[pilowsky]

This was played in 3NT by 8 pairs and no-one made it.
How would you go about it?
In every case a Heart was led.
The ♥9 was led.

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[mikeh]

That lead makes this a very poor contract but I can’t see how to avoid it without being able to see through the back of the cards.

At mps, I might take a slightly different line, but might not. What follows is certainly my line at imps.

Spoiler

I am assuming my heart guess at trick 1 is irrelevant…RHO has KJ. So I win in hand. I’ll cash the diamond AK, hoping for the Queen to drop, but setting up one or two winners for the opps should a black suit hook lose. Which is why I’m not 100% sure I’d do this at mps. But I do think it’s the best line to make. If the queen appears, I only need one black suit to come in for 4 tricks. Which one I tackle depends on who has 4 diamonds. But if the diamond queen doesn’t appear, I need both black kings onside, so I’ll lead the spade queen. If covered, I lead a low club, playing for Kx (stiff king helps but not enough)

If the club Jack wins, cash the Ace. If the king drops, I have 4 clubs, 2Diamonds a heart and my two spades.

If the club Jack wins but the Ace doesn’t drop the king, then low spade to the 9, hoping for K10x onside.

Note that west can and should give me a problem if he holds 109x in clubs….on low to the Jack he needs to play either the 9 or the 10, giving me a losing option of playing him for 109 tight…now spade to the Jack and lead the club Queen. That’s a mandatory falsecard in expert circles

[pilowsky]

Thanks Mike.
Turns out that playing ♦ first doesn't work.
The full hand is linked here.
I wasn't sure if there was a reasonable line that one could be expected to find or if it was just 'one of those hands'.

[mikeh]

I don’t understand why you posted this hand. There is no way to make, so what’s interesting about it?

[pilowsky]

mikeh, on 2023-November-10, 17:37, said:

I don't understand why you posted this hand. There is no way to make, so what's interesting about it?

Not true.
It is makeable.

[mikeh]

pilowsky, on 2023-November-10, 17:47, said:

Not true.
It is makeable.

Technically, you are correct. But nobody would ever play the hand that way in real life. The line I gave has a significantly better (although low) chance of winning. To make, you have to assume that hearts are 7=2 and that west has the club king, such that you tackle clubs by leading from your hand after winning trick one!

Hands that can be made double dummy but which can’t be made by playing well are not hands that I find interesting.

[pilowsky]

mikeh, on 2023-November-10, 19:01, said:

But nobody would ever play the hand that way in real life.

And nobody did.
The reason I was interested in an expert perspective was to see if there was something 'expert' that we plebs (the hand is from a club game) had missed.
For a club player, it's always worrying to discover that a hand is makeable DD if we don't know that making IRL is unlikely.
I was a little surprised that only one person made a 2♥ overcall.
I was also interested to know if that kind of interference would be a good idea and if it would help declarer.

So, interesting to me.

[jillybean]

I have to ask, how do you use double dummy to improve? Perhaps the answer is, you don't.

[AL78]

pilowsky, on 2023-November-10, 20:04, said:

I was a little surprised that only one person made a 2♥ overcall.

Probably because it is a dreadful overcall, although I've seen worse at my club.

[pescetom]

jillybean, on 2023-November-10, 20:34, said:

I have to ask, how do you use double dummy to improve? Perhaps the answer is, you don't.

By trying to spot the solution looking at all four hands but without using the computer to help, using the computer anyway if not, then asking yourself (or better players if necessary) if there was any reason to follow such a line at the table.

It won't help you learn declarer techniques, but it will help you to evaluate their application and think more flexibly.

[johnu]

mikeh, on 2023-November-10, 19:01, said:

Technically, you are correct. But nobody would ever play the hand that way in real life. The line I gave has a significantly better (although low) chance of winning. To make, you have to assume that hearts are 7=2 and that west has the club king, such that you tackle clubs by leading from your hand after winning trick one!

It also looks like declarer has to play spades by leading the ♠9 when in dummy after using a club entry to smother the 8 to set up 2 additional spade tricks before West gets in with the ♦Q.

I have seen lines of play like this in real life, or at least in online ACBL games. The hands were played by people accused of self-kibitzing.