[MickyB]

Another hand from the English Premier League. HK lead

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[MickyB]

My first few tricks:

Spoiler

I ruffed trick 1, played a spade to the king [both following] and the queen of spades [LHO following], do you overtake?

[PhilKing]

MickyB, on 2012-September-24, 10:19, said:

My first few tricks:

Spoiler

I ruffed trick 1, played a spade to the king [both following] and the queen of spades [LHO following], do you overtake?

Asking "do you overtake?" is a bit of a clue to winning (very pretty) line, but when West follows to the second spade he is almost nailed on to be 2722, since he would surely have led a singleton.

[gszes]

i see 4 possible hands for w to have that gives me a chance
xx KQJxxxx xxx K
xx KQJxxxxx xx K
xx KQJxxxxx xxx void
xx KQJxxxx xx (KJ or JT)
i did not include x in clubs or dia since either of those leads
would be preferable to the heart K.

I can cater to all 4 hand types if trumps are 22. If lho has 3 trumps I
am reduced to hoping for a 33 dia break and pull the last trump and
attack diamonds. If trumps break 22 however I have a much more
interesting lop.

trick 1 ruff heart
trick 2 spade K
trick 3 spade Q to A (trumps breaking 22)
trick 4 low dia (rho must duck or hand is over)
trick 5 heart A (pitch a club)
trick 6 ruff a heart
trick 7 low dia (rho must duck again or hand is over) this will leave us with the following position

9
void
Kx
Q9x

Jx
void
x
xxx

we now lead dia to the K.
if dia break 33 hand is over since spade 9 provides
entry to good dia and all we lose are 2 clubs and a dia

If dia break 42 rho must win and return a dia which we ruff
reducing our 2 hands to

9
void
void
Q9x

J
void
void
xxx

we now exit with a club and remember that lho had a chance to
pitch any endplay club holding on the 3rd/4th round of dia.

so if lho began with void KT Kx Jx Tx xx in clubs we are down
if lho began with K KJ JT there is nothing they can do either
by holding onto their clubs or pitching them on diamonds
as long as we cover the J if lho plays it. If lho pitched offending
club honor(s) all we have to do is play the 9 and the most rho can
do is take 2 club tricks before surrendering a club for trick 10.

The main advantage of this lop over assuming lho began 7222
(very likely) is that it takes advantage of 33 dia breaks on top of
all the 7222 hands where it makes any difference.

[MickyB]

You've almost got the line, Gszes. You can make when LHO holds xx KQJxxxx xx xx.

[MickyB]

The winning line:

Ruff the heart
Trump to king, queen of trumps overtaking when LHO follows
Diamond to the queen
Heart ruff
Diamond to the jack
Heart ace, pitching a diamond
Diamond, RHO is endplayed

LHO holds xx KQJxxxx xx xx, RHO holds xx xxx ATxx AKJT

[sathyab]

I'm going to assume RHO has ♦A and ♣AK for his double opposite partner's w/r preempt. If trumps are 2-2, this seems easy enough. Ruff T1, ♦ to Q, ♠K, ♠A, ♦ to J, ♥A pitching a ♦, ♥ ruff, ♦K. Not sure how good my chances are if trumps are 3-1. If you try to pitch a ♣, eliminate ♥ and throw RHO with ♦A, looks like he can foil it by flying with ♦A on the 2nd round and playing a ♦ back when he still has a trump.

[PhilKing]

sathyab, on 2012-September-25, 16:47, said:

I'm going to assume RHO has ♦A and ♣AK for his double opposite partner's w/r preempt. If trumps are 2-2, this seems easy enough. Ruff T1, ♦ to Q ....

Next! East flies with the East and plays AK and another club, West ruffing the third round.

[gszes]

MickyB, on 2012-September-25, 16:20, said:

The winning line:

Ruff the heart
Trump to king, queen of trumps overtaking when LHO follows
Diamond to the queen
Heart ruff
Diamond to the jack
Heart ace, pitching a diamond
Diamond, RHO is endplayed

LHO holds xx KQJxxxx xx xx, RHO holds xx xxx ATxx AKJT

i liked my lop until i read this one and am ashamed to admit it never occurred to me. It handles
all of the possible variants my lop handled plus anytime lho started with xx in clubs.

[bluecalm]

I don't understand not redoubling.
Nice play though