Covering the JS with teh AQ in dummy when the closed hand had shown five seems a weak play.

At the table, I think I would have tried ducking the opening lead (hoping for a continuation) and, if the KS did not show up, using that card as the endplay card.

That is, if West will eventually win the KS, the hearts will always offer a safe exit to transfer the lead to East. Thus, the only chance of an endplay seems to be to get the hearts out of play before trying spades, and essaying this as early as possible offers declarer the best chance.

Far be it from me to criticize an expert declarer, but it seems that once you decide not to take the spade finesse, you must find the diamond queen onside. Either that, or rely on a mis-defense. Because of the mirror distribution, you will always lose two diamonds when the queen is offside – even in the case where East has the diamond ace and you have managed to strip everything else and put West on lead.

Consequently, it looks like the best you can do – percentage-wise – is to just take both the spade and diamond finesses and hope one of them works.

Let me clarify – before it is pointed out – that playing the diamonds your self before the side suits have been eliminated does not work. So, given that, you would have to play clubs first and rely on a 4-3 split

As usual, more to the had than it might appear at first glance…

I take it all back – the more I think about it, the more complex the possibilities… and the more I think Mr. Huang probably took the best line.

Hi Jim2 and RogerM,

At the table where the King of Spades was covered South had opened 1NT, not 1 spade, making it not unreasonable for West to cover as he probably didn’t dream that declarer had five of them and declarer, after the cover and, if missing the ten (unlikely) might repeat another spade finesse for the ten.

A hand like this requires correct table presence more than technique and although Patrick has usually been as good as anyone can be, he guessed wrong on this hand, but against a quality opponent.

Perhaps the lesson which could be learned is a heretofore small blimp in the process. “The less one tells opponents about his hand (opening 1NT instead of 1S) the better the chance for a misdefense”.

I think the line chosen by the declarer was clearly best even if it was doomed. The reasoning has to be that if the QD is in the West hand, you need to keep East off the lead or not lose a spade trick. So, lead the spade towards the board and play the A hoping the K is singleton. Then lead a heart hoping West has to win the trick and also holds the KS. When East could win the heart tricks and the queen sat wrong, all was lost. Yes, the finesse would have saved the contract by not losing a spade trick, but if the 10S and KS were switched, you would lose when the declarer’s line drops the K and wins. And if you switched the 4H for one of East’s heart honors, again, the line chosen wins.

The only thing I don’t understand is the comment that if you switch the diamond Q and spade K, the line chosen is the only one that wins. If the diamond Q is in East’s hand, shouldn’t the contact always make regardless (within reason, of course) of the line chosen?

Per the bidding when the JS was covered, the column contains the following:

“In the other room, after South had opened one no-trump and North transferred into spades, he jumped to three spades.”

I presume the “he” in “he jumped” refers to South/declarer. It seems certain that such a jump must show four spades, even if not five.

Assuming the closed hand has four spades and the board has five to the AQ, is there any holding for the defense that gains when the JS is covered by the king doubleton?

Ah, I see what you meant now.

You’re saying that Liu hoped that his partner had the 10x of spades and that South might on the next round try to finesse Liu for it. Okay, I can see that, though South could easily have had J10xx for the jump.

Still, I understand now.

On further reflection, what I wrote falls apart because there wasn’t really any hope that West would win the second heart trick. If he had the JH, he would led from the top, not the bottom. And you can’t duck the first heart unless you believe East won’t find the switch. And, as it happens, even if he didn’t, hearts would still be a safe exit as declarer is still losing two diamonds even after the ruff-sluff.

Tough hand.

Hi Everyone,

The tale of this exciting hand played in Japan,
could be thought of similar to the “Murder on the Orient Express” especially with names like Huang and Liu among the main actors.

Instead of everyone being the murderer in the detective tale, everyone including the analysts had much to say, some right immediately, others right eventually. And its best feature, no one lost his life and everyone seemed to understand exactly what was involved, not to mention no one got in Dutch, except the hero who opened 1NT instead of 1 spade.

After further analysis, what should West lead, after ducking with the king of spades and having Patrick go up with the ace but then after stripping the clubs declarer leads a heart which you win, cash the king of spades and then holding either A98, A97, or A87 of diamonds West should then lead one of his low diamonds and with partner cooperating and saving his queen (unless declarer covers with the 10), back to down one goes the declarer.

There are many other combinations of diamonds as long as N&S have their exact same holding which also does declarer in, even though East has the queen and West the ace.

Speaking of further analysis, what is the correct technical line if, with no entry issues, one holds J9xx in hand with dummy holding the AQ8xx?

Leading the JS concedes a trick to K — 10xx. Should the JS fetch the KS, one still has to choose – as you alluded – between playing for K10x — x and Kx — 10x.

Hi Jim2,

Yes, the jack is only the right card, if either the bidding or the play suggests that the defender sitting underneath the AQ is likely to have three instead of his partner. Of course, with the actual holding, the jack from J9xxx facing AQ8xx is 100% a necessary play and to not lead it, is a serious mistake, if one intends to finesse.

I suspect that Patrick never intended to finesse if his jack was not covered. At that high level of play, if West held the K10x, he should not cover, though many lesser players would, his thinking being that the declarer either just led the jack to tempt him into covering, so his only hope to score a trump trick is to have declarer decline the finesse altogether. The key for that thinking is that West was certain that declarer had at least 3 spades (probably more) so that his ten of spades was only window dressing and did not enter into declarer’s decision since he obviously held either 3, or more likely 4, or even 5 which makes the jack a mandatory play.