[kayin801]

This is a variation on a hand that came up in a Swiss in Memphis. We lost a swing when the opps stumbled into 7C with our teammates bidding 6NT at the other table. (actual hand diamonds are 4-1 and both spade honors are with S) I will provide commentary in the spoilers since I think it's sort of fun to play with first.

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Case A: 6NT in S on the heart 10 lead
Case B: 6NT in N on a club lead

In both cases, E will have preempted 3H and W will have raised to 4.

Spoiler

In both cases, see what happens if you try to duck a heart, or if you try to test diamonds too soon. In case A, see what happens if W tries to retain a heart to lead through. As best I can tell case A is unmakeable on best defense, which is tough to find, and case B is cold

[xcurt]

Case B is pretty easy, run 5 clubs pitching a spade. This forces West to come down to 3 major suit cards, cash the major winners in the right order and play DA and a diamond, ducked, endplaying him.

Thinking about Case A now.

[xcurt]

Case A looks unmakeable.

If we take the second heart, we can never squeeze West in the pointeds because he discards behind us.

If we take the first heart, the count is not rectified, and west can use his extra idle card to retain a link to the heart winners in the East hand.

[kayin801]

xcurt, on 2012-March-23, 18:36, said:

If we take the first heart, the count is not rectified, and west can use his extra idle card to retain a link to the heart winners in the East hand.

Check this one again You're right that it's unmakeable, but it becomes makeable if W tries to keep a heart.

Also Case B W can unblock, but...

[awm]

Suppose we duck the first heart completely in both hands, win the second heart, and cash five clubs...

[xcurt]

awm, on 2012-March-23, 19:29, said:

Suppose we duck the first heart completely in both hands, win the second heart, and cash five clubs...

Dummy had to pitch on the hearts. We can squeeze East out of his spade guard, but on the last club dummy has to come down to 3 diamonds or two spades in front of West.

[xcurt]

kayin801, on 2012-March-23, 19:12, said:

Check this one again You're right that it's unmakeable, but it becomes makeable if W tries to keep a heart.

I was thinking about the same strip line. West can afford a diamond pitch as long as he has a small heart left.

You are right that declarer can play off 5 rounds of clubs' then west needs to keep 3040 in the 7 card ending, now i declarer plays 3 rounds of spades, West must unblock.

The diamond duck doesnt work because dummy is also squeezed down to 3040 shape. Of course if dummy keeps all the diamonds, west comes down to 2140.

[FrancesHinden]

xcurt, on 2012-March-23, 18:26, said:

Case B is pretty easy, run 5 clubs pitching a spade. This forces West to come down to 3 major suit cards, cash the major winners in the right order and play DA and a diamond, ducked, endplaying him.

Thinking about Case A now.

I've got a much prettier line in case B.
I agree you run 5 rounds of clubs discarding a spade. On the first four rounds of clubs West must discard all his hearts or else you can set up the pointed suit he discards. On the last club dummy and west discard spades.
Now you play 3 rounds of spades. EW can choose who wins the third spade, but whoever wins it is endplayed in a red suit.

This is amusing symmetric, although it comes to the same result.

[HighLow21]

Case A seems unmakeable, and Case B is thoroughly explained above.

[gnasher]

In case A, we cash five rounds of clubs, throwing a spade. West throws a diamond, a heart and a spade on he first three.

If West throws another spade on the last club, we cash three diamonds ending in North, squeezing East without the count. It's a four-card ending where he has to keep three spades and ♥KJ.

Hence West should throw his last heart, keeping his spade guard. If we now play on spades, West has to unblock. If we cash three diamonds, East throws his spade guard on the last one. If we duck a diamond to rectify the count, West's spade return breaks up the double squeeze.

[kayin801]

Yeah, Frances and gnasher hit on what I thought were the cooler points of the hand. Only other thing I have to add is that if you try to test diamonds in case B (perhaps the most 'normal' thing to do, though in retrospect it doesn't really pay to test them immediately), then on the run of the clubs you come down to this ending:

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Now W can win the 3rd spade, but declarer can't untangle the diamond suit. If declarer tries to cash all 3 aces and duck a spade, W can unblock the spade Q under the A and E has to be very alert to go up with the J on round 2.

Edit: think this last part is nonsense, now declarer can play diamond A and heart A in that order, if W lets go a diamond declarer sets up a long diamond and if they let go a spade declarer plays his spade honors and ducks a diamond. This is similar to what xcurt was mentioning earlier.