This hand came up the other night on Bridge Base Online. My partner (not Jenn) had a chance for a great result, but he mis-timed the play. See if you can do better.
He held:
♠ KJ9542
♥ void
♦ AKT42
♣ 76
He opened 1 Spade. The auction proceeded Double, 4 Spades, pass back to him. He decided to take a gamble and bid 6 Spades! LHO led the king of hearts, and he looked at:
♠ AT87
♥ JT96432
♦ 6
♣ 4
♠ KJ9542
♥ void
♦ AKT42
♣ 76
How would you play it? (Hint: it isn't as easy as it seems)
To make it on a cross-ruff, you have to avoid an overruff, as either opponent with Qx will return a trump so you will be a trick short. Alternatively, you can see if you can set up a long diamond and score 9 ruffing tricks, or set up dummy's hearts.
To set up the hearts, you have to play RHO for Qx. Then you can draw 2 rounds of trump, ruff a heart, play the diamond AK pitching a club, ruff a minor in dummy and run the heart Jack. LHO wins and dummy is high. This line would have succeeded.
Trying to set up a long diamond and score 9 trump tricks is an illusion. Try it. You will end up either losing to an overruff and trump continuation, or run out of trumps and end up losing 2 clubs.
The best line seems to be to go for the straight cross-ruff. This succeeds when RHO has at least 3 diamonds and the queen of spades. The play would go:
Heart ruff low
Diamond ace
Diamond king pitching a club
Diamond ruff low in dummy
Heart ruff low
Club ruff low
Heart ruff low
Club ruff low
Heart ruff with the 9
Ruff fourth diamond with the Ace.
Heart ruff with the Jack (and hope it isn't overruffed)
That's 11 tricks, and trick 12 is the spade King.
Good luck!
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2 comments:
I like: D AK pitching a club; Trump to the 8, if LHO follows low. If this wins, H ruff, trump to dummy, H ruff, trump to dummy -if hearts are not good, concede a H and claim (unless hearts were 5-1, in which case very good luck in diamonds is needed. If the first trump to dummy loses to the Q, you need 3-3 hearts.
To MHOBridge:
In view of the bidding, it is likely that LHO is short in spades, and unlikely that hearts will be 3-3. So I don't like your odds. Playing for RHO to have 3 or more diamonds and the queen of spades is a better chance.
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