[nige1]

Harry Smith's LockDown Teams.
West leads ♦5 against South's 6NT and East follows with ♦6.
How would you tackle this?
If you play ♥AK, West follows with ♥58; East follows with ♥4 but then discards ♠7 (normal count).

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[gszes]

trick 1 win in dummy
trick 2 club to the Q
this has the benefit of setting up my 11th trick and might also rectify the count for any squeeze. We might also make some assumptions about the nature of LHO hand if they win and do not try to hit an ace in their partner's hand (there is easily room for one). The only reason for this would seem to be lho holding the spade K. If this is how the defense goes I will go ahead and run the diamonds pitching a heart early and hope the AKQT (hidden) will turn out to be the winning strategy. If the club Q holds the trick I will try to run the hearts (taking the top 3) and running the diamonds while falling back on the spade finesse if the hearts fail to run.

[nige1]

gszes, on 2020-September-25, 22:22, said:

trick 1 win in dummy. trick 2 club to the Q. this has the benefit of setting up my 11th trick and might also rectify the count for any squeeze. We might also make some assumptions about the nature of LHO hand if they win and do not try to hit an ace in their partner's hand. (there is easily room for one). The only reason for this would seem to be lho holding the spade K. If this is how the defense goes I will go ahead and run the diamonds pitching a heart early and hope the AKQT (hidden) will turn out to be the winning strategy. If the club Q holds the trick I will try to run the hearts (taking the top 3) and running the diamonds while falling back on the spade finesse, if the hearts fail to run.

Harry Smith's LockDown Teams.West leads ♦5 against South's 6NT. East follows with ♦6. How would you tackle this? If you play ♥AK, then West follows with ♥58; East follows with ♥4 but then discards ♠7 (normal count).
++++++++++++++++++++
Thank you Gszes. Especially as nobody else seemed to want to comment. Gszes's line is good because running ♦s increases your legitimate chances and gives defenders scope for error. He would succeed when the ♠ finesse works. Another line is to run ♥9 immediately. If it loses and West doesn't hold ♣A, you might survive. The line that I advocate is to win the ♦ opening lead and cash ♥AK. If both follow, then the probability of a 3-3 break increases. You cross to ♦J, and lead a ♣, then cash another ♥, before running ♦s. If an defender shows out on the 1st or 2nd round of ♥, however, then there is an intriguing extra chance. As one door closes, another opens: An avoidance play in ♣s. Lead a ♣ through whichever defender has long ♥s. If the other defender has ♣A and wins it, then you can fall back on the ♠ finesse. If the ♠ finesse would work, then a world-class defender might refuse to win ♣A If, as here, the defender with the long ♥s holds ♣A, then he must duck. Now you can run ♦s to subject him to a squeeze strip

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Here is the 4 card ending.
♠A strip-squeezes West.

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[gszes]

nige1, on 2020-September-26, 02:31, said:

Harry Smith's LockDown Teams.West leads ♦5 against South's 6NT. East follows with ♦6. How would you tackle this? If you play ♥AK, then West follows with ♥58; East follows with ♥4 but then discards ♠7 (normal count).
++++++++++++++++++++
Thank you Gszes. Especially as nobody else seemed to want to comment. Gszes's line is good because running ♦s increases your legitimate chances and gives defenders scope for error. He would succeed when the ♠ finesse works. Another line is to run ♥9 immediately. If it loses and West doesn't hold ♣A, you might survive. The line that I advocate is to win the ♦ opening lead and cash ♥AK. If both follow, then the probability of a 3-3 break increases. You cross to ♦J, and lead a ♣, then cash another ♥, before running ♦s. If an defender shows out on the 1st or 2nd round of ♥, however, then there is an intriguing extra chance. As one door closes, another opens: An avoidance play in ♣s becomes possible. Lead a ♣ through whichever defender has long ♥s. If the other defender has ♣A and wins it, then you can fall back on the ♠ finesse. If the ♠ finesse would work, then a world-class defender might refuse to win ♣A If, as here, the defender with the long ♥s holds ♣A, then he must duck. Now you can run ♦s to subject him to a squeeze strip

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Here is the 4 card ending.
♠A strip-squeezes West.

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After reading Nige1's analysis, I can see little chance My name will ever appear in the newspaper again (associated with bridge anyway) sighhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

[AL78]

nige1, on 2020-September-26, 02:31, said:

Harry Smith's LockDown Teams.West leads ♦5 against South's 6NT. East follows with ♦6. How would you tackle this? If you play ♥AK, then West follows with ♥58; East follows with ♥4 but then discards ♠7 (normal count).
++++++++++++++++++++
Thank you Gszes. Especially as nobody else seemed to want to comment. Gszes's line is good because running ♦s increases your legitimate chances and gives defenders scope for error. He would succeed when the ♠ finesse works. Another line is to run ♥9 immediately. If it loses and West doesn't hold ♣A, you might survive. The line that I advocate is to win the ♦ opening lead and cash ♥AK. If both follow, then the probability of a 3-3 break increases. You cross to ♦J, and lead a ♣, then cash another ♥, before running ♦s. If an defender shows out on the 1st or 2nd round of ♥, however, then there is an intriguing extra chance. As one door closes, another opens: An avoidance play in ♣s. Lead a ♣ through whichever defender has long ♥s. If the other defender has ♣A and wins it, then you can fall back on the ♠ finesse. If the ♠ finesse would work, then a world-class defender might refuse to win ♣A If, as here, the defender with the long ♥s holds ♣A, then he must duck. Now you can run ♦s to subject him to a squeeze strip

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Here is the 4 card ending.
♠A strip-squeezes West.

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That is an impressive and beautiful line. How do you work all that out at the table?

[mikeh]

Nige’s play makes little sense to me, and appears internally inconsistent (I apologize if I’ve misread it).

He suggests cashing two top hearts, crossing in diamonds and leading a club towards his hand. I’m sort of ok with that, though would time it differently. However, after winning the club (I think), he suggests playing for an endgame in which LHO has the club Ace...impossible since LHO would not duck the club Queen.

He also suggests leading a club through the long heart hand, but how does that mesh with playing a club to the Queen after only two rounds of hearts? One is hardly doing this after establishing their putative heart Jack as the setting trick. Plus one looks spectacularly silly on his line (see his 4 card ending) if hearts were 3-3, and how on earth does he know that they are not?

So how would I play it?

It would be nice to try to set up a double squeeze, by leading a club and driving out the Ace. However, to attain the desired club position of Kx opposite x, at the point the squeeze operates, one has to lead to the Queen, and hope to lose to the Ace. All well and good but strong opps can see a squeeze and the best defence is to attack the winner in the doubly guarded suit, so LHO will, having won the Ace, almost always return the suit. Since I gather this is a strong event, I’m not going to play for the error of returning, instead, a diamond (or a fatal major)

Our squeeze chances then become, for all intents and purposes, non-existent: if there is a squeeze, it will because the spade hook wins, so we don’t need it.

What about winning in hand and leading a club up to the king? This has a real attraction, since if LHO has the Ace, he must duck and now we are always going to have the option of playing him for the spade king, and stuffing him in with the Ace. That would require accurate card reading since a skilled defender may stiff the spade King (the earlier the better) and keep Ax in clubs.

I’d go with that line anyway. It’s the sexiest line, and while I’ve been fooled before, and will be fooled again, I like my chances of reading the position, bearing in mind that I can always revert to the spade hook eventually

I love these lines because there is so much room for spy v spy by defenders and declarer. LHO, for instance, could signal possession of the spade King when he doesn’t have it😀

You really have to know who you are playing against.

One of my all-time favourite hands was, in a similar position, playing Mike Passell to have stiffed his club King, and dropping it to score up a game😃. Of course, I remember those triumphs precisely because the Mike Passells of the world far more often beat up on me!

So win the opening lead in hand, club to the King.

If it loses, the play becomes complex, but I expect most lies of the cards to leave me playing for a spade hook.

[nige1]

Harry Smith's LockDown Teams.West leads ♦5 against South's 6NT. East follows with ♦6. How would you tackle this? If you play ♥AK, then West follows with ♥58; East follows with ♥4 but then discards ♠7 (normal count).
++++++++++++++++++++
Just to be clear. It costs you nothing to cash 2 rounds of ♥s. If defenders follow suit, then you test ♣s and ♥s, falling back on the ♠ finesse, if necessary,
When, as here, a defender shows out on the first or second round of ♥s, however, you have extra chances: You lead a ♣ through the defender with the long ♥s.. If he has the ace, then he must duck. Now, ♦s subject him to a squeeze strip.
If the other defender wins the ♣A, you fall back on the ♠ finesse, as before.
If the ♠ finesse is working, then a world-class East might refuse to win the ♣A.

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Again, you reach this 4-card ending, as the cards actually lay.
♠A strip-squeezes West.
What is unusual about this avoidance play is that it can operate against either defender

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[mikeh]

nige1, on 2020-October-06, 15:50, said:

Harry Smith's LockDown Teams.West leads ♦5 against South's 6NT. East follows with ♦6. How would you tackle this? If you play ♥AK, then West follows with ♥58; East follows with ♥4 but then discards ♠7 (normal count).
++++++++++++++++++++
Just to be clear. It costs you nothing to cash 2 rounds of ♥s. If defenders follow suit, then you test ♣s and ♥s, falling back on the ♠ finesse, if necessary,
When, as here, a defender shows out on the first or second round of ♥s, however, you have extra chances: You lead a ♣ through the defender with the long ♥s.. If he has the ace, then he must duck. Now, ♦s subject him to a squeeze strip.
If the other defender wins the ♣A, you fall back on the ♠ finesse, as before.
If the ♠ finesse is working, then an expert defender might refuse to win the ♣A.

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Again, you reach this 4-card ending, as the cards actually lay.
♠A strip-squeezes West.
What is unusual about this avoidance play is that it can operate against either defender

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Say RHO has 5 hearts.

We cash two top hearts and make that discovery.

What is the percentage line for the contract?

That’s easy to estimate. LHO has 8 non- hearts while RHO has 12 non-hearts.

For your line to work, LHO must hold the club Ace. Who do you think is favourite to hold that card?

Meanwhile, once LHO is known to hold 5 hearts, the spade finesse becomes better than 50%. Note that to make on your line not only must the club Ace be in the hand with the fewer vacant spaces but also you need to abandon the spade finesse possibility. You’ve had declarer pitch the spade Queen on the run of the diamonds. Give LHO the 5 hearts and the club Ace, where do you think the spade king rates to be? And if you ‘read’ LHO to have both critical black cards, my line works as well as yours....LHO is squeezed in 3 suits.

What if RHO has the 5 hearts?

Now, if he has the club Ace, your line works (as it does when LHO is long in hearts) but you have the same problem.....it is significantly more likely that LHO holds the club Ace than that RHO does. Now a club to the Queen gets a club back, and you have to hope that RHO has the spade King.....but of course, if he does, the spade finesse was always winning and your low percentage line (the odds of RHO, known to have 5 hearts, holding the club Ace are less than a priori odds of the spade hook winning) was unnecessary.

Having said thus, you have a valid argument that LHO might duck the club Queen, holding the Ace, if he lacks the spade King.

However, you still have the problem that after winning the club Queen, you run the diamonds. If RHO has your spade King, he has to keep Kx in spades and Jx in hearts, so has to pitch his clubs. There is some chance that you’ll be able to read this position, so this argument requires that the hand less likely to hold the club Ace does hold it, ducks smoothly, and declarer can’t read the situation when he runs the diamonds. Seems like a well-under 50% parlay to me.

I think, with respect, that you’ve fallen in love with an admittedly pretty ending, and have, as a result, failed to see that there is a better line available. Put another way, why is your line superior to simply leading a club to the King, regardless of whether one cashes any hearts early? Note that while I don’t cash any hearts before playing clubs, I will pick up a 6-0 break onside before running the diamonds.

[mikeh]

what happened? A few hours back nige1 had posted, making a good point that were we to lead a club to the King, and east won, he’d fire back a spade, forcing us to guess what to do in the majors before we knew what was going on in hearts. Now that post is gone. I’m pretty sure I wasn’t imagining it!

His point is important and I’m embarrassed I missed it. So I think he’s right to cash two hearts early.

If LHO has five hearts, then a club to the King, probably losing, gets the spade back and we have to take the hook.

If rho has the five hearts, then a club to our hand works if LHO doesn’t have the ace. Of course, he’s highly favoured to have that card and, as Nige pointed out in a post, LHO might duck!

Now we’re taking nige’s line, stiffing our spade Ace and throwing east in to lead away from his Jx in hearts, only to have LHO win the club and exit a spade to endplay us😀


Meanwhile, back in the far more common world in which hearts are not 5-1, I would take the line I suggested.

So nice has persuaded me that there is merit to his line if LHO has 5 or 6 hearts, and some merit if rho has that holding, depending on how good LHO is.

[nige1]

mikeh, on 2020-October-07, 18:21, said:

what happened? A few hours back nige1 had posted, making a good point that were we to lead a club to the King, and east won, he'd fire back a spade, forcing us to guess what to do in the majors before we knew what was going on in hearts. Now that post is gone. I'm pretty sure I wasn't imagining it!
His point is important and I'm embarrassed I missed it. So I think he's right to cash two hearts early.
If LHO has five hearts, then a club to the King, probably losing, gets the spade back and we have to take the hook.
If rho has the five hearts, then a club to our hand works if LHO doesn't have the ace. Of course, he's highly favoured to have that card and, as Nige pointed out in a post, LHO might duck!
Now we're taking nige's line, stiffing our spade Ace and throwing east in to lead away from his Jx in hearts, only to have LHO win the club and exit a spade to endplay us��
Meanwhile, back in the far more common world in which hearts are not 5-1, I would take the line I suggested.
So nice has persuaded me that there is merit to his line if LHO has 5 or 6 hearts, and some merit if rho has that holding, depending on how good LHO is.

Sorry, MikeH. I deleted my last reply because MikeH is right and I'm wrong For the avoidance play to operate against either defender, you need another entry to the North hand as in the amended diagram on the left
My mistake is that, in the original diagram, my recommended line is inferior when both follow to ♥AK.
You now need to cross to the North hand to lead a ♣. Unfortunately if ♣Q loses to West's ♣A, he will return a ♣ and you're an entry short to cross to South, to test ♥s, before running North's ♦s. Sorry everybody. I'm cracking up.

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[mikeh]

nige1, on 2020-October-07, 18:48, said:

Sorry, MikeH. I deleted my last reply because MikeH is right and I'm wrong For the avoidance play to operate against either defender, you need another entry to the North hand as in the amended diagram on the left
My mistake is that, in the original diagram, my recommended line is inferior when both follow to ♥AK.
You now need to cross to the North hand to lead a ♣. Unfortunately if ♣Q loses to West's ♣A, he will return a ♣ and you're an entry short to cross to South, to test ♥s, before running North's ♦s. Sorry everybody. I'm cracking up.

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It was a pretty ending and not one that most players would recognize, so don’t beat up on yourself😃

[nige1]

mikeh, on 2020-October-07, 23:42, said:

It was a pretty ending and not one that most players would recognize, so don't beat up on yourself

Thank you, MikeH. I think we now agree that, in the original layout, on the left, the best line is:
Win ♦A. Lead a ♣ to ♣Q.
A. If ♣Q loses to ♣A, then win the ♣ return, cash ♥AKQ, run ♦s. If necessary take the ♠ finesse.
B. If ♣Q wins then cash ♥AK.
B1. If both defenders follow small, then cash ♥Q and continue as in A.
B2 If West shows out on the 2nd round of ♥s, then run ♦s, hoping to squeeze-strip East (as in my original line). -- Paying off to clever West who ducked ♣Q when East held ♠K

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