[inquiry]

Ok, you and i would play 7♦ instead of 7NT. And yes, the diamond suit is temporarily blocked unless the queen is singleton. Still, plan the play after the opening lead of the heart two (fourth best or low from three).

If you play low heart from dummy, East plays the heart TEN. If you play the ACE or Queen from dummy, East plays the heart eight.

In addition, rate the "skill" level needed to make the line of play you suggest as best.

---

[FrancesHinden]

There seem to be two viable lines.
i) queen of diamonds singleton, plus a squeeze.
Win the heart lead in hand, cash the AK of spades discarding a heart and a club, run diamonds. My end position before cashing the queen of hearts will be

-
Q7
-
9


J
-
-
AJ

if LHO had the 4-card heart suit, and RHO the queen of spades, I have a double squeeze (LHO is down to two hearts and a club, RHO the queen of spades and two clubs). Also if RHO has the KQ of clubs and the queen of spades, or the KQ of clubs and the long hearts, I have a simple squeeze. I hope to have read which this is by now. Similarly if LHO has the KQ of clubs and the long hearts he has already been simply squeezed.

So this line needs the DQ singleton (let's call that 12%) plus some not wonderful squeeze chances.

ii) Queen of diamonds onside, plus a triple squeeze

Now I win the heart in dummy, play a diamond to the jack, cash the ace of spades (club discard) and run diamonds. I need RHO to have started with approximately

Q109x (or a five-card holding including the Q)
J1098
Qx
KQx (or KQ doubleton)

after five rounds of diamonds we are here:

-
Q765
3
9

..................Q10
..................J10
..................-
..................KQ

KJ8
-
-
AJ10

on the last round of diamonds, East is triple squeezed

this is a very pretty position, but the first line is better, because this one needs pretty much exactly this layout (it also makes some of the time East has singleton DQ as long as he is guarding everything else).

[jdonn]

I think Frances missed the correct line for the first time I can remember. Well she actually found it, but didn't realize it will work much more often than she thought. Line 1 works on 2-2 diamonds (and the squeeze) as well since you can discard the third diamond on a heart. So instead of your 12% plus squeeze chances, it's over 62% (edit: that was a typo I meant over 52%. 40% for 2-2, 12.5% for stiff Q) plus squeeze chances. Not great but not too bad.

I'll rank this one 8.5 out of 10 based on gut feeling.

[Phil]

Resist the urge to do anything crazy here like crash the heart honors.

Win the heart in hand, cash two high spades pitching a club and a heart.

KD, diamond to board (and pray). If they are 2-2, jettison the high diamond on the heart. Run the diamonds and the high hearts to reach:

---

I'll make if:

- the Q♠ is on my right with either or both of the club honors
- the long ♥ is on my left with either or both of the club honors

This one is trickier than the first (hell I may have missed something), because its a combination of unblocking and squeeze technique - but I'll give it an 8/10.

[rbforster]

What about the line where you play for 2-2 diamonds, winning the K in hand, cashing 2 high spades, and then playing to the diamond ace and unblocking the 3rd diamond on a high heart before hopefully running diamonds? This resolves to the same squeeze chances Frances mentioned in her first case I think, without needing as much luck in the diamond suit (Q singleton or 2-2).

[quiddity]

This hand really does play itself; I think just about everyone would win the HK, cash the spades, and hope for diamonds to break. Some declarers might miss the blockage at the table, but when the problem appears the hearts will provide an obvious solution. Only a very strong player would even consider an alternative like the triple squeeze line.

The real difficulty is reading the ending, which requires keeping track of defender's discards and drawing inferences from them, counting several suits, noticing breaks in tempo etc. This is where the weaker players will often go wrong and the experts will almost never go wrong.

[FrancesHinden]

That'll teach me to post answers to play problems when I'm supposed to be revising for exams next week.

[cherdanno]

I disagree very strongly with those who say this is more difficult at the table than the other hand. Sure this is a double squeeze and unblocking and cashing your winners in time, but it is all pretty much automatic technique. The other hand featured a counter-intuitive play at trick one.

I bet many in the last day of LMP would miss the ♦K at trick one, but nobody would miss this one. (I am pretty sure I would get this one right in a robot race, but fail at the other one.)

[inquiry]

This is neat hand, would it surprize anyone for me to suggest that phil got it wrong, and Frances probably should get credit for it, but missed a key line in her analysis... that no one has picked up on yet? As played, I think Frances would have made it, phil certainly would have gone down. How can that be?

This is (almost) an auctomatic hand, but you can play it wrong even when playing automatically. So I am guessing it is not quite as easy as cherdanno suggest.

[suokko]

If LHO holds Q♠ and 4 cards in ♥ and one of ♣ honors there is squeeze so you can finesse clubs in end. (Only if the last cashing trick from dummy is ♥)

[se12sam]

inquiry, on Mar 31 2009, 08:18 PM, said:

This is neat hand, would it surprize anyone for me to suggest that phil got it wrong, and Frances probably should get credit for it, but missed a key line in her analysis... that no one has picked up on yet?  As played, I think Frances would have made it, phil certainly would have gone down. How can that be?

This is (almost) an auctomatic hand, but you can play it wrong even when playing automatically. So I am guessing it is not quite as easy as cherdanno suggest.

I think the missing additional line is the guard squeeze -- where if West has both spade Q and the 4th heart, West has to discard down to zero club cards.

Once West throws a club honor on the last diamond, the finesse at trick 12 becomes obvious

It should work equally well in Phil's set-up. The difference between Phil's position and that by Frances is Phil has yet to cash his last diamond whereas Frances has to cash her winning heart.

[inquiry]

se12sam, on Mar 31 2009, 03:04 PM, said:

inquiry, on Mar 31 2009, 08:18 PM, said:

This is neat hand, would it surprize anyone for me to suggest that phil got it wrong, and Frances probably should get credit for it, but missed a key line in her analysis... that no one has picked up on yet?  As played, I think Frances would have made it, phil certainly would have gone down. How can that be?

This is (almost) an automatic hand, but you can play it wrong even when playing automatically. So I am guessing it is not quite as easy as cherdanno suggest.

I think the missing additional line is the guard squeeze -- where if West has both spade Q and the 4th heart, West has to discard down to zero club cards.

Once West throws a club honor on the last diamond, the finesse at trick 12 becomes obvious

It should work equally well in Phil's set-up. The difference between Phil's position and that by Frances is Phil has yet to cash his last diamond whereas Frances has to cash her winning heart.

Indeed it the actual hand was a double guard squeeze. If you play as Frances did, reducing to the hand to the left, WEST still has to paly on the last diamond (east and south have played.) West has to keep two hearts, and of course the SPADE QUEEN so he will throwsthe club king.

Francis would get it right, because with CLUB-KQ, West would have started teh club king, so the club queen is with EAST. Cash the heart queen and throw away the spade jack

---

Indeed it the actual hand was a double guard squeeze. If you play as Frances did, reducing to the hand to the left, WEST still has to paly on the last diamond (east and south have played.) West has to keep two hearts, and of course the SPADE QUEEN so he will throwsthe club king.

Francis would get it right, because with CLUB-KQ, West would have started teh club king, so the club queen is with EAST. Cash the heart queen and throw away the spade jack

---

This is the point. Francis line is correct, but the hand ALSO makes when club honors are spit and WEST guards both majors.. AS long as you cash the last heart winner after the last diamond winner. The other squeeze chances stay intact playing it this way. I guess I should add, don't throw two hearts from dummy on the spade AK as well.

[Phil]

OK cool - so don't cash the heart Q early. I get it.

(Fix the typo in W in your 1st diagram Ben).

[inquiry]

This was the full hand.

IMP-279          C Laura           Dlr: North 
Board 8525         S                Vul: None
                    H AQ764     
3487               D A76532      emaixner    
S QT43             C 96          S 9762      
H 9532                           H JT8       
D T4             JimBabich       D Q9        
C K83              S AKJ85       C Q742      
                    H K         
                    D KJ8       
                    C AJT5      

10/7/2008  3:35:56 AM 
First  2:37:51 AM, Last  3:38:42 AM

[FrancesHinden]

Quote

Frances would get it right, because with CLUB-KQ, West would have started the club king, so the club queen is with EAST. Cash the heart queen and throw away the spade jack

I know a lot of people would lead the king of clubs from the KQ against 7NT but it's a dreadful lead against a grand. If declarer doesn't have an obvious line for 13 tricks, the one thing you don't want to do is place some of the top honours. If you can find a completely passive lead instead, you should.