[Phil]

Took 2nd in a sectional Swiss today by 3 VPs. Two hands had a common theme to them - see if you can figure it out.

1.

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The opening lead is the ♦Q. Plan the Play.

2.

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You decide to lead your singleton heart, low A, 3. Partner returns the ♥2, 7 and you ruff. Now what?

[whereagles]

1. Low I guess. RHO will have to raise and give a ruff.

2. Pard looks like someone with 3505. Diamond then. We probably make 5C too

[Cyberyeti]

whereagles, on 2011-October-03, 06:25, said:

1. Low I guess. RHO will have to raise and give a ruff.

2♦ was single suited major not diamonds, but low is right, need to find stiff A, LHO is hardly likely to lead Q from AQJ...

Quote

2. Pard looks like someone with 3505. Diamond then. We probably make 5C too

Would have expected him to return a higher one if he wanted a diamond, 2 for a club, but can't see why he'd want a club.

[the_dude]

1. Low. I suppose LHO could have led from AQJ with the K likely in dummy, but at a sectional??? I think singleton Q is more likely. Let RHO guess if it's from a singleton or doubleton.

2. Partner clearly does not want a diamond, tho i Can't imagine why. He must have AJx spades to justify his double (he doesn't have much else), leaving him with no diamonds, and declarer with no entry to his hand. So I guess we play a club and let declarer figure out what to do next.

[Phil]

It was a sectional, but it was an A/X Swiss so the teams were pretty good, including the players involved with these hands.

[mikeh]

Anyone who thinks that the secret on board One is to duck because RHO has AJxxxx and has to overtake is nuts. RHO showed a SINGLE SUIT MAJOR. I very much doubt that he chose to make that call based on a 6 card side suit.

Of course, it is possible that RHO forgot his system, and actually has a natural 2♦ overcall, but that would be really bad luck....it seems to me far more likely that LHO has QJ10xxx in diamonds and our duck is required because RHO's Ace is about to beat the air.

On the second board, partner suggested a club back, but that isn't a command. I can see that a club does nothing...I can't construct a hand where a club is better than a diamond. Maybe partner just got sloppy, so I return a diamond.

Is the theme that each east got confused about diamonds? On the first one he has AJ10xxx and on the second one he forgot to tell you to lead the suit?

[Phil]

mikeh, on 2011-October-03, 09:43, said:

Is the theme that each east got confused about diamonds? On the first one he has AJ10xxx and on the second one he forgot to tell you to lead the suit?

Yes it is.

By the way, you all had a collective blind spot on the 1st, as did declarer. Even if RHO has the stiff ♦A, he doesn't have another one to return. So the only reason to cover is if you think LHO made a bizarre opening lead from AQ.

At the table, RHO simply forgot that they were playing this convention. Isn't this more likely than trying to imagine some far-fetched layout that doesn't exist? Now, RHO perhaps should overtake and give partner a ruff, but you have to give him the chance to go wrong. We would need a hand like xxx AKQTxx x Axx, for overtaking to be wrong, and maybe that's more likely on this auction anyway. But covering the diamond is nullo.

On the 2nd, the defender that won the ♥A was probably not happy that he didn't get his diamond ruff at T1 (naturally he was xxx Axxxx void KQxxx). Suddenly, the emotional engine starts to rev and he unthinkingly returns the wrong spot card. Now the opening leader is tired (which partially explains no diamond lead), and can't or won't work out a reason why partner led a low heart instead of a high one and returns a non-diamond, and only now decides to trust his partner. So the disaster runs fulls circle and what should be an easy 800 or 500 when both players are fresh turns into a silly -990.

The theme was that sometimes, especially late in the day, people just do stupid things that they aren't as likely to do earlier in the day. Things like forgetting conventions, making questionable opening leads, signaling incorrectly, and playing too fast can, and does happen. The perps on these hands are all good players. Does any of this sound familiar to you?

Constructing a strange layout that fits the information provided to us while ignoring the obvious probably isn't a good utilization of our mental resources.

Maybe our worldview should be more like this:

Whereagles said:

1. Low I guess. RHO will have to raise and give a ruff.

2. Pard looks like someone with 3505. Diamond then. We probably make 5C too

I doubt Whereagles read the explanation on #1, and perhaps didn't notice the spot card returned on #2. This isn't a slight toward him, since he got both questions right.

Sometimes bridge is much simpler than we make it out to be.

Especially late in the day

[mikeh]

Phil, none of the posters covering the diamond....and I didn't suffer from your blind spot.....I ducked because IF lho held QJ10xxx (or shorter) then my play is irrelevant, and IF rho held AJ10xxx, ducking is the only hope. My comment about ducking was aimed at those who catered, as I saw it, to RHO having spades AND a side 6 bagger, which was imo nuts.

Since nobody in their right mind would cover the Q, I didn't go into detail other than to suggest the 'forget' possibility.

[rduran1216]

ducking the diamond, and returning a diamond are both very obvious plays. returning anything but a diamond on board 2 is ludicrous, I mean there is NO layout remotely consistent with this auction where u need to play a club. To me this falls into the, "dude forget what spot I played" category. I mean yeah itd be nice if partner just played the 6 or 4 or whatever, but you can't possibly screw this up. I have sympathy for the person playing the 2, Ive done that multiple times before not even thinking about the spot i play cause its so obvious to me what partner needs to play.

[Phil]

mikeh, on 2011-October-03, 11:32, said:

Phil, none of the posters covering the diamond....and I didn't suffer from your blind spot.....I ducked because IF lho held QJ10xxx (or shorter) then my play is irrelevant, and IF rho held AJ10xxx, ducking is the only hope. My comment about ducking was aimed at those who catered, as I saw it, to RHO having spades AND a side 6 bagger, which was imo nuts.

Since nobody in their right mind would cover the Q, I didn't go into detail other than to suggest the 'forget' possibility.

I had the blind spot Sorry.

[whereagles]

mikeh, on 2011-October-03, 09:43, said:

Maybe partner just got sloppy, so I return a diamond.

Now that's good thinking. Happens far more often than you'd think lol.

[whereagles]

Phil, on 2011-October-03, 11:00, said:

I doubt Whereagles read the explanation on #1, and perhaps didn't notice the spot card returned on #2. This isn't a slight toward him, since he got both questions right.

Sometimes bridge is much simpler than we make it out to be.

Especially late in the day

Phil, you are a genius

But I did play a diamond deliberately on 2nd because a) Pard dbled with something so he should have some spades so 3505 is likely and b) I couldn't figure out what a club would be good for anyway lol.