Conference turris::bridge

  I win the DQ with DA, and run HJ, presumably losing to HK.  Much
 will depend upon their subsequent defense.  If it goes D to DJ,
 and a club to force dummy, I am down to trying to hold my trump
 losses to one.  This may or may not be possible after two ruffs
 in dummy.

  bb

    True to my rule to set-up side-suits asap, I'd do likewise as .1. 

I am undecided after reading the base note about whether LHO (South)
has the SQ ("senior citizen doubles with values in the trump suit")
or RHO (North) has it based on his opening bid.

I'm pessimistic about making 3S against an accurate forcing defense.
I assume at least HK is wrong and if Spades are 4-1 with South
holding 4, I don't think I can make this contract.

If I count RHO's HCP I get CA(4) + CJ(1) + DQ(2) + ?. LHO probably
has the CQ to go with his CK. The missing high cards are DKJ, HK
and SQ. If South has the DKJ both HK and SQ rate to be with RHO.
The fact that South did not switch to a H after CK gives me
hope that Hearts are not 4-1, though dummy's H holding might
discourage a H lead even if S has a singleton. Of the possible
hands I can attribute to S that'll let me make, xx-xx-KJxxx-KQxx
or xx-x-KJxxxx-KQxx are more likely than Qxx-xx-Jxxxx-KQx.

Hence DA, C ruff, SK, ST covered by SJ if North does not cover,
followed by SA drawing trumps. As long as the finesse against the
SQ works, I can make even against 4-1 in H by giving up a H now, while
the initial H finesse runs the risk of a H and/or D ruff resulting
in a set.
    
Obviously the foundation for all this reasoning is weaker than the deck
of cards I'd be playing with, so with my luck, LHO would show up with
Qxx in Spades and I'd go for a number :-).
    
Shekhar

I come close to reaching the same constructions as Shekhar, but then come to a different 
conclusion. I find it hard to believe that LHO would double with no aces and (probably) KQ 
in their partners suit without significant "extra" defense. I think that defense is in the 
form of the SQ and a singleton heart, i.e. a hand like, Qxx,x,Jxxxx,KQxx or Qxxx,x,Jxxxx,KQx

I would play a spade to the ten and exit a diamond. No matter how the opponents wiggle 
I can no hold my losers to 2 additional tricks, the HK and either a club or a spade.

I doubt if I would find this at the table, but the strange looking play of a diamond at
trick 4 seems to preserve most, if not all of the winning options. An awful lot depends on
the layout and the subsequent defense. That play enables you to better discover the true hand 
layouts.

Can anyone find a serious fault with the diamond play?

re.: .4

I considered the D option at trick 3 instead of trick 4. It seemed to
offer the advantage of letting me discover who had the DK, since RHO
has no more than 2D. The problem there is that, if North wins and puts
me on the board with a club, getting back to hand, taking the S finesse,
cashing SK and getting back to hand again using D ruffs no longer works.
Trying to play the hand along cross ruff lines yields: 1D, 1H, 2C ruff,
SK, SA and 2D ruff (which might not work if N has S98).

Hence, the key to the hand seems to be to accurately place the SQ
at trick 3 AND to find it no worse than tripleton.

The proposed solution works as long as Spades are 3-2. With 4 Spades
in the South hand, there'll always be 3 black suit losers to go with
two red suit losers.

I think both lines are feasible - and since my luck has been indifferent
lately, I'll vote for Bob.

Shekhar

P.S. Bob, your lines are overflowing.
    

I come close to reaching the same constructions as Shekhar, but then come to a 
different conclusion. I find it hard to believe that LHO would double with no 
aces and (probably) KQ in their partners suit without significant "extra" 
defense. I think that defense is in the form of the SQ and a singleton heart, 
i.e. a hand like, Qxx,x,Jxxxx,KQxx or Qxxx,x,Jxxxx,KQx

I would play a spade to the ten and exit a diamond. No matter how the 
opponents wiggle I can no hold my losers to 2 additional tricks, the HK and 
either a club or a spade.

I doubt if I would find this at the table, but the strange looking play of a 
diamond at trick 4 seems to preserve most, if not all of the winning options. 
An awful lot depends on the layout and the subsequent defense. That play 
enables you to better discover the true hand  layouts.

Can anyone find a serious fault with the diamond play?

re .5

Shekhar,

But you can make with spades 4-1 and hearts 4-1 with the diamond play at trick 
3!

Watch one example. Say that LHO is 4-1-5-3 and that the opponents force with a 
club while in with the diamond. You ruff on board, cash KS (important to keep 
RHO from a potential uppercut), ruff a diamond, ruff a club, cash HA, and ruff 
a diamond. Here's the situation:

LHO	You	RHO
S Qxx	AJ	
H	JT	Kxx
D J		
C		A

When you exist with the HJ the opponents can't do anything to keep you from 
making the SJ!

The more I think about this hand the better the diamond play looks.

Bridge is a fun game.		

  I see the D play at trick 3.  My main concern is that if LHO has
 6 diamonds, RHO starts to pitch, and I'm getting into horrible
 dummy exit problems.  I could even go down with both majors 3-2
 and the heart finesse on !

  Nevertheless, it has advantages.  If LHO wins DJ and switches to
 a heart, will you finesse ?

  bb