[Phil]

(True) tale from the final weekend Swiss at Reno:

Scoring: IMP

---

You reach a lousy 6♥.

LHO leads the ♠A (RHO discourages) and shifts to the ♣2.

You?

[Jlall]

I have enough general contempt for my opps that I usually play low in this kind of spot.

It would def depend on who my opps were though obv. Basically you are asking "is it more likely that the opps have made a super stupid play, or that LHO has shifted to a low club from JT8xxxx + never bid with that holding."

Vulnerability would also be nice as well as the full auction, but I know vs meckstroth I would always play the ace and it's not even close, but I feel that vs most people even in a national event it is right to duck since the other alternative is sooooo low %age that it is almost always more likely that they just made a dumb mistake.

Also if LHO has 7 spades and the CK he had to do this since he's getting squeezed anyways but obv if he never bid that is also impossible.

[Pict]

I know I'd go up with the Ace and make a later decision about the majors.

[ggwhiz]

Quote

I have enough general contempt for my opps that I usually play low in this kind of spot.

Agreed but winning the Ace and firing back a low club would raise the contempt factor. Not willing to grosvenor myself though.

[Phil]

Jlall, on Mar 31 2010, 12:10 PM, said:

Also if LHO has 7 spades and the CK he had to do this since he's getting squeezed anyways but obv if he never bid that is also impossible.

'?'

[kenrexford]

ggwhiz, on Mar 31 2010, 12:46 PM, said:

Quote

I have enough general contempt for my opps that I usually play low in this kind of spot.

Agreed but winning the Ace and firing back a low club would raise the contempt factor. Not willing to grosvenor myself though.

I was kind of contemplating that line, myself.

[Jlall]

Phil, on Mar 31 2010, 12:48 PM, said:

Jlall, on Mar 31 2010, 12:10 PM, said:

Also if LHO has 7 spades and the CK he had to do this since he's getting squeezed anyways but obv if he never bid that is also impossible.

'?'

http://en.wikipedia....e_play_(bridge)

[Jlall]

ggwhiz, on Mar 31 2010, 12:46 PM, said:

Quote

I have enough general contempt for my opps that I usually play low in this kind of spot.

Agreed but winning the Ace and firing back a low club would raise the contempt factor. Not willing to grosvenor myself though.

Why would RHO duck the king ever? Even if you're stiff he can afford to play the king, it's not like dummy has AQx.

[kenrexford]

Jlall, on Mar 31 2010, 01:42 PM, said:

Phil, on Mar 31 2010, 12:48 PM, said:

Jlall, on Mar 31 2010, 12:10 PM, said:

Also if LHO has 7 spades and the CK he had to do this since he's getting squeezed anyways but obv if he never bid that is also impossible.

'?'

http://en.wikipedia....e_play_(bridge)

Maybe LHO was an idiot doing this:

http://www.youtube.c...h?v=M6AZNywvF-s

[Fluffy]

If we didn't splinter, then I doubt LHO is meckstroth trying to lead ♠A to let us make the contract if we have ♠Kx and stiff ♣Q. Althou Buratti is highly possible

[ggwhiz]

Quote

Why would RHO duck the king ever? Even if you're stiff he can afford to play the king, it's not like dummy has AQx.

Isn't a club switch away from the king equally insane?

Maybe rho will give count but we need at least one opp to be crazy and have a 50-50 guess as to which one.

from below

Quote

Like I said it depends on who my opps are but in general I think the best chance is that they have lost their mind by underleading a club, rather than one of the other things which I just don't think people ever do like ducking the CK on the way back.

Fair enough and probably makes you a 70-30 favorite or so. But it's a post so I'm hoping for the "story".

[Jlall]

ggwhiz, on Mar 31 2010, 02:46 PM, said:

Quote

Why would RHO duck the king ever? Even if you're stiff he can afford to play the king, it's not like dummy has AQx.

Isn't a club switch away from the king equally insane?

Maybe more so since with the spade ace, if you were going to underlead the club king, do it at trick 1?

Equally in the sense that theyre both ridic I guess, but I think some insanities happen more often than others, like ducking the king never happens, but maybe LHO thought his partner gave a suit preference signal or something.

Maybe the best line is to pop ace and try for a pseudo squeeze in the minors. This saves you the embarassment of going down on stiff CK, and preserves some chance of an error I guess.

Like I said it depends on who my opps are but in general I think the best chance is that they have lost their mind by underleading a club, rather than one of the other things which I just don't think people ever do like ducking the CK on the way back. Against good opps I would just play for stiff K and beyond that I'm going down I guess so it doesn't matter whether I try a pseudo squeeze or them ducking the club heh.

[mikeh]

You play in a different league than I do, Justin. I have seen mistakes so bad that I would never say that no-one would duck the club K as RHO.

I made 6N once with opening leader holding AK in a suit (and, no, she wasn't trying to beat me more).

I scored 3 tricks with 8642 opposite QJ3 (lead of the 10 from K1075, play of the 9 from A9, then covered my Q with the A, and later hooked the 6)

Still, I would certainly agree that the mistake of underleading the club K is far more probable than any other error....especially since there are a lot of players who have learned something about suit preference, but not enough to understand it.

[Fluffy]

I remember the old days when one would jump at you with things such as

A108x

Q6

how many tricks?, and the obvious answer was 4

biggest record was a player who cashed his ace against 6♥, and then underled ♥Kx dummy having Qxxx because the other suits seemed so dangerous

[ArtK78]

The best one I ever heard of was a player in a grand slam who received a lead of a low spot in a side suit. Turns out declarer and partner had an 11 card fit in that side suit missing the K. With AQxxxx in dummy and JTxxx in hand, declarer hooked!

[Phil]

ggwhiz, on Mar 31 2010, 02:46 PM, said:

Fair enough and probably makes you a 70-30 favorite or so. But it's a post so I'm hoping for the "story".

RHO did hold the ♣K. Stiff.

He couldn't resist; "Do you think my partner would really lead away from the ♣K". He's a former world champion for chrissake"!

Obviously, your opinion about your LHO has a lot to do with how you play this.

[jdonn]

Insta ace with jdonn on your left.

[Fluffy]

ArtK78, on Mar 31 2010, 08:32 PM, said:

The best one I ever heard of was a player in a grand slam who received a lead of a low spot in a side suit. Turns out declarer and partner had an 11 card fit in that side suit missing the K. With AQxxxx in dummy and JTxxx in hand, declarer hooked!

ok, hijacking the topic, but I also made once my stiff trump king... partner had void but declarer still finesed after a bit of hesitation... counting up to 13 is not that easy.

[jdonn]

Fluffy, on Mar 31 2010, 03:40 PM, said:

ArtK78, on Mar 31 2010, 08:32 PM, said:

The best one I ever heard of was a player in a grand slam who received a lead of a low spot in a side suit.  Turns out declarer and partner had an 11 card fit in that side suit missing the K.  With AQxxxx in dummy and JTxxx in hand, declarer hooked!

ok, hijacking the topic, but I also made once my stiff trump king... partner had void but declarer still finesed after a bit of hesitation... counting up to 13 is not that easy.

I once got my 6-2 doubleton finessed on the first round of trumps (3 I played the 2 she played the 5) by an old lady, as partner showed out.

[Phil]

jdonn, on Mar 31 2010, 03:41 PM, said:

Fluffy, on Mar 31 2010, 03:40 PM, said:

ArtK78, on Mar 31 2010, 08:32 PM, said:

The best one I ever heard of was a player in a grand slam who received a lead of a low spot in a side suit.  Turns out declarer and partner had an 11 card fit in that side suit missing the K.  With AQxxxx in dummy and JTxxx in hand, declarer hooked!

ok, hijacking the topic, but I also made once my stiff trump king... partner had void but declarer still finesed after a bit of hesitation... counting up to 13 is not that easy.

I once got my 6-2 doubleton finessed on the first round of trumps (3 I played the 2 she played the 5) by an old lady, as partner showed out.

Worse - I have made my 6 by popping 2nd hand high (might not have been specifically the 6-2, but two very insignificant spots).