[EricK]

According to 'The Rodwell Files', this hand illustrates the merits of a passive approach by declarer:

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West led ♠A and another ♠ eliminating the suit. So now declarer (Meckstroth) 'was happy to postpone playing either minor' and played ♥Q. West won, played a ♣ to T and K. Meckstroth drew trumps and played a ♣ towards his hand. East won and played a ♦, leaving West endplayed.

I must admit that this line of play would never occur to me, and I would have played a ♣ towards hand, drawn trumps via a finesse and finesse ♦. This line also leaves West endplayed as the cards lie, but seems to work in most other plausible lies of the card.

So what exactly was Meckstroth catering for when he spurned the ♥ finesse which is surely odds on from the bidding?

[kenberg]

Of course neither Meckwell is waiting for me to give him advice but I don't get it either. If I were going to forgo the heart finesse I think I would at least play ace and another heart. The king rates to be where it is, and with W holding six spades there is a reasonable chance for it to be Kx. As it was played, why would W not just take the king and return a heart? That may not suffice, but I don't see the point of returning a club. Perhaps I am misreading? I gather from your description a heart was played at trick 3.

I have been meaning to buy the Files. This will not deter me

By the way, I think a thread that questions high level play or high level advice is a very good idea. Even Homer nods,as the saying goes, I was watching a very high level player on Vugraph a while ago and it really seemed to me that his chosen line was not the best. I know we see all four hands, but I try to take that into account.

[gwnn]

I think the point is that most of the time club honours will be split. Not sure.

[kenberg]

Perhaps:

E has shown the Q of spades. It is possible he has the king of hearts. Maybe not likely, but possible. But then surely he has nothing else. Now suppose S decides he can make the hand playing as he did even if he gives up a heart on his left that he could have won. I still think he should play ace and another heart if this is his plan. But anyway, he is trying to allow for the king being on his right and everything else on his left. Perhaps leaving the minor positions fully intact is the right way to do this.

It would require laying out a large number of hands to see if this is really right, but I can imagine it might be.

Gtw, you said the club went to the T and K. Did you meant the J and K? The T is in the S hand as you have them shown.

[EricK]

kenberg, on 2012-November-03, 07:54, said:

Gtw, you said the club went to the T and K. Did you meant the J and K? The T is in the S hand as you have them shown.

Yes. The hand diagram is as in the book. East played the ♣J on the 4th trick