[Cascade]

Dealer: North Vul: None Scoring: MP

♠ 76 ♥ J62 ♦ AJ972 ♣ Q52 ♠ 10983 ♥ K10873 ♦ 1065 ♣ 10

1♣ (1♦) Pass (3NT)
All Pass

Partner led the ♣4 3rd or 5th which ran to declarer's King.

♦K then diamond to the Jack and then the ♦A - Partner had ♦Q43.

On the third diamond declarer pitched a club.

On the fourth diamond you pitch a heart and declarer and partner pitch clubs.

What do you pitch on the 5th diamond.

Dealer: North Vul: None Scoring: MP

♠ 76 ♥ J62 ♦ 2 ♣ Q5 ♠ 10983 ♥ K1073 ♦ ♣

[flytoox]

throw another h, declarer shld be 4324.

[Fluffy]

The bovious thing I see is that the ♣3 is missing, nobody discarded it?

[paulhar]

Fluffy, on Sep 3 2004, 05:50 AM, said:

The bovious thing I see is that the ♣3 is missing, nobody discarded it?

I'm waiting on some information too;

(1) what clubs were discarded

(2) what order your partner played his small diamonds in, and would that matter in your partnership?

(3) does your partner ever open 4-card majors (and if so, when?)

(4) do the opponents play a new suit advance forcing? (I'd like to try to rule out a five-bagger in declarer's hand)

[Cascade]

Declarer's discarded clubs were the three and the seven.

Partner's play in diamonds was irrelevant - our only method was reverse count (up-side-down count) but that is not relevant here and we have no alternative meaning when that does not apply - i guess in a desperate situation we could play a suit-preference card.

Partner would never open a four-card major with five clubs - well not in first seat.
We do play four-card majors but normally we would open the lower of two four-card suits.

New suit by advancer is non-forcing for this east west pair.

[paulhar]

Forgot a question - but I'm going to make an assumption that you DON'T play a weak notrump; for if you did, I think it is obvious. Partner would have to be 4-1-3-5 (else he would have opened 1NT weak), so you have to hold onto your hearts.

The thing that seems odd about this hand is that declarer pitched his link to his second club trick. That would imply that he doesn't care about leading to the CQ.

If he's going to use hearts, leading to the CQ seems necessary to finesse your H10 after you cover the jack. Maybe he holds S-AKxx and H-Qxx and is hoping somebody with four spades will pitch one. But this is absurd! Why not just lead to the CQ?

I can't see what declarer's doing but it it's hard to see how pitching another heart can cost. So I do.

[Fluffy]

Why didn´t west bid his major?, too bad suit?, or the kind of player that only bids 5 card suits on this position?.

Here the problem seems to be passsive/agressive, a ♥ can hardly cost a trick.. unless you can make 4♥ triks!, that looks less likelly than west having 4♠ actually, since a MP problem I´ll discard a ♥.

[paulhar]

Fluffy, on Sep 4 2004, 10:23 PM, said:

or the kind of player that only bids 5 card suits on this position?

I hope that all of my partners are 'that kind of player'.

[1eyedjack]

To me it feels right to keep a 4 card H suit.

I am going to assume that declarer would have shown a 5 card major (no certainty there).

He had doubleton Diamond and, from Club lead and discards it seems that he had 4 Clubs. So he started with 3-4-2-4 or 4-3-2-4. I don't think that the subsequent play clarifies which.

If he started with 4-3-2-4 and discarded a Spade then I don't see it mattering a whole heap what you discard. However if he started with 3-4-2-4 shape then coming down to a 3 card Heart suit could be costly. So I pitch a Spade.

[Cascade]

paulhar, on Sep 4 2004, 12:04 PM, said:

Forgot a question - but I'm going to make an assumption that you DON'T play a weak notrump; for if you did, I think it is obvious. Partner would have to be 4-1-3-5 (else he would have opened 1NT weak), so you have to hold onto your hearts.

duh I completely missed this inference.

The good news is that I don't think that this is the reason that my partner thought that it was obvious.

It is amazing how easily one can have a blind spot.

Thanks

[inquiry]

Pitch high spade to avoid !S endplay.... and being forced to lead away from the heart king. Myabe it is, as your partner says, obvious (keep that small spade).

Ben

[Cascade]

paulhar, on Sep 6 2004, 10:12 AM, said:

Fluffy, on Sep 4 2004, 10:23 PM, said:

or the kind of player that only bids 5 card suits on this position?

I hope that all of my partners are 'that kind of player'.

How do you find your 4-4 major suit fit after a 1♦ overcall?

[paulhar]

Cascade, on Sep 5 2004, 08:14 PM, said:

How do you find your 4-4 major suit fit after a 1♦ overcall?

My partner didn't double 1C, he bid 1D. So if he has a four card major, he must be short in the other major. It's no disaster playing in diamonds (or perhaps notrump) if the other side has a fit in a major suit too. Frequently opener will bid partner's short major and partner can double.

I prefer to find my much more likely 5-3 fits in this situation. Auctions frequently get competitive after opener bids again and it's good for overcaller to be able to compete in advancer's suit with only 3 cards, a much more likely holding.

4-card advances are a little more palatable when playing new suit forcing by advancer but I still prefer 5 then too.

I admit that sometimes you get stuck with a decent hand when advancing and you might have to manufacture a bid on a 4-card suit because nothing seems right. But I think it's the exception rather than the rule.

[luke warm]

i'm tossing a heart and covering the ♥J, if it's led... maybe ben's right about the endplay, but i don't know... i do keep my low spade, if spades are led i discard high

[Fluffy]

paulhar, on Sep 7 2004, 12:09 AM, said:

I prefer to find my much more likely 5-3 fits in this situation. Auctions frequently get competitive after opener bids again and it's good for overcaller to be able to compete in advancer's suit with only 3 cards, a much more likely holding.

After 1♦-(X)-
you overcall 4 card majors.

but After (1♣)-1♦-p-
you overcall 5 card...

I am not really sure, but I believe the first one is a much more competitive tending sequence than second.

Its probably a matter of style, When my partner fails to double it doesn´t mean he has shortness on the other major, but that he has too many ♣ normally, also 4 card♦ overcalls are very frequent for us.

[helium]

Fluffy, on Sep 7 2004, 06:13 AM, said:

paulhar, on Sep 7 2004, 12:09 AM, said:

I prefer to find my much more likely 5-3 fits in this situation.  Auctions frequently get competitive after opener bids again and it's good for overcaller to be able to compete in advancer's suit with only 3 cards, a much more likely holding.

After 1♦-(X)-
you overcall 4 card majors.

but After (1♣)-1♦-p-
you overcall 5 card...

I am not really sure, but I believe the first one is a much more competitive tending sequence than second.

Its probably a matter of style, When my partner fails to double it doesn´t mean he has shortness on the other major, but that he has too many ♣ normally, also 4 card♦ overcalls are very frequent for us.

Agree i play it like this too.