rainbow@ihlts.UUCP (Robert) (01/16/86)
I had a most interesting hand come up. We bid an aggressive 6NT with the QD lead, east pitching the 8S. How did I make my contract? There was no defensive lapse and the opponents were good players. AKT9x S W N E Axx ------------------------- x 1D P 1S P AQJx 1NT P 2C(1) P 2H P 4NT(2) P xx 6NT P P P Kxxx AKTxx (1)-forcing Kx (2)-invitational ******************************************************************** My first impression was that west must have QJ8xx of spades, else he just set up my spade suit for the contract. There is a remote chance he had Qxxx, but that means he didn't have any other worthless pitch unless he is sneaky enough at trick one to realize what your problems are. In any case, the line of play you choose should try to cater to as many distributions as possible, in particular emphasizing the likely ones, so the first order of business is recognizing which possibilities exist that will still allow the hand to make. One possibility is to take away west's exit cards and throw him in with a diamond. His diamond return is your eleventh trick and now east is squeezed in the majors. This requires west to have no more than one spade and two hearts. Another possibility is to set up the spade suit. This requires west to have a stiff honor or any doubleton. The last possibility is to strip west of his black suit cards and hope to throw him in on the third round of hearts. This gives you three heart tricks and three diamond tricks to make the contract. Note this line can be foiled if west unblocks, so its somewhat risky. So, you must set about getting a count on the hand, yet leaving your options open. Cash two club. If west shows out you have no choice but to go after spades. You cannot make the hand if west holds four hearts. You are also dead if west shows up with 5 clubs. Cash another club. Pitch a diamond. If west had only a doubleton, you must now decide whether to play for the heart throw-in or set the spades up. Your guess. Since my table presence tells me east has QJ fifth of spades, I'd go for the heart throw-in. Cash the AS to cater to the stiff honor possibility. Then two hearts ending up in dummy(or whichever way you feel you can catch west sleeping at the wheel). Cash another club pitching another diamond. Now exit. In actuality, west followed to all three rounds of clubs. This leaves west with 3 major suit cards, maybe only 2. My hopes were very optimistic at this point. east's possible hands(assuming east has the spades stopped as announced) are: 0-3-7-3 1-2-7-3 2-1-7-3 0-2-7-4 1-1-7-4 2-0-7-4 The problem with cashing another club is that I commit myself to some line because I don't know whether west will follow suit. I don't have a safe pitch. Both opponents played clubs up the line giving me no clues. I could throw a heart which caters to all but the first hand. But I could cash a spade instead which leaves all options open. If west is void in spades, you now must take a guess at 0-3-7-3 or 0-2-7-4. I think the latter case is much more the favorite because the former would be hoping for too much. Cash the hearts and clubs and exit with a diamond. If west must return a diamond, east will become squeezed in the majors shortly. If west follows with a spade honor, just set up the spade suit. If west follows with a spade(as was the case), you now have these possibilities: 1-2-7-3 2-1-7-3 1-1-7-4 2-0-7-4 Well, now you have eliminated any need to play for a heart throw-in. So cash another club and pitch a heart. If west shows up with four clubs, enter your hand with the heart. If west has a heart, throw him in with a diamond. Hand over. If west doesn't have a heart, cash the diamond and set up the spade suit. The heartentry on dummy has been carefully preserved. Hand over. If west shows up with 3 clubs(as was the case), you have these possibilities: 1-2-7-3 2-1-7-3 You must now guess which heart to play first. If west has two hearts, you must end up in your hand on the second heart to execute the diamond throw-in. If west has only one heart, you must win the first heart in your hand in order to set up the spade suit and keep the entry to dummy. Your guess. As I mentioned before, I didn't think the spade suit was going to come home, so I played two rounds of hearts ending in my hand. When west followed to both, this was the position: KT9x x - - - QJx - JT Jxxxx - - - x x ATx - I exited with a low diamond. West was forced to win and return a diamond. The position now: KT9 - - - - QJ - J Jxx - - - x x A - I cashed the AD pitching a spade and east squirmed for a while before parting with a heart. Hand over. It was fun to say the least.