[pclayton]

Here's an interesting hand Chris Larsen gave me from their GNT match against Marshall Miles.

His partner Joe Kivel held:

♠A642 ♥A3 ♦J752 ♣753

LHO opens 1♦ (unbalanced, and I believe, limited to a 15 count (Josh: can you clarify?)) and pard doubles. Your call?

Personally I would bid 2♠, but Chris thinks its an overbid. Joe bid 2♠ as well, and settled in 4♠:

Scoring: IMP

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The opening lead is the ♦K. Remember LHO is unbalanced. You win the A and play a spade to the Ace and LHO drops the 10. Now what?

[Apollo81]

What are their other openings?

[jdonn]

I wasn't even there but I have played on teams with him playing this system a lot, and against him playing it at the table a lot. In fact I believe he mentioned me in his book about it, it kind of went down like this. I reviewed the book and made some suggestions, including a particular auction where his followups were awful. So he took my idea that I think was really good, rearranged it into some idea that is far worse (though better than what he originally had), and gave me credit for it. Gee thanks

His 1♦ opener is about good 11 to bad 15 (lots of upgrading excellent 15s and 14s out of the bid and downgrading lousy 16s into it), and essentially just denies a 5 card major and shows either one or both minors. It tends not to be very maximum if it has a 4 card major. It does promise an unbalanced hand.

For Noble, 1♣ is strong but limited, about 15-19.
1M is natural 5+, less than a 1♣ opening
1NT is 12-14.
Higher bids are either preempts, or all the various 20+ hands.

I also believe 2♠ is an overbid, though not a huge one.

[Fluffy]

I don't seem to be in the same wavelenght since I think 2♠ is clear :/

for the play, I don't see anything better than ruffin 2 ♥ in hand hoping LHO has 2254 or 2245, so play 2 trumps and ruff a ♥ in hand.

[Dwingo]

I would like to see the line of play on a 4 - 1 trump break. I couldn't crack it.

[Impact]

Offhand if the trumps are 4-1, it may be crucial to get the C ruff in early, so it appears to me that the next move is a C towards the K.

It looks very complicated, but if the ST is a true card, the only time you pick up the SQ directly is if S are 2-2 (relevantly likely 2-2-4-5, 2-2-5-4, 2-4-5-2, 2-4-2-5 ignoring 6 card suits for LHO as unlikely on the combination of bids and play).

Of that subset, the absence of D "raise" and assumption that the DK would be KQ tight probably means you eliminate 2-4-2-5.

Of the hands with ST singleton you want to avoid the risk of anearly pitch by RHO of a C (if C are 5-3), so play the C now prior to even considering a second trump....

You are down if the CA is not onside (2C losers and 2 D losers or D ruffs) off the top.

I think I would play to engineer the H ruff, then the C ruff before leading the 4th H off the board...but almost certainly insufficient thought

[pclayton]

Impact, on Apr 12 2007, 06:06 PM, said:

Offhand if the trumps are 4-1, it may be crucial to get the C ruff in early, so it appears to me that the next move is a C towards the K.

It looks very complicated, but if the ST is a true card, the only time you pick up the SQ directly is if S are 2-2 (relevantly likely 2-2-4-5, 2-2-5-4, 2-4-5-2, 2-4-2-5 ignoring 6 card suits for LHO as unlikely on the combination of bids and play).

Of that subset, the absence of D "raise" and assumption that the DK would be KQ tight probably means you eliminate 2-4-2-5.

Of the hands with ST singleton you want to avoid the risk of anearly pitch by RHO of a C (if C are 5-3), so play the C now prior to even considering a second trump....

You are down if the CA is not onside (2C losers and 2 D losers or D ruffs) off the top.

I think I would play to engineer the H ruff, then the C ruff before leading the 4th H off the board...but almost certainly insufficient thought

This is a good start, but I'll explain later how I think its slightly inferior to something else.

3. The ♣K wins.
4. You exit a club and RHO wins and plays a heart.

Proceed.

[Codo]

1. In France and Germany 2 Spade had been clear cut. It shows 8-10 HCP and 4 Spades, exactly what I have. If this is an overbid in their system, it depends on their system...
2. I cannot win after this start if east has Q875 of spades . They get a diamond, a club, a diamond ruff and the queen of spades.
3. Hadn´t it been an idea to duck the first diamond? If they are 4-2 or better it may be nice to force west to play to the second trick. If the diamonds are 5-1 this will fail very quick, but I don´t know if I have better odds after winning the first trick. Okay, after East returned a Heart after winning the second club, 5-1 seems to be a certanity.
4. I have a club and two diamond loosers for certain, (as long as I cannot endplay west with the second club, quite unlikely)... So I am not allowed to give up a spade or a heart. I will try to play West for QT,xx,KQxxx,AQxx or so. . So I hope to win AKJ9 of spade, 2 Heart, two heart ruff, A of D, K of club for an amazing ten tricks
I win the Heart in hand, play a spade, seeing the queen from west play the King of H a H ruff, a club ruff a Heart ruff. If the 4 heart is ruffed from East, I can discard a diamond and a second one after his forced club continuation.

[pclayton]

Here's the complete hand:

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You must win the 1st trick - for starters. The key word is "unbalanced" which means West has a stiff or void. If its in hearts or clubs, you would have heard something from RHO holding 6 or 7; so trumps are probably 4-1.

After the 10 drops on your right, you can play a club up, and this is what happened at the table. Exit a club, and the J wins on your right. (Note: LHO can win the club, cash the diamond, and give his pard a diamond ruff for -1, but even the great players miss plays like this)

RHO exits a heart. Play A♥, ♥ to King, ruff ♥, ruff club, ruff heart as RHO follows. The position is now:

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South has already made 8 tricks (A♠, 2♥, 2♥ ruffs, A♦, K♣ and a ♣ ruff). A diamond exit gets two more.

Its technically better to take the heart ruff first, before leading a club to the King. However, this makes the position more evident to the defense as well. In the actual hand, if the defense forces the board early with a heart, you don't have the entries to ruff the 4th heart.

[bid_em_up]

deleted

[Joe de Balliol]

The hand has been analysed and I'm about to get off but I just thought I'd say that I think 2♠ is automatic.

J