[pescetom]

MP

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So (one way or another) as West you ended up in 4♥.
You receive the lead of ♦4.
How do you plan to proceed?

[EDIT] If you play a high diamond now, South covers with the Ace and returns ♣3.

[mikeh]

I’ll hold off until others have replied but there’s a minor point that every good player gets right almost without conscious thought….and it’s at trick one. It is?

[smerriman]

mikeh, on 2022-December-15, 18:18, said:

It is?

Leave the opponents guessing about the ♦3?

Other than playing a high diamond and the 6, I'll defer my plan until I see what South does next.

[AL78]

mikeh, on 2022-December-15, 18:18, said:

I’ll hold off until others have replied but there’s a minor point that every good player gets right almost without conscious thought….and it’s at trick one. It is?

I'd be inclined to think the lead is a singleton and I am going to lose the first two tricks. Happened once in a teams game when LHO led a diamond after I had shown five in the auction and dummy came down with three, which motivated me to take a very deep finesse later in the play (I was right about the layout).

[pescetom]

smerriman, on 2022-December-15, 18:33, said:

Other than playing a high diamond and the 6, I'll defer my plan until I see what South does next.

South covers with ♦A and returns ♣3.

[pescetom]

Too easy for I/A?
Yet nobody in the club made Par.

[smerriman]

Oops, forgot to come back to this.

I guess I would win, ruff a club, throw a club on the ace, ruff spade, ruff club, ruff spade, and draw trumps.

But I admit I'm a little baffled since I was sure North's diamond was a singleton, and if so South should be able to get us down 1 by giving North a ruff at trick 2, contradicting the title of 4♥ being par.

[mikeh]

smerriman, on 2022-December-17, 14:48, said:

Oops, forgot to come back to this.

I guess I would win, ruff a club, throw a club on the ace, ruff spade, ruff club, ruff spade, and draw trumps.

But I admit I'm a little baffled since I was sure North's diamond was a singleton, and if so South should be able to get us down 1 by giving North a ruff at trick 2, contradicting the title of 4♥ being par.

A of diamonds, diamond ruff sets up the diamonds. Now if hearts are 2=2, after north scores his ruff, and he has the heart ace, you’re cold. You’re also cold if north was 2=1 in the reds, regardless of who has the heart ace.

As for the best line of play, I don’t think it’s clear, although knowing the auction might help. It’s even possible that north has Jxx or Jxxx in diamonds…..in the latter case, it’s south who wants the ruff. North had to lead something and if west has shown clubs, he’s not leading that suit…a diamond might be tempting.

I do think it to be a bit odd, if south started with AJxx, for him to switch to a club rather than the ‘obvious’ trump….whether it’s truly ‘obvious’ may depend on the auction of course, if the diamond ace was stiff, a club will probably seem at least as ‘obvious’ as a trump.

I’d like to know the calibre of my opps before committing to a line.

[pescetom]

smerriman, on 2022-December-17, 14:48, said:

contradicting the title of 4♥ being par.

The Par was 4♥+1, but I thought that might be a spoiler... sorry if you found that misleading.

smerriman, on 2022-December-17, 14:48, said:

I guess I would win, ruff a club, throw a club on the ace, ruff spade, ruff club, ruff spade, and draw trumps.

Looks fine to me and maybe some already got this wrong... but if N with ♥A ducks trumps twice then you still have to get the spades/diamonds discard right and make the right decision when he plays ♦9.
It's late (hope I made no confusion), full hand tomorrow.

mikeh, on 2022-December-17, 15:28, said:

I’d like to know the calibre of my opps before committing to a line.

Nothing like the level you are imagining or used to, welcome to a club
Nor is the layout extreme, N had ♦J94 and ♥A63.
The table I saw led 4♦ and returned 3♣, unfortunately I didn't see how it developed.
But most were in 4♥ making, plus a couple of 3NT that made by luck and a 5♦ that made by error.

[pescetom]

MP

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Here is the full hand.