[Erkson]

---

Three pairs played this 7♠ , after these auctions :
West North East South
 -     3♥    3♠    4♥
 6♣    Pass  6♦    Pass
 7♣    Pass  7♦    Pass
 Pass  Dbl   7♠    Pass
 Pass  Pass  

West North East South
 -     2♥    3♥!   5♥
 6♣    Pass  6♠    Pass
 7♠    Pass  Pass  Pass
 
West North East South
 -     2♥    3♥!   3NT
 Dbl   Pass  4♠    5♥
 6♠    7♥    7♠    Pass
 Pass  Pass  

The three pairs won 7♠.

Opening lead was A♥, ruffed by East.
At trick 2, East played 4♠ ---> 9♠, finessing the J♠.

Erkson
   

[luke warm]

incredible, eh?

[helium]

HIYA:)
THEES HANDS WERE PLAYED IN A TEST UR SKILL TOURNEY,(SELECTED DEALS)
SO SPADES 4-0 IS LIKELY

[inquiry]

Quote

West  North East  South
-     3♥    3♠    4♥
6♣    Pass  6♦    Pass
7♣    Pass  7♦    Pass
Pass  Dbl   7♠    Pass
Pass  Pass  

After 7♦ X, declarer never suspects NORTH doubled iwth a sure trump trick (that is the height of, well, stupidity. Instead, he takes the double as ligthner, where an unusual lead will beat 7♦... hence play North for a ♠ void. Double unlucky for North... if he had doubled on his ♦ trick but had the ♠J stiff, it would still have worked out ok.

Quote

West  North East  South
-     2♥    3♥!   5♥
6♣    Pass  6♠    Pass
7♠    Pass  Pass  Pass

There is no indication that North is void in ♥. Here North showed 6♥ with his opening bid, so his partner has 4♥. Playing the ♠ hook in this case is very much against the odds. Playing low towards the A9 and inserting the 9 wins only when West has Jx Jxx or Jxxx (and of course, singleton J, but that is already discounted as he didn't play the J). This is 51.9% (56.2 if you include stiff jack with south). Playing for 3-1, 2-2, or 4-0 (with north having the four so starting the ACE) is 93.1% chance (this math takes into account the 6-4 heart split.

Quote

West  North East  South
-     2♥    3♥!   3NT
Dbl   Pass  4♠    5♥
6♠    7♥    7♠    Pass
Pass  Pass 

Ok, here there is lots of cute stuff. South's 3NT is obviously a joke but North's 7♥ bid is suspecious. I guess I might be a little more willing to forget the odds and consider the ♠ hook against south here.

This just shows how truely bad the 7♦X was in the first auction.

Ben

[luis]

I wonder why nobody doubled 6s to prevent EW from finding the grand-slam.
:-)

[Erkson]

helium, on Mar 8 2004, 01:06 PM, said:

HIYA:)
THEES HANDS WERE PLAYED IN A TEST UR SKILL TOURNEY,(SELECTED DEALS)

That is correct.

Erkson

[Trpltrbl]

When playing in a test your skill tournament you know something is up with that hands, that's why I think it is very silly to let people know ahead of time. Let them know on last brd of the last round. Finessing the J of ♠ is done probably because of that. They couldn't be knowing more then they should otherwise they would never ever bid 7♦ to play. And I think North needs to go back to school, if opps go down in grandslam you have a great score without a X too.

Mike

[the hog]

"When playing in a test your skill tournament you know something is up with that hands, that's why I think it is very silly to let people know ahead of time. "

Uh Mike,

You enter a par contest precisely BECAUSE it is a par contest. How can you test someone's skill when contracts and bidding are all over the place? You are given points for achieving the right contract and then ALL players in the event play THAT contract and try to find the right line within a given timeframe. Points are awarded for the line and the timeframe. The competitor with the highest number of points wins the event. It is done on PCs today. That is the nature of the event. They are not that popular today, because they are hard to set up.

If this was not a par contest, but one where you bid and then play THAT contract, there is no "test your skill" involved, because heavens knows what the bidding at other tables is likely to be.

Incidentally the last major par contest in the world was won by Rosenberg. Balicki of Poland finished a close second. A story, whether apocryphal or not I don't know, is that Balicki lost because he misclicked on a problem when he dropped his cigarette in his lap.

(Having said all this, this problem is not really a good one for a par event).