[pclayton]

Hi everyone.

Just got flew back from Dallas and boy are my arms tired.

We played well in the NAOP-A: qualified in 5th; were 2nd going into the final session, but had a poor final set and fell to 11th. Oh well I'm happy for the experience and its the highest showing I've ever had in an unrestricted national.

We played in the Open Pairs on Fri / Sat. Did well in the qualifying and were 44th after Day 1. Got absolutely creamed in Day 2 and finished well out of the money.

There were so many instructive hands from the Open. Here's my first.

You are playing against Mike Kamil and Christal Welland.

Scoring: MP

---

Kamil.......Me......Welland......Brian
1♦.....2♣......dbl.......3♣
4♠.....5♣......5♠......6♣
6♠.....Double.....All Pass

You lead the K♣, 2, 5 (upside down), 8

Now what?

[mike777]

Congrats and very exciting, best wishes.


I do not know what the 5 means in your partnership.

I note that in "obvious shift" versus a slam on the lead of an a-k we give count does that help or not? I add this is one of the very very rare cases when we show count.

[hatchett]

What hand does it matter on?
If declarer is 5161 the heart doesn't go anywhere. If declarer is 5071, then i need to give him a diamond ruff, but partner has an impossible hand for his 3c call 3505, although I suspect this is the hand he held, since I don't think he would have bid 6C with 4414 shape, 4 trumps and all their suits splitting badly. I guess it is also possible declarer is 5062, when I need to cash a second club.
For me this would be a count position, if I know a second club isn't cashing I play a diamond.

[jdeegan]

hatchett, on Apr 3 2006, 07:44 PM, said:

If declarer is 5071, then i need to give him a diamond ruff

A diamond. The abovementioned case strikes me as consistent with the bidding, and it is one of two cases (the other is where declarer has another club) where what I do matters.

[mikeh]

If partner is giving count, then the 5 is a particularly awkward card for him to play

If you trust your partner, you have to cash the second ♣. Any switch is an insult to him and loses the slam to 5=0=6=2.

If he held AJ75, he has to play the 5. He cannot overtake because he doesn't know if you have 5 or 6♣s.

If he held AJ753, he should play the 7: the 5 is a sick play with those spots in dummy.

There are partners who refuse to signal with clear cards: they are not good partners. There are good partners who sometimes have a mental lapse and pull the wrong card (I have been known to do this on more than one occasion). But playing the second ♣ has to be right, if not now, then certainly in the long term.

If partner has made a poor play from AJ753, he will learn from the situation. If he has made the right play from AJ75 and you make a fatal switch: what effect will that have on partnership confidence.

[luke warm]

congratulations phil, well done... i'd lead the ♣10