diamonds to the queen I am down.

Thats a pretty poor line with two spade entries if hearts are 3-3. You could e.g. play three top hearts, and if they are 3-3 Ak D ruff d spade ruff d, as long as the fifth diamond is set up I am cold. any 4-2 diamond break is good enough. I will also put up the heart 9 at trick one in case he has switched from Txxxx, you can always dream.

[wanoff]

 phil_20686, on 2015-September-03, 06:56, said:

Thats a pretty poor line with two spade entries if hearts are 3-3. You could e.g. play three top hearts, and if they are 3-3 Ak D ruff d spade ruff d, as long as the fifth diamond is set up I am cold. any 4-2 diamond break is good enough. I will also put up the heart 9 at trick one in case he has switched from Txxxx, you can always dream.

As Lauren might say "Is it though". I'd also finesse J♦ next and if it loses, the only killing defence would be a spade (difficult from Q♠) and even then you'd be ok with diamonds 3-3. Without the spade switch you can cope with both trumps and diamonds 4-2.

[shyams]

I have 9 winners.

At trick 2, if I put dummy's ♥9 at trick 2, does it win? If it does, I can simply play for a 4-2 ♦ split. ♦ to ♦K; then ♦ to ♦A; and ♦ discarding a club. I enter dummy with a top spade, and play the 4th diamond ruffing it high. I can now safely draw trumps and still have an entry to dummy to cash winning ♦.
This relies on worst-case 4-2 in either or both reds.

If dummy's ♥9 is covered by the 10 at trick 2, I have a problem in that the above line does not work only when both reds are 4-2. So, it still feels like something worth trying.

[lamford]

 shyams, on 2015-September-03, 11:07, said:

I have 9 winners.

At trick 2, if I put dummy's ♥9 at trick 2, does it win? If it does, I can simply play for a 4-2 ♦ split. ♦ to ♦K; then ♦ to ♦A; and ♦ discarding a club. I enter dummy with a top spade, and play the 4th diamond ruffing it high. I can now safely draw trumps and still have an entry to dummy to cash winning ♦.
This relies on worst-case 4-2 in either or both reds.

If dummy's ♥9 is covered by the 10 at trick 2, I have a problem in that the above line does not work only when both reds are 4-2. So, it still feels like something worth trying.

If you hook the diamond at trick three, it will lose, and they will switch to a spade and you will lack the entries to make it. If the nine holds, your line is very good, winning, as you say, when both red suits are 4-2. However, the expert defender switched to the ten of hearts, and if you win, and play king and another diamond and a third one throwing a club, then West will play a fourth diamond, promoting a trump trick in due course.

Maybe I was a bit mean not telling you which trump he switched to, but you need to cover all bases in a match of the calibre of Israel v Norway. The good news is that you can still make it on the ten of trumps switch. And both red suits are indeed 4-2.

[nige1]

 lamford, on 2015-September-03, 11:48, said:

If you hook the diamond at trick three, it will lose, and they will switch to a spade and you will lack the entries to make it. If the nine holds, your line is very good, winning, as you say, when both red suits are 4-2. However, the expert defender switched to the ten of hearts, and if you win, and play king and another diamond and a third one throwing a club, then West will play a fourth diamond, promoting a trump trick in due course.

Maybe I was a bit mean not telling you which trump he switched to, but you need to cover all bases in a match of the calibre of Israel v Norway. The good news is that you can still make it on the ten of trumps switch. And both red suits are indeed 4-2.

After defenders have cashed a ♣ and switched to ♥T, Helene_t's line seems to work OK. Win ♥J. Finesse ♦J. Win ♠ return with ♠K. Cash ♦K. Cross to ♥9. Ruff a ♦. Draw trumps. Claim.

[lamford]

 nige1, on 2015-September-03, 12:13, said:

After defenders have cashed a ♣ and switched to ♥T, Helen_t's line seems to work OK. Win ♥J. Finesse ♦J. Win ♠ return with ♠K. Cash ♦K. Cross to ♥9. Ruff a ♦. Draw trumps. Claim.

Yes, you can also make it by drawing trumps and squeezing West in the pointed suits. But if they switch to a small trump and the nine loses to the ten, then finessing the jack of diamonds does not work.

[phil_20686]

 wanoff, on 2015-September-03, 10:46, said:

As Lauren might say "Is it though". I'd also finesse J♦ next and if it loses, the only killing defence would be a spade (difficult from Q♠) and even then you'd be ok with diamonds 3-3. Without the spade switch you can cope with both trumps and diamonds 4-2.

I think its pretty easy if you have an even number of diamonds.

There are also other ways this line can lose. like a trump promotion if you play kd and diamond hook into Qxxx, and they might put you to the test by playing a third diamond from Qxx at this point, might you be tempted into ruffing high and hoping for 3-3 trumps? Obv if the 9 holds its a non-problem.

[nige1]

 phil_20686, on 2015-September-04, 05:51, said:

I think its pretty easy if you have an even number of diamonds. There are also other ways this line can lose. like a trump promotion if you play kd and diamond hook into Qxxx, and they might put you to the test by playing a third diamond from Qxx at this point, might you be tempted into ruffing high and hoping for 3-3 trumps? Obv if the 9 holds its a non-problem.

I think Wanoff suggested an immediate ♦ finesse (without first cashing ♦K). If the expert East switched to ♥T at trick 2 (as Lamford reports), then this is an excellent line. Otherwise If the finesse loses, then the main danger is a ♠ return.

[lamford]

 nige1, on 2015-September-04, 12:30, said:

I think Wanoff suggested an immediate ♦ finesse (without first cashing ♦K). If the expert East switched to ♥T at trick 2 (as Lamford reports), then this is an excellent line. Otherwise If the finesse loses, then the main danger is a ♠ return.

Yes, you do put in the nine; if it holds, you duck a diamond. If it loses, you play the trump squeeze on West which might well become a single-suited squeeze when East has 8x, 9x or Tx in diamonds. If the nine holds you are in dummy and cannot take a diamond finesse.

[wanoff]

 lamford, on 2015-September-07, 02:07, said:

Yes, you do put in the nine; if it holds, you duck a diamond. If it loses, you play the trump squeeze on West which might well become a single-suited squeeze when East has 8x, 9x or Tx in diamonds. If the nine holds you are in dummy and cannot take a diamond finesse.

If you're going to talk about esoteric squeezes you should have posted in the Interesting forum. But in this forum, shouldn't it be the best technical line?
As Phil's said it's a non problem if the ♥9 holds, not solved by blocking diamonds.

[lamford]

 wanoff, on 2015-September-07, 04:05, said:

If you're going to talk about esoteric squeezes you should have posted in the Interesting forum. But in this forum, shouldn't it be the best technical line?
As Phil's said it's a non problem if the ♥9 holds, not solved by blocking diamonds.

I was undecided whether to put the hand in "Expert-Class Bridge" or "Interesting Bridge Hands"; my apologies if my decision did not meet with your approval. What swung it for me was that it was played in the final of the European Championship 2014, 15 times in 4♥, and 4 declarers went off. It also featured in the match Israel v Denmark, without any suggestion of foul play, so I quickly decided it did not belong in "Cheating Allegations". I don't think esoteric squeezes are inappropriate in the Expert-Class section, although a composed problem does not belong here.

The question is indeed "what is the best technical line?", and that may well be to play the nine of hearts at trick two if a low heart is led. If it wins, then you play three rounds of diamonds pitching a club, and if the ten of hearts is led round to North you duck a diamond immediately. However, if the nine of hearts is covered, it is not a non-problem, and you can still get home if you read the ending. You win, exit a club, and win the forced heart return in North and cash two more hearts, throwing a diamond and a spade from dummy, in that order (in the wrong order and West can beat you by discarding spades). West throws a club and a spade and this is the likely seven-card ending:

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Now you play three rounds of spades ruffing in hand and cash the king of diamonds, which single-suit squeezes West. If he unblocks the 9 or T, you cover East's card. I think this is the best technical line as well, as West's most likely distribution when he turns up with two hearts is 4-2-4-3 and if East had one of the pointed-suit queens he might have opened the bidding. And the single-suited squeeze also works when East has any doubleton in diamonds, including Tx, 9x, 8x, T9, T8 and 98.

There are alternative lines. Cashing the last trump in the above ending also works, with a strip squeeze on West. Finessing the diamond at trick three is wrong, as someone pointed out, if they switch to a spade. Also, if West has ♥Tx, it may be right to play low from dummy on the heart switch, rather than play the nine.

[nige1]

Lambert writes "I was undecided whether to put the hand in "Expert-Class Bridge" or "Interesting Bridge Hands"; my apologies if my decision did not meet with your approval. What swung it for me was that it was played in the final of the European Championship 2014, 15 times in 4♥, and 4 declarers went off. It also featured in the match Israel v Denmark, without any suggestion of foul play, so I quickly decided it did not belong in "Cheating Allegations". I don't think esoteric squeezes are inappropriate in the Expert-Class section, although a composed problem does not belong here. The question is indeed "what is the best technical line?", and that may well be to play the nine of hearts at trick two if a low heart is led. If it wins, then you duck a diamond, the same line as if the ten of hearts is led round to North. However, if the nine of hearts is covered, it is not a non-problem, and you can still get home if you read the ending. You win, exit a club, and win the forced heart return in North and cash two more hearts, throwing a diamond and a spade from dummy, in that order (in the wrong order and West can beat you by discarding spades). West throws a club and a spade and Now you play three rounds of spades ruffing in hand and cash the king of diamonds, which single-suit squeezes West. If he unblocks the 9 or T, you cover East's card. I think this is the best technical line as well, as West's most likely distribution when he turns up with two hearts is 4-2-4-3 and if East had one of the pointed-suit queens he might have opened the bidding. And the single-suited squeeze also works when East has any doubleton in diamonds, including Tx, 9x, 8x, T9, T8 and 98.There are alternative lines. Cashing the last trump in the above ending also works, with a strip squeeze on West. Finessing the diamond at trick three is wrong, as someone pointed out, if they switch to a spade. Also, if West has ♥Tx, it may be right to play low from dummy on the heart switch, rather than play the nine."

That should teach West not to show his hand to dummy

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[lamford]

 nige1, on 2015-September-07, 14:52, said:

That should teach West not to show his hand to dummy

This was one hand of the set where dummy did not "participate in the play", contrary to Law 43A1(c). The auction seems from the video to be longer than that given, and I think North bid fourth suit before choosing 4H. The Norwegian defender led a top club from AKQT and then switched to a spade, but declarer was now home. The most testing defence of the ten of clubs lead (fourth best, partner) to the jack and a trump switch would have forced the declarer to find the single-suit squeeze, but their signalling methods fell short of showing ♣Jxx during the auction.

http://bridgewinners...e-videos-speak/

is the hand, and page 3 has the details. The video is at

https://www.youtube....h?v=WuztBesThD4

There was a long break for technical Vugraph reasons during this hand.