Hi all, this is with reference to a friend's post about a week ago, planning the play in 6♠ with the K♥ lead. In the original problem he left out the T♥ in the South hand, which could be critical.
There are 2 general lines of play, the first by guessing the clubs and ruffing a heart in dummy (seemed popular), the second by crossruffing after discarding 2 clubs. I was surprised to note that the second line seemed to be dismissed by many. Here's my explanation:
The play goes: A♥, AKQ♦ discarding clubs, club ruff, heart ruff, club ruff, heart ruff.
Now assuming declarer can ruff safely back into hand the 3rd time in one of the minors, he cashes the K♠ and exits the T♥; if W wins, declarer is home (probable from the lead?) and if E takes the trick, S can still "finesse" for the J♠ by ruffing with T♠ on the next-to-last trick.
So if S is able to pull off the play without getting ruffed or overruffed, he can manage either an endplay or at worst a finesse. Note that this line doesn't rely on a favorable trump break (in reality, the trumps broke 4-1 with both AQ♣ offside )
Is this line superior to simply playing a club at trick 2? Appreciate comments.
PS Something to think about for line 1: If at trick 2 a club to the J forces the A♣, then on a diamond return declarer is forced to ruff back into hand TWICE (once to ruff the last heart and once to draw trumps) eventually - entailing substantially higher risks. This is assuming opps will rise with A♣ in a slam seeing AKQ♦ in dummy.