[dwar0123]

2/1 imps.

---

4♥ lead, regardless of what you play on dummy, east will play the 5♥

Best line of play?

If and when you play a 2nd round of hearts.

Spoiler

East shows out.
If you duck to the king, west wins and returns a diamond.

[gnasher]

Win in hand, then lead another heart honour from hand.

If trumps are 3-2, I have a trump entry to the diamonds.

If RHO has ♥Kxxx he has to take the king (or I play two more rounds of hearts) and play back a diamond, but I can just lead diamond winners through him.

If LHO has ♥Kxxx, I'm going to need the other suits to lie very well. LHO takes the second heart and plays a diamond, then I cash two more diamonds throwing clubs. If LHO had four diamonds, I throw my spade loser on a diamond and then ruff my club loser. If diamonds were 3=2, I take the spade finesse.

This post has been edited by gnasher: 2012-March-23, 04:43

[dwar0123]

gnasher, on 2012-March-23, 02:49, said:

Win in hand, then lead another heart honour from hand.

If trumps are 3-2, I have a trump entry to the diamonds.

If RHO has ♥Kxxx he has to take the king (or I play two more rounds of hearts) and play back a diamond, but I can just lead diamond winners through him.

If LHO has ♥Kxxx, I'm going to need the other suits to lie very well. LHO takes the second heart and plays a diamond, then I cash two more diamonds throwing clubs. If LHO had four diamonds, I throw my spade loser on a diamond and then ruff my club loser. If diamonds were 3=2, I take the spade finesse.

Very nice, abandoning any chance at capturing the K♥ is the right move at imps but was just a little bit beyond me at the table.

This line seems 100% on any 3-2 heart distribution and maximizes your chances with 4-1.

The actual distribution was lho had 4♥ 3♦ and a small stiff ♠. So your line would work, my naive line would have worked had lho had two spades, but he ruffed when I finessed in desperation after being trapped on board having previously used a spade for transportation.

[Antrax]

Thanks gnasher, this one drove me nuts. BTW, just to make sure, the reason you said to win the first round in hand is that you haven't read the spoiler in the first post, right? There's no advantage in leading Q from hand over small to Q?

[dwar0123]

Antrax, on 2012-March-24, 00:28, said:

Thanks gnasher, this one drove me nuts. BTW, just to make sure, the reason you said to win the first round in hand is that you haven't read the spoiler in the first post, right? There's no advantage in leading Q from hand over small to Q?

Just to double check my own understanding I'll try to answer for him.

I believe it is to retain a high heart in dummy for a late 3rd round trump entry which might be necessary on some possible break/defenses. Taking a low heart in hand and then leading out the 10 of hearts forces the king out(in a 3-2 break), allowing you to choose which hand to end in when drawing the 3rd round of trump(you still retain the ace).

For example, after losing the king of hearts in a 2-3 break, they return a diamond. You will want to pull the last round of trump while staying in dummy so you can safely run the diamonds.

[Antrax]

My understanding agrees with yours, except it's not what I've asked.

[gnasher]

Antrax, on 2012-March-24, 00:28, said:

Thanks gnasher, this one drove me nuts. BTW, just to make sure, the reason you said to win the first round in hand is that you haven't read the spoiler in the first post, right? There's no advantage in leading Q from hand over small to Q?

I'd read the spoiler, but my answer was about how to play it single-dummy. Winning in hand and leading another honour from hand preserves the jack in dummy. This is necessary when LHO has ♥Kxx, and still makes the contract when RHO has Kxx or Kxxx. The only reason for leading the second one from hand is that that's where I happened to be at the time.

If I knew that LHO had ♥Kxxx, I'd have won in hand, ruffed a club, crossed to a spade, ruffed a club, cashed two diamonds throwing the last small club, finessed in spades, and then played trumps. It sounds as though that wouldn't have worked.

This post has been edited by gnasher: 2012-March-24, 12:39

[gnasher]

dwar0123, on 2012-March-23, 12:23, said:

The actual distribution was lho had 4♥ 3♦ and a small stiff ♠. So your line would work, my naive line would have worked had lho had two spades, but he ruffed when I finessed in desperation after being trapped on board having previously used a spade for transportation.

I think I would have gone down too: ♥9; ♥10 to LHO's king; three diamonds throwing clubs; spade to the jack; club ruff in dummy. Now I have all the tricks I need, but I'm stuck in dummy. I can't ruff a dimaond to hand because that promotes a trump, so I have to hope that a second spade stands up.

In fact, shouldn't you have made it? ♥J, heart to the queen and LHO's king; three diamonds throwing clubs; spade to the jack; club ruff in dummy. Now you're in the same position as me, except that you have ♥A109 left. You can afford to ruff a diamond high to get back to hand.

[nige1]

dwar0123 asks "2/1 imps.4♥ lead, regardless of what you play on dummy, east will play the 5♥"
Best line of play?

Gnasher seems right: as usual. It slightly better to win with dummy's ♥6 and finesse ♥Q because, for example, sometimes, you
- make an overtrick or
- avoid a trump promotion or
- handle a bad diamond break.

---