I'll give the play a shot in a bit, but first the bidding. For me, your pard's hand is not remotely close to a 2
bid. If the
Q were the
A then yes. I can see a possible reason for doing so if the agreements were as follows: First he bids 2
, then, after what will often be 2
by you (as far as he knows) then he will bid 3
, and the agreement this shows both minors. Not a crazy agreement, but also not an agreement I have with anyone.
With your pard's hand I bid 2
. If the auction dies there I play 2
. If the auction goes on then next I bid 3
to show both minors and enough values to bid twice (or maybe I am forced to bid twice, as below).
So, if I am playing with my clone, after your double and their silence, it goes 2
, 2
(I am assuming you do this) and then 3
by me. Actually after the 2
I might iD 4
. My 2
could have been on nothing so 4
says I have something. I would not call 5
a great contract but with at least most of the missing high cards with the opening bidder it's not the worst contract in the world. We need both minor suit queens onside.
At any rate, my first response speculated that the 2
might be because he was not sure the hand belonged in spades, and yes, that seems to be why he did it. I think he needs more values, but that seems to be his reason.
Now the play. I suppose I might check their cc to see about leads. It appears that they lead small from 3 or 4 to the J, but might as well check, maybe they lead third from Jxxx. I am inclined to place Rho with six hearts because of the non-bid of 3
on my left, but then again they are vul so maybe it's just sensible restraint on his part. I also might check to see if they are playing Flannery. If they are then Rho will not have four spades and five hearts.
What are we to make of the defense? Rho seems to not be worried that I might toss a
on dummy's long !Ds. But let's think about clubs. Could the club switch be on a stiff? Yes, it could. Maybe it is.
If spades are 3-3 I can take four spades and four diamonds, and in fact I can do that if Rho holds four spades if I choose to finesse. That's a little tricky since Lho does not have much but he could have the
J. Although he will not have both the
j and the
Q. So let's see. After the D !j is covered by the Q suppose I go back to the board in trump and lead a small trump. If Rho has played small so far, including this third round, I play the T. If it holds I cash the last trump dropping his J and claim 4+0+4+2 tricks. If it loses to the J now I assume the
Q is on my right. I am only taking three spade tricks, not four, but they can take their heart trick, I ruff then next heart with my last trump, take my
, finesse the
.
So I think I will be making this if Rho holds either 3 or 4 spades. If he holds 2, so Lho holds 4, this line might not work so well.
Not foolproof, but a reasonable line I think. Except it assumes that Rho made a mistake. No reason to come up with the
Q. Stiff? Well, perhaps.