MP, if it matters. If you disagree with bidding to date, well, the play's the thing here.
West leads the ♣2, East winning with the 9 and returning a low club.
The fact that I've posted this doesn't mean there is necessarily anything clever to the correct line (I don't know what the correct line is), there may be something simple, but I found it difficult to make a plan here, even when the 5-0 heart break has been outlined for you. What would you do?
I was typing out two full lines, but I found ways for the defenders to beat both. Maybe it is instructive to see why they fail:
Spoiler
Ruff low, draw one round of trumps, play the ♥Q. West can hold up twice, allowing East to score two ruffs (returning high clubs each time), and now the defenders have two heart ruffs, the ace of heart, the ace of clubs, and a possible slow diamond (we can only pitch two on the hearts). To get rid of the last diamond we perform a throwin combined with a dummy reversal, see end of the spoiler.
Pitch a diamond on the clubs, and another one on the presumed club continuation. Now East cannot play hearts (they have none) or clubs (into the triple void, allowing us to pitch the last low diamond and ruff in dummy). A spade would let us draw the trumps and then play on hearts, possibly endplaying West into leading a diamond so our queen or ten takes a trick. However, East can return a diamond here if they don't have the king - by now the defenders have three clubs, so a diamond trick (the king with West) and the heart ace would defeat the contract, and they'd even get a heart ruff for -2.
Instead I think we may need to assume the position of the ♦K, in which case multiple lines can work. Placing it with East both lines above are safe - East can never return diamonds away from the king, so when they ruff the hearts they either have to play in the triple void, allowing us to shorten the trumps in our hand and pitch a diamond in dummy, or return spades at which point we have a slow spade entry to the late good hearts.
If the ♦K is with West none of these lines work as East can always just return a diamond, and I don't really see what to do. Maybe we can play a diamond to the queen up early, for example on trick three? Aiming to get two diamonds, five spades, a diamond ruff in dummy and one heart from throwing in West in the ending perhaps?
I am guessing here (not sure if I have this right)
East's play to trick 1 and his ♣x at trick 2 doesn't make sense except if West underled from ♣A.No idea why West would do that (maybe he wants partner to lead back a diamond at trick 2). In any case, East seems to have assumed that declarer ducked trick 1 holding from ♣Ax.
I say play for a singleton ♥A with East (else East's 2♣ overcall is based on 0-0-3-5 HCPs). I am playing for East to have ♠xxxx ♥A ♦Jx ♣KQ109xx
Lose trick 1
Ruff low trick 2.
Cash a top spade at trick 3. It gets messy if spades are 5-0 (no idea how to deal with that one)
Lead ♥9 trick 4. East wins with his singleton ♥A.
Now, If East returns ♦x, we have 10 tricks so he must continue ♣. As long as South discards a diamond on the 3rd club, we still have 10 tricks.
East's play to trick 1 and his ♣x at trick 2 doesn't make sense except if West underled from ♣A.No idea why West would do that (maybe he wants partner to lead back a diamond at trick 2). In any case, East seems to have assumed that declarer ducked trick 1 holding from ♣Ax.
Good point. West had Kxx; I have no idea why East played this way - perhaps 2♥ implied club tolerance and the ♣2 lead then implied Hxx, though even then Ace is more logical. Assume East played the Ace instead But you can safely assume West wouldn't bid 2♥ with four low.
DavidKok, on 2024-July-01, 03:28, said:
I was typing out two full lines, but I found ways for the defenders to beat both. Maybe it is instructive to see why they fail:
Spoiler
Ruff low, draw one round of trumps, play the ♥Q. West can hold up twice, allowing East to score two ruffs (returning high clubs each time), and now the defenders have two heart ruffs, the ace of heart, the ace of clubs, and a possible slow diamond (we can only pitch two on the hearts). To get rid of the last diamond we perform a throwin combined with a dummy reversal, see end of the spoiler.
Pitch a diamond on the clubs, and another one on the presumed club continuation. Now East cannot play hearts (they have none) or clubs (into the triple void, allowing us to pitch the last low diamond and ruff in dummy). A spade would let us draw the trumps and then play on hearts, possibly endplaying West into leading a diamond so our queen or ten takes a trick. However, East can return a diamond here if they don't have the king - by now the defenders have three clubs, so a diamond trick (the king with West) and the heart ace would defeat the contract, and they'd even get a heart ruff for -2.
Instead I think we may need to assume the position of the ♦K, in which case multiple lines can work. Placing it with East both lines above are safe - East can never return diamonds away from the king, so when they ruff the hearts they either have to play in the triple void, allowing us to shorten the trumps in our hand and pitch a diamond in dummy, or return spades at which point we have a slow spade entry to the late good hearts.
Spoiler
Very nice. East did indeed have the K. One small error in the first line - after East ruffs the first heart and returns a club, it's vital to play one more round of trumps before going back to hearts, as otherwise the last trump is a safe exit (while you have a slow entry to hearts in dummy, you still needed the one extra trick from the endplay).
The second line does work if West continues clubs, which is probably likely - though it does go down double dummy at least if West finds an inspired switch to a low heart at trick 3.
Very nice. East did indeed have the K. One small error in the first line - after East ruffs the first heart and returns a club, it's vital to play one more round of trumps before going back to hearts, as otherwise the last trump is a safe exit (while you have a slow entry to hearts in dummy, you still needed the one extra trick from the endplay).
The second line does work if West continues clubs, which is probably likely - though it does go down double dummy at least if West finds an inspired switch to a low heart at trick 3.
I failed to spot that first point, possibly I would have noticed at the table, but this time I honestly did not pause to consider it.
The lead implications led me down a weird rabbit hole, not a good sign. I assumed that 2♥ implied club tolerance (because who would be crazy enough to enter this auction on the second round with A-empty fifth and no contract to run to) and that the ♣2 was third from nothing and consistent with three small, so that West would not win the second club trick. This is straight up incompatible with the small club being returned trick two - in my head it was an honour, and I misread the post.
Help
But you can safely assume West wouldn't bid 2