[WesleyC]

IMPs, All Vul. Short auction.

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LHO leads the ♥K, RHO follows with the ♥4 (UDCA).

Spoiler

Whatever Heart pip you play, West continues with a second heart

[billw55]

Looks like I am probably going down on a heart ruff before I ever get in. I guess I will play the ♥5 in a likely futile effort to get west to switch.

[WesleyC]

billw55, on 2015-November-04, 09:29, said:

Looks like I am probably going down on a heart ruff before I ever get in. I guess I will play the ♥5 in a likely futile effort to get west to switch.

Spoiler

I guess you should get partial credit because the ♥5 is a futile effort! You score -50. (the same score as me )

Try again!

[billw55]

WesleyC, on 2015-November-04, 10:09, said:

Spoiler

I guess you should get partial credit because the ♥5 is a futile effort! You score -50. (the same score as me )

Try again!

Spoiler

But a higher heart is more easily recognizable as a falsecard: if east wanted to discourage, and held the ♥5 or ♥6, he would play that one, not the ♥4.

An opponent who is fooled by the ♥7 but not by the ♥5 is misunderstanding the situation.

[WesleyC]

Spoiler

In this spot, where attitude/suit preference is obvious, I think it's fair to assume that your RHO is giving count! Put yourself in LHO's shoes for a second...

[Cyberyeti]

billw55, on 2015-November-04, 09:29, said:

Looks like I am probably going down on a heart ruff before I ever get in. I guess I will play the ♥5 in a likely futile effort to get west to switch.

It's more likely from W's PoV has E 4 than I do, I play a true card, the 3.

[billw55]

Cyberyeti, on 2015-November-04, 13:07, said:

It's more likely from W's PoV has E 4 than I do, I play a true card, the 3.

How can that work? Playing the ♥3 makes it obvious that east is encouraging, which he would not do with xxxx or xxx.

[billw55]

WesleyC, on 2015-November-04, 11:39, said:

Spoiler

In this spot, where attitude/suit preference is obvious, I think it's fair to assume that your RHO is giving count! Put yourself in LHO's shoes for a second...

Attitude is not obvious. West needs to know if east can ruff the third round or not.

Also I see that you added a spoiler to the OP, but without enough information. Which heart does west lead at trick 2, and what does east play on this?

I am starting to wonder if the punch line is that west doesn't have the ♥A.

[Cyberyeti]

billw55, on 2015-November-04, 13:16, said:

How can that work? Playing the ♥3 makes it obvious that east is encouraging, which he would not do with xxxx or xxx.

Depends if your instinct is to give count or attitude, lead of the K 90% has the A behind it with QJ10x on the table, so surely you signal upside down count.

[billw55]

Cyberyeti, on 2015-November-04, 14:24, said:

Depends if your instinct is to give count or attitude, lead of the K 90% has the A behind it with QJ10x on the table, so surely you signal upside down count.

OK, so the plan is to hope that west interprets the ♥4 as even count, either 2 or 4, and switches to a club in case it is 4. I suppose that could work.

[Cyberyeti]

billw55, on 2015-November-04, 15:48, said:

OK, so the plan is to hope that west interprets the ♥4 as even count, either 2 or 4, and switches to a club in case it is 4. I suppose that could work.

It's not a great plan, but it's the best one I have

[nige1]

WesleyC writes "IMPs, All Vul. Short auction.
LHO leads the ♥K, RHO follows with the ♥4 (UDCA)."

Spoiler

Whatever Heart pip you play, West continues with a second heart

IMO

Spoiler

You might play ♥36, hoping that LHO thinks RHO was dealt ♥8754 or ♥9874

---

[WesleyC]

The key idea that Cyberyeti and nige picked up is that you need to play the ♦3. This gives you by far the best chance if West holds ♥AK98. Essentially, the is just an extension of playing the card that you are known to hold. In the analogous situation, where the opponents play natural signals and RHO played the second highest heart, you should play the highest heart.

Bill's point that if the opponents are signaling attitude, they can't go wrong is a fair one. However, I do think that almost everyone will be signalling count here, especially on the lead of a King. And anyway, you might as well give yourself *some* chance rather than none.

The full layout was:

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So West knows that a second heart is cashing but when they do cash the ♥A and the ♥9 falls they've still got a problem. A reasonable agreement in this situation is to always play smallest and then 2nd highest from 4 which would solve the problem. Alternatively if West read the ♥9 as (impossible) suit preference for spades, then maybe that would also help them find the winning defense.

[jodepp]

Play the ♥6 (slightly preferable to the 5 - there are more possible holdings for West to ponder that make the 4 discouraging).

Playing low can't be right, given the problem parameters.

[atlantajon]

The only chance here is to confuse the OPPS into thinking that I am ruffing the next heart and NOT LHO.... this I might be able to do if I play the 5 on trick 1....conceiling the 3...then following with the 6.....hoping to confuse RHO into thinking his partner is playing from 349...and trying to show the Q of spades...this might entice him into trying to cash ace of clubs....to beat the contract...rather than giving the ruff. It's a real long shot....but really the only play I have. If they are playing UDCA.....if standard carding then I need to play the 6 first followed my the 3.....same idea.