[Wackojack]

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8♥lead to Ace and 10. North returns 6♥ to Q and K, declarer discarding the 2♠ from dummy. South continues with 2♥ and this time declarer discards the 2♦ from dummy and North plays the 5 and declarer wins with the J♥. Next declarer plays 4♠ to the King, South playing the 5 and North the 3. Then declarer plays the 10♠ frpm dummy and when North played the 6, he let it run (playing the 7) which lost to the Jack. The defence proceeded to take 8 tricks.

Questions to the less experienced players.

1. Comment on the first spade discard.

2. Why was running the 10♠ the worst thing that declarer could do?

3. Say you were declarer and instead threw 2 diamonds from dummy. What do you think is the best play when you are in with the J♥.

This is a hand from last sunday's BBO Forum Indy. I realise that sometimes when the spotlight is on you that thinking clearly is not easy, so please only polite criticism.

[NickRW]

Wackojack, on 2016-January-13, 04:39, said:

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8♥lead to Ace and 10.

You've got N as declarer. E & W don't have the 8♥ to lead in the first place. I assume you meant E had opened 1NT, not N?...

[Wackojack]

Sorry East opens 1N and all pass

[DavidChinn]

1) Best chance for four spade tricks is 3-3 or J doubleton, so better to avoid a spade discard
2) If spade finesse fails, the contract goes down (defense getting at least 1S, 4H, and 2D)
3) ♠A, ♠K, then ♠T if Jack has appeared. If not ♠Q. If spades are 3-3 cash last ♠
Then I would try ♣K, finesse ♣J, overtake ♣T with Ace

[Wackojack]

DavidChinn, on 2016-January-13, 21:13, said:

1) Best chance for four spade tricks is 3-3 or J doubleton, so better to avoid a spade discard
2) If spade finesse fails, the contract goes down (defense getting at least 1S, 4H, and 2D)
3) ♠A, ♠K, then ♠T if Jack has appeared. If not ♠Q. If spades are 3-3 cash last ♠
Then I would try ♣K, finesse ♣J, overtake ♣T with Ace

1. Absolutely right.

2. Yes true. Moreover, suppose the Jx♠ is over the 10. Then North covers with the 10 and eventually South will score the 9. In other words running the 10♠ only works for half the 3-3 breaks and never works for any 4-2 spade breaks. So as you say best play the way you say.

3. OK you throw a 2 diamonds from dummy and then when in with the Q♥ which is the best suit to play first? Suppose you play off the spades first. Then the only way you will make 5 club tricks is if the Q drops when you play the King. OR you run the J♣immediately and it wins. Otherwise the clubs become blocked. So you must play on clubs first. Play the K first to see if the Q drops. Then play the Jack. Now suppose South has Qx. South does not know if you also have the 10. Suppose you had only ♣KJ. Then it would be right for South the cover with the Queen in order to promote partner's 10. So it would be a very outstanding South (or perhaps a complete novice) either not to cover with the Queen or at least hesitate. In fact f2f if South hestitaed you must let it run. On BBO a hesitation might be because the cat wants to get out so not so certain.

Sorry this is not quite right and I have no time to edit this properly as I have to go out right now. So I wait to be corrected.

[Cyberyeti]

Wackojack, on 2016-January-17, 04:51, said:

1. Absolutely right.

2. Yes true. Moreover, suppose the Jx♠ is over the 10. Then North covers with the 10 and eventually South will score the 9. In other words running the 10♠ only works for half the 3-3 breaks and never works for any 4-2 spade breaks. So as you say best play the way you say.

3. OK you throw a 2 diamonds from dummy and then when in with the Q♥ which is the best suit to play first? Suppose you play off the spades first. Then the only way you will make 5 club tricks is if the Q drops when you play the King. OR you run the J♣immediately and it wins. Otherwise the clubs become blocked. So you must play on clubs first. Play the K first to see if the Q drops. Then play the Jack. Now suppose South has Qx. South does not know if you also have the 10. Suppose you had only ♣KJ. Then it would be right for South the cover with the Queen in order to promote partner's 10. So it would be a very outstanding South (or perhaps a complete novice) either not to cover with the Queen or at least hesitate. In fact f2f if South hestitaed you must let it run. On BBO a hesitation might be because the cat wants to get out so not so certain.

Sorry this is not quite right and I have no time to edit this properly as I have to go out right now. So I wait to be corrected.

2: works for ♠98 south, but yes it's horrible.

3: Unfamiliar with the terminology, but presuming matchpoints, there are other possible considerations here, taking a losing club finesse is -200, cashing AK is -100 if the Q doesn't drop. There are several ways of going anti field here which might be a good shot. Pitch 2 diamonds and either hook the club or play a spade to the K and hook the club the other way making lots of tricks if you're right, but risking a disaster. In the US this auction would be standard, in the UK it would not and you would have to compare against contracts of 2♠ and 2 or 3♣ also.

[Wackojack]

Cyberyeti, on 2016-January-17, 06:49, said:

3: Unfamiliar with the terminology, but presuming matchpoints, there are other possible considerations here, taking a losing club finesse is -200, cashing AK is -100 if the Q doesn't drop. There are several ways of going anti field here which might be a good shot. Pitch 2 diamonds and either hook the club or play a spade to the K and hook the club the other way making lots of tricks if you're right, but risking a disaster. In the US this auction would be standard, in the UK it would not and you would have to compare against contracts of 2♠ and 2 or 3♣ also.

Yes I said in my OP that this was last Sunday's BBO Forum Indy which is MP there being 5 tables.

OK with Acol 12-14 no trump. The auction might well go 1♠-2♠-pass. It is not clear how this might be played even assuming a heart lead. So I see no reason to go anti-field if it is not the best odds. Playing a spade to the King and hooking the club the other way is really poor odds.
If it loses to the Q, then you are 2 off if you are very lucky and 5 off if unlucky.
If the 10 holds, then all you make if North has Qxxx is 7 tricks if spades 4-2 and 8 tricks if spades 3-3. Yes of course you make lots of tricks (9 or 10) if North has ♣Q, Qx or Qxx, but that chance is less than 50%.

[Cyberyeti]

Wackojack, on 2016-January-17, 11:26, said:

Yes I said in my OP that this was last Sunday's BBO Forum Indy which is MP there being 5 tables.

OK with Acol 12-14 no trump. The auction might well go 1♠-2♠-pass. It is not clear how this might be played even assuming a heart lead. So I see no reason to go anti-field if it is not the best odds. Playing a spade to the King and hooking the club the other way is really poor odds.
If it loses to the Q, then you are 2 off if you are very lucky and 5 off if unlucky.
If the 10 holds, then all you make if North has Qxxx is 7 tricks if spades 4-2 and 8 tricks if spades 3-3. Yes of course you make lots of tricks (9 or 10) if North has ♣Q, Qx or Qxx, but that chance is less than 50%.

Yes and some acol weak pairs play 5 card majors or 5 card spade, so they may play 2 or 3 clubs depending on whether they play inverted.

I think playing ♣KJ retaining dummy's K♠ is not bad odds as if you make 5 club tricks you will beat any of the alternative contracts and do no worse than tie anybody in 1N, if the finesse loses, if you're lucky, you may still tie them and this is actually pretty likely.

[Wackojack]

Cyberyeti, on 2016-January-17, 15:10, said:

I think playing ♣KJ retaining dummy's K♠ is not bad odds as if you make 5 club tricks you will beat any of the alternative contracts and do no worse than tie anybody in 1N, if the finesse loses, if you're lucky, you may still tie them and this is actually pretty likely.

Yes indeed. As I said, if you play ♣K and then the ♣Jack, you may well have your problem solved because South holding Qxx may well cover because that is the correct play if declarer has KJ doubleton.

The point about this hand is that clubs should be played before spades and ♣K then ♣J gives you the best odds. If I am wrong please tell me.

[Cyberyeti]

Wackojack, on 2016-January-17, 15:28, said:

Yes indeed. As I said, if you play ♣K and then the ♣Jack, you may well have your problem solved because South holding Qxx may well cover because that is the correct play if declarer has KJ doubleton.

The point about this hand is that clubs should be played before spades and ♣K then ♣J gives you the best odds. If I am wrong please tell me.

Maybe, if you think nothing works. Playing clubs first can lead to theoretically -300 and a complete bottom. Playing spades first then ♣AK leads to -100 if the spades are not 3-3 or J(x) and the Q♣ doesn't drop, and better if either black suit behaves, but you won't run all the clubs barring a stiff Q.

[Wackojack]

Fualty reasoning

Cyberyeti, on 2016-January-17, 16:56, said:

Maybe, if you think nothing works. Playing clubs first can lead to theoretically -300 and a complete bottom. Playing spades first then ♣AK leads to -100 if the spades are not 3-3 or J(x) and the Q♣ doesn't drop, and better if either black suit behaves, but you won't run all the clubs barring a stiff Q.

Play AK♣first and Q does not drop and spades don't behave then you make 6 tricks. Play off top spades first and then top clubs even if the Q♣comes down on the second round you only make 6 tricks when you could have made 9 tricks had you played clubs first. Go with the odds.

[Cyberyeti]

Wackojack, on 2016-January-19, 11:45, said:

Fualty reasoning



Play AK♣first and Q does not drop and spades don't behave then you make 6 tricks. Play off top spades first and then top clubs even if the Q♣comes down on the second round you only make 6 tricks when you could have made 9 tricks had you played clubs first. Go with the odds.

Yes ♣Qx is more likely than ♠Jx, but my point was that you don't necessarily have to hook the club.

[NickRW]

Erm. Can't we put this more simply given the forum we're in here. Finesses aren't always the best option and keep the entry position fluid.