[Trumpace]

I was kibbing this table when this hand came up.

http://online.bridgebase.com/myhands/fetch...ayed=1186410446


Can someone please explain declarer's line?

[Free]

Yes: he's a loser...

[Trumpace]

The reason I posted this was that there were a couple of comments (one from the dummy) saying that the play was very good.

Sorry I don't know anything about the leads etc of the opposition if you want to know that.

All four players were experts and I am pretty sure dummy and declarer's LHO are experts (i.e I don't think declarer is a loser).

[mikeh]

Personally, if I were declarer, I would have driven out the ♥A and played for a minor suit entry to dummy: aiming to collect 3♠s, 5♥s and a minor ace, and maybe a trick on the side for a bonus. I don't understand giving up on hearts.

However, I would have gone down as well.

Playing as he did, it seems he was needing to find both minor jacks, to give himself 3♠, 2♥s and 2 tricks in each minor. To me, that is far, far lower percentage than hoping to find West with one (or both) of the minor aces.

I suspect either that North was not really expert or that he was just trying to keep his partner happy.... an often underutilized approach... most dummy's are only too happy to criticize partner when he goes down. Personally, when partner misplays (as I think he did here) I'd simply not say anything at all and (if I were getting paid, or if I were hoping this would be a long-term partnership) I'd suggest, later, going over the hand.

[pclayton]

Strange hand. Its odd declarer abandoned hearts since there's no reason to think LHO doesn't have one of the minor suit aces. Its also odd the defense let declarer win a 2nd heart trick.

[ralph23]

Trumpace, on Aug 15 2007, 01:47 PM, said:

The reason I posted this was that there were a couple of comments (one from the dummy) saying that the play was very good.

Sorry I don't know anything about the leads etc of the opposition if you want to know that.

All four players were experts and I am pretty sure dummy and declarer's LHO are experts (i.e I don't think declarer is a loser).

At trick four, he refused to drive out the Ace of ♥.

Instead he led a low diamond from dummy, leaving his now-singleton ♦ King stranded, with the Ace still at large. How would he have felt if his LHO had the Ace?

LHO made a good play of holding off the Ace of ♥, even though declarer had played his final ♥ from his hand on the second round of that suit. Declarer has bid ♦, and it's not unlikely from LHO's perspective that declarer has the Ace. So ducking the second round was a good gamble.

As it turned out, it was a genius or psychic play , because declarer gave up on the ♥!! Maybe LHO had played against this declarer before !@!

But I'll bet he was surprised when declarer didn't follow through and lead another ♥. The failure to do so seems inexplicable.

All declarer needed was to find some minor suit honor in the right place, to get back to his ♥s. Of course, they were all ill-situated, but it's like he started with a good idea, and then got frustrated when his LHO refused to take his ♥ Ace.

This post has been edited by ralph23: 2007-August-15, 13:22

[kenrexford]

It seems that LHO had no reason to duck the heart under normal circumstances. So, is there an abnormal circumstance that might justify the non-duck?

Well, let's assume a third-round play of hearts. What should Declarer pitch? If he pitches a spade, ugly things could happen. LHO wins the heart and now can fire back a spade, knocking out the King. If RHO next gets in (spades split 4-3) with his minor Ace, he can knock out the spade Ace. If LHO now gets in with his minor Ace, the defense will take the three Aces and a spade. There may be an established minor Jack for the setting trick.

So, ducking may cause Declarer to hesitate for his next play. LHO is creating a ruse of a problem in determining where the minor honors are located.

It seems that Declarer must have guessed that LHO has the diamond Ace or nothing in diamonds. So, LHO must not have the club Ace, Declarer thinks. LHO was counting on Declarer, upon knocking out the heart Ace (pitching a spade) and then winning the spade King, leading up a club and trying the Queen. The ninth trick, then, in theend position, would be the club Jack. If Declarer tried a diamond, instead, LHO was prepare to duck and pray.

So, Declarer guessed that the purpose for the duck was the LHO held the club Jack and one of the minor Aces, probably the diamond. So, why not simply use that info and continue hearts?

It looks like the minor Ace situation is unclear. However, the minor Jack situation might be more clear. If Declarer is right about the location of the minor Jacks, he does best. He hooks the diamond, as he did, and then attempts to force out the diamond Ace, he may arrive at three spades, two hearts, two diamonds, and two clubs, before anything bad can happen.

But, if Declarer plays a third heart, he is in trouble if he pitches a spade and then guesses the location of the minor Aces wrong. Of course, he could simply try the club 10, but that might be wrong as well. The one thing that he needs is the diamond Jack right, as he can return to options later (and the diamond Jack might even fall third, making the club finesse/guess unnecessary).

What if Declarer plays a third heart and ditches a club? Now, his club entry may vanish, of course.

What if Declarer plays a third heart and pitches a diamond? LHO leads the spade Queen. When he attacks a minor, a bad guess will get a spade from RHO, and he is dead again.

What Declarer needs, he thinks, is to establish the minor tricks while protecting against an early spade lead. He does this best by taking no additional pitches and by giving the opponents no tempo advantage.

A stretch, but I think there is something in this mess that makes some sense.