[kgr]

Kibitzing this hand in F2F game I saw both defender and declarer make an error. I present it as a defence problem because that is least obvious.

Scoring: MP

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You play MP's
You open 2♦ multi, your LHO bids 2♥ raised by your RHO to 4♥
2D-(2H)-Pass-(4H)
All Pass
Your partner start with ♣A and you play low to discourage.
Now you partner switches to ♠9 taken by declarer with the ♠K.
Declarer now continues with a small ♥ to his hand taken by you with the ♥A.
What do you play next?

[david_c]

Is it possible that partner has a sure trump trick as well as the ♣K to take? Declarer would have a very light 2♥ bid in that case, and might have played it differently. So I think I should try and give partner a spade ruff instead. Maybe partner should be helping me by playing a high trump under the ♥A if he wants a ruff.

[awm]

Trump suit preference definitely can be useful here -- if partner is really ruffing a spade I'd expect a high trump spot on the first round.

My normal play here is a club, because this is matchpoints. Most of the time partner does not have a stiff spade or a trump trick, and we are not beating this contract. If I play a spade and declarer wins, we score up -450 (-650) instead of -420 (-620).

[Trpltrbl]

kgr, on Nov 10 2005, 10:15 AM, said:

Your partner start with ♣A and you play low to discourage.

I think you have play the card that shows correct count in the suit, I really hope your pd is smart enough to see that you don't have any ♣ cards.

GBB

[mikeh]

If partner can ruff ♠, one wonders why declarer didn't cash ♦. For partner to ruff ♠, declarer has 9 or more likely 10 cards in the majors. If he is 1=2 in the minors, why is he playing in this fashion?

I suspect that declarer is more likely 3=6=2=3 or something similar and we lose our ♣ trick if we do not take it.

[Winstonm]

I don't see much in this except the possibiltiy of losing our club trick -seems a minimum for this auction would be:

Axx
KQxxxx
Jx
xx

or he got real aggressive with:

Axx
KQxxx
Jx
xxx

Either way I'd better return a club before it goes away.

[Winstonm]

mikeh, on Nov 10 2005, 03:55 PM, said:

If partner can ruff ♠, one wonders why declarer didn't cash ♦. For partner to ruff ♠, declarer has 9 or more likely 10 cards in the majors. If he is 1=2 in the minors, why is he playing in this fashion?

I suspect that declarer is more likely 3=6=2=3  or something similar and we lose our ♣ trick if we do not take it.

[QUOTE]MikeH I suspect that declarer is more likely 3=6=2=3 or something similar and we lose our ♣ trick if we do not take it.

I suppose it's normal for Canadian declarers to hold 14 cards as a "spot", eh?

:P

Winston

[Walddk]

Indeed, so how can you trust them to govern the seagulls around Hans Ø???! Canucks probably can't tell the difference between a seagull and a rhino.

Roland

[mikeh]

[quote name='Winstonm' date='Nov 10 2005, 05:08 PM'] [quote name='mikeh' date='Nov 10 2005, 03:55 PM']If partner can ruff [sp], one wonders why declarer didn't cash [di]. For partner to ruff [sp], declarer has 9 or more likely 10 cards in the majors. If he is 1=2 in the minors, why is he playing in this fashion?

I suspect that declarer is more likely 3=6=2=3  or something similar and we lose our [cl] trick if we do not take it.[/quote]
[QUOTE]MikeH I suspect that declarer is more likely 3=6=2=3 or something similar and we lose our ♣ trick if we do not take it.

I suppose it's normal for Canadian declarers to hold 14 cards as a "spot", eh?



Winston [/quote]
I find that my chances of a successful squeeze are enhanced by my having 14 cards. It works against both opps, but crystalizes one trick earlier against the opp with only 12 cards. (Make sure you never take the extra card from dummy... that is really embarrassing).

[mikeh]

Walddk, on Nov 10 2005, 05:12 PM, said:

Indeed, so how can you trust them to govern the seagulls around Hans Ø???! Canucks probably can't tell the difference between a seagull and a rhino.

Roland

Rhinos are thick-skinned, beady-eyed, ill-tempered, horny and none-too-smart critters....... I am going to stop right there......(I was running out of '-'s)

There have been very few sightings of rhinos on Hans O in recorded history. And those few reports are of doubtful authenticity.

[Winstonm]

I find that my chances of a successful squeeze are enhanced by my having 14 cards. It works against both opps, but crystalizes one trick earlier against the opp with only 12 cards. (Make sure you never take the extra card from dummy... that is really embarrassing).


I would think this stategy would make the repeating squeeze an odds-on favorite to work most every time.

Winston

[Rebound]

Walddk, on Nov 10 2005, 06:12 PM, said:

Indeed, so how can you trust them to govern the seagulls around Hans Ø???! Canucks probably can't tell the difference between a seagull and a rhino.

Roland

OT: I'll say that I can tell the difference between a great ugly beak and a big fat behind LOL

[kgr]

I think that North did only have 4 diamonds.
Here is the full hand:

Scoring: MP

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After taking the ♥A, West did return a ♠ taken by South. The South player is a 'beginner/interm' and did ruff a ♠, did get Easts trump and then played ♦'s.
I think that even intermediates should see that they always have one more trick to loose - have one fixed looser left - and that the only possibility is a squeeze. They should not even know how the squeeze will work, but they should see that there is no way to make an extra trick. So why not run the ♥'s? Maybe one of the defenders will error when discarding, ...or you never know: you make you first squeeze. (I thought to post this squeeze hand in the beginner forum, but maybe Roland would ban me then )
This was the last hand of the evening. Everybody scored 4♥= ; if you make 4♥+1 here then you get an absolute top. This is MP's: scoring that extra trick can be more important then bidding and making a slam.