[nige1]

League of 8 Match (imps).
Bread and butter deal.
3N by South. ♠9 lead. Plan the play?
Suppose you duck, RHO takes his ♠K, and he switches to a small ♥.
Now, what's your best hope?
And how do defenders thwart you?

---

[Phil]

I didn't really duck that spade did I?

[nige1]

 Phil, on 2016-October-26, 16:32, said:

I didn't really duck that spade did I?

At our table, declarer ducked -- but defenders failed to take advantage.

[alok c]

1.duck the ♥.
2.♥ by West, small from dummy.
3.Cash 3♦, finesse ♣Q,cash ♣A.
East is to keep ♥Q & if he does'nt discard ♣K then lead a♣.East can take ♣k &♥Q .Rest is declarer's.If East keeps 2nd ♥ then all♠ are good.

[johnu]

 alok c, on 2016-October-26, 21:57, said:

1.duck the ♥.
2.♥ by West, small from dummy.
3.Cash 3♦, finesse ♣Q,cash ♣A.
East is to keep ♥Q & if he does'nt discard ♣K then lead a♣.East can take ♣k &♥Q .Rest is declarer's.If East keeps 2nd ♥ then all♠ are good.

If East discards a club and a spade on the diamonds (AQ are still the only spade tricks), how do you continue?

[Cyberyeti]

You can try winning the second heart, crossing to dummy in spades and exiting a heart. Now they can thwart you in 2 ways I think. either play a club immediately or cash the 4th heart (dummy has to discard a club to keep the spades and diamonds) and just duck a club in both hands.

[alok c]

 johnu, on 2016-October-27, 03:43, said:

If East discards a club and a spade on the diamonds (AQ are still the only spade tricks), how do you continue?

OP said defenders failed to take advantage imo i.e by East not discarding a ♣ or playing ♣K at the first two ♣tricks played by South.Without this mistake it can'nt be made.

[nige1]

Phil is right that declarer should have risen with dummy's ♠A, for an easy make.
At the table...

• Declarer ducked the opening lead to my ♠K
• But I switched to a ♣ giving declarer an easy ride

After declarer ducked the ♠, RHO can defeat the contract by switching to a ♥.
Declarer's best hope is to win ♥A and immediately exit in ♥s.
Suppose defenders win the next 2 tricks with ♥Q and ♥K. What now?

[Cyberyeti]

 nige1, on 2016-October-27, 09:12, said:

Phil is right that declarer should have risen with dummy's ♠A, for an easy make.
At the table...

• Declarer ducked the opening lead to my ♠K
• But I switched to a ♣ giving declarer an easy ride

After declarer ducked the ♠, RHO can defeat the contract by switching to a ♥.
Declarer's best hope is to win ♥A and immediately exit in ♥s.
Suppose defenders win the next 2 tricks with ♥Q and ♥K. What now?

Haven't they erred by cashing the third heart, doesn't a club switch at that point sink you easily.

Now W has to switch to a high diamond and discard his heart if you cash spades while E has to discard a club if you cash diamonds.

[nige1]

After declarer mistakenly ducks the ♠, and LHO leads a ♥, declarer's best hope is to win ♥A and exit in ♥s.. Suppose opponents cash ♥Q and ♥K leaving LHO on lead. As cyberyeti says, LHO must exit with a ♦ to defeat the contract. The defence is doomed if LHO cashes the last ♥...

Declarer and dummy discard ♣s.

If LHO continues with ♦J, then declarer cashes the ♦ and ♠ winners, subjecting opponents to a non-simultaneous double squeeze. LHO must keep a ♦, RHO must keep a ♠, so declarer finesses ♣Q and makes 3 ♣ tricks.

LHO can disrupt the ♣ communications by exiting in ♣s; but that "isolates the ♣ menace". It leaves only one opponent with a ♣ guard. That opponent will succumb to a simple squeeze, when declarer cashes the appropriate pointy suit.

---