[kenrexford]

♠Q109xx ♥10xx ♦KJx ♣Kx

LHO opens 1♣ and partner bids 1♦. RHO passes.

You check colors and note that it is white all around. So, partner's 2♦ would have been weak, making 1♦ not limited. Your style is for 1♦ to be a sound opening bid as to strength.

So, no harm in bidding, you make an innocent 1♠ call, NF but constructive.

Opener passes, and partner bids 1NT, pass again to the right.

You like partner's play, so you leap to 3NT. It's the last board of the evening, and we probably need a little more.

When a club lead hits the table, partner grimaces at you (quite unfairly). The reason:

Scoring: MP

---

So, LHO wins three clubs in a row and starts to think.

Are they out, you ask?

Then the spade King hits the table (ducked, he wonders...) with the deuce played by RHO.

What to do? What to do?

Let's try the other King (hearts), won by my partner.

On the run of the diamonds, RHO pitches two hearts and the contract makes.

The full layout:

Scoring: MP

---

I have no particular point to this post. I just thought that I should not be the only one with a head that exploded.

[goobers]

you succeeded

[cherdano]

This is a really exciting hand, thanks for sharing it.

[bid_em_up]

How much do you pay people to defend like this? It must be a huge sum, since my opponents usually cash their 6 club tricks when both me and my partner show out on the third club.

[kenrexford]

The best part about this hand was that it was the last hand of the evening, and our table was slow to finish. Thus, we had several people lurking around the table, watching to see how the hand ended.

As it was, the rest of the boards had been scored, and the final results were known, with that one board left to play. We were in a close second, the field result being +50 our way. If we went down in 3NT, even by a trick, we were out. If 3NT somehow came home, we would win the event.

Needless to say anything more. LOLOLOL

[mikeh]

This reminds me of a hand I played at our local club a couple of years ago. I opened a ♦ and reversed into 2♠ over 2♣ (playing it showed extras, but not necessarily a full reverse) and then ended up, after my aggressive partner showed a big hand, in 6N.

LHO led some plain suit and dummy held a stiff ♠ while I held QJxx.

I don't remember the exact layout, but I did not have 12 top tricks... I had 11. As I ran my winners, LHO became increasingly uncomfortable... when we came down to 4 cards, it turned out that she had begun with AK♠ and a guard in a suit in dummy. At trick 11, she threw the ♠K: I put her in with the A... not really believing it was happening, and she had to give dummy the last two tricks.

She then announced that she was relieved that she hadn't doubled me.

When her partner observed that she could have cashed the 1st two tricks, she said that she had thought about it, but that she was afraid that she'd set up my suit....

I wonder if she's since moved to Illinois?

[Echognome]

Along those lines, I had a hard time keeping a straight face when I performed a memory squeeze on a LOL at trick 12. The wrinkle was that she was playing last to the trick with the trick being won in dummy.

[jdonn]

Once in a morning knockout I was playing against a particularly sickly looking little old lady. She opened 1♠ and her partner bid 4♠ on a hand with four of them. I held 62 doubleton of spades. I led a something and she won in her hand and led the 3 of spades. I played low and she said 'spade', so dummy played the 5...and my partner showed out.

[Vilgan]

Heh similar story to Josh's, except it was done intentionally.

RHO had been bitching at LHO significantly for the last two boards. On 3rd and final board, they end up in 6 spades and dummy hits with ATxxxx. When pulling the trump suit, lefty played a small spade, partner followed, LHO thought for a bit and called for the T and my hand pitched (being void). He then called for the A and dropped partner's sole remaining spade.. the jack. RHO nearly had a stroke on the spot (they'd already lost a side suit ace) but he did shut up.

[pclayton]

There's a husband and wife that live east of here and I think they are both grand LM's.

In a regional a few years ago, my pard "split" with Qx underneath dummy's AKTxxx. She later took the losing hook into my Jx.

[Cascade]

These people visit New Zealand from time to time or maybe they have cousins here ...

A few years ago I bashed 6NT with an undisclosed solid heart suit. The player on lead had two aces and doubled me. She led one ace and the sight of dummy gave her confidence for 2 or more down so she saved her other ace for later. Later she pitched her other ace on one of my hearts as she was squeezed on the run of them - I won the first and only round of clubs with the 7!!!

6NT X making

[kenrexford]

My favorite play of all time (of this type):

You may recall that one of the greats, maybe one of the Jacoby's, did a memory coup against someone where the last two cards in one suit (established) were the three on dummy and the deuce in hand, with the equivalent of the King in a side suit in dummy, Ace to the right, and the King of another suit in hand, Ace to the right again. When this mystery icon played the three, his RHO could not remember the pips and therefore played the Ace for the suit on dummy, establishing the 13th trick as Declarer's when the three won the trick.

So, I had a similar situation come up about a year ago. Same exact situation, almost. I had to "transfer the menace" early on to set both top cards into the same hand. The other slightly technical problems were:

1. RHO held the two essential Aces, and
2. The lead was in hand

I could not fix that small problem. But, it was ever so slight a problem, not at all ruining the beauty of the layout.

So, when I played the deuce from my hand, one might argue that RHO could actually see the trey on dummy and, hence, was not really subjected to the same Jacoby(?) memory squeeze. But, alas, she was. Strange how these expert plays work. Making the contract.

The only comment I got over beers was, "And you actually transferred the menace in preparation for this coup???"

[barmar]

A couple of weeks ago my partner and I were defending 3NT. The auction had gone 1♣-1♥-1♠-2♦(FSF)-3♣-3NT-All Pass. Partner led ♦A, dummy had a void in the suit (he was 4=2=0=7) and I held Qxxxx of the suit. I encouraged, and he continued with the 8. I played low, not wanting to sqander my Q. So declarer managed to score a trick with 9xx in the suit, and he made 3 overtricks! Partner had AKJT8 and I guess he was trying to get me to unblock.

But there is some justice -- they were cold for 7♣. So we got an average+ on the board simply because they failed to bid slam. Of course, setting them would have been a top....

[Fluffy]

Echognome, on Jun 22 2007, 07:16 PM, said:

Along those lines, I had a hard time keeping a straight face when I performed a memory squeeze on a LOL at trick 12. The wrinkle was that she was playing last to the trick with the trick being won in dummy.

I've seen this also, dummy playing a rock solid card at trick 12, and opponent discarding the king of the suit.

Also I saw that instead of making a call in the middle of a competitive biddign at the 3 level, LHO showed her cards as dummy. I think this was the oddest thing to happen to me at a bridge table.

[skjaeran]

Against a married couple in the district pairs 20+ years ago, the husband for some unknown reason stopped in 5♥'s after BW. Partner made some lead. Declarer won in hand and advanced the ♥Q. Partner showed out, but he finessed to my......singleton king! Making only one overtrick.