Strul met Lall at R32 of the Vanderbilt. Surprisingly there was only one two digit swing in the third quarter and that was a pretty interesting one:

The Lalls reached four hearts on an ugly auction: 1N-2H-(X)-3H-4H. Brogeland started with the queen of diamonds and the lack of dummy entries meant that declarer couldn’t discard his losing diamond on the established club. Lall went for a spade-club squeeze line but it didn’t work because North had the king of clubs.

Monaco’s top players reached three notrump (the redouble showed three hearts):

Allegaert led a diamond. Helgemo took in hand and played the king of hearts. Shivasdani won and continued diamonds. After this it was easy nine tricks with the help of the spade finesse. Go back where Shivasdani took the heart and reconstruct the hands! Partner didn’t bid over the redouble so probably has no four card unbid suit. Declarer shape should be 4333. He must have the king of spades, hearts and diamonds and one top honour in clubs. If partner has the ace of clubs the line chosen by Shivdasani beats the contract. Is there a way to beat it if declarer has the ace?

Yes, if partner has the king and the jack. South must duck the first heart, take the second and play a club. Declarer must duck this and North can switch back to diamonds. Declarer has nine trick but can’t untangle them. Which line should South choose? One works when partner has the ace of clubs. The other when he has the king and the jack. While the latter needs partner’s cooperation (not trivial), with the ace of clubs the three notrump bid is much more likely (not only to bid on, but to bid three notrump, not four hearts; as you can see if declarer has king-jack of clubs four hearts makes easily). I think in an expert game South should try the duck and club approach.

There were two small technical errors - in my opinion - at the first two tricks. South should play the jack of diamonds on the first round, not the ten. The information about the highest card in a sequence is much more valuable than the information about the lowest card. Incidentally it makes easier for North to switch back to diamonds. The other was Helgemo’s king of hearts. If he starts with a small one South might think that partner has king doubleton so take the first trick and the contract cannot be defeated any more.

You can replay the hand here.

Well, it has been a long time since my last post and I cannot promise they will be more frequent. Anyway I hope you enjoy them.