[kenberg]

I am not sure if this qualifies as an "Interesting Bridge Hand" but it interested me so I thought I would post it.

---

I'm South.


Second round I could not really think of anything better than doubling again. If partner passes, maybe we can beat it. But partner bid 2♥. I don't claim that this shows five, pard may just be stuck for a call, but five seems likely since he can safely trust that I don't have four. Of course he might be holding zip. All in all, it seemed 3♥ was right. Partner commented (no offense intended by him nor taken by me) "This auction makes no sense" and passed.

---

East begins with three rounds of diamonds. West follows once and then pitches two small spades. You ruff the third diamond play a heart to the ace and then the Jack of hearts. East piches a diamond on the second heart. OK, maybe the pass was right. But suppose you raised 3♥ to 4, as i would have done. What are your thoughts?

I don't recall who said it, but the rule is that when someone gives you a play problem, you can safely begin by assuming that "take the club finesse" is not the right answer. That's true, the king is offside. But would that be clear at the table? Perhaps so, since East, with his solid seven diamonds, bid only 2♦. But then you still need to decide how many spades to pull before finishing trump and throwing West in.

Anyway, partner was in three making, for three imps. Scanning the hand records, I see that the only person who was in a making 4♥, after South bid an apparently natural 2NT over the 1♦, led a small club from the table and West hopped up with the king from KT and spots. As we say in Minnesota, that's different.

Yes, maybe East should have figured out to switch to the Jack of clubs after cashing two diamonds. But he didn't. Many bridge stories have this shortcoming.

[PhilKing]

Bidding. Your double should show a hand that wanted to bid 2♦ - typically 19+ 4324 or similar, so partner should jump to 3♥. His 2♥ bid should just show a minimum without four spades and is perfectly consistent with a four- or even a three-card suit.

Passing 2♥ is clear. Once you raise to 3♥, I have no idea why your partner passed or why he thought the auction made no sense (before he saw your hand - you should have four hearts imo).

Play. Do they play a gambling 3NT on xxx x AKQJxxx Jx? We now know they don't, but it pays to ask. Anyway, two rounds of spades after two rounds of trumps is probably best. Then pull the remaining trumps and jettison the spade honour. Cash the last spade and play a club covering East's card. If West started with a 3415 shape that is just too bad (and East should beat it by switching to his singleton club in that scenario). This line caters for West holding four or five spades.

In principle, we only fail when East started with xxxx x AKQJxxx K. West gets to ruff the second spade when we had ten on top.

[rhm]

If West is an expert, play him for an original holding of 3 spades, that is cash only one spade.
If West had only 2 cards in spades East had five. He would have bid them.
With 4 (or 5) cards in spades West misplayed.
If he keeps 4 cards in spades there is no end-play and he need not come down to a doubleton king of clubs if he ruffs the third diamond himself.

Rainer Herrmann

[PhilKing]

rhm, on 2012-December-04, 09:16, said:

If West is an expert, play him for an original holding of 3 spades, that is cash only one spade.
If West had only 2 cards in spades East had five. He would have bid them.
With 4 (or 5) cards in spades West misplayed.
If he keeps 4 cards in spades there is no end-play and he need not come down to a doubleton king of clubs if he ruffs the third diamond himself.

Rainer Herrmann

Ruffing the third diamond merely postpones the inevitable.

The four-card ending is ♠J ♥- ♦- ♣732 opposite ♠- ♥- ♦- ♣AQ95.

West needs to keep two spades and three clubs. If he comes down to two and two, we have a trivial guess, but basically it's a classic striptease.

[kenberg]

This was not an expert game (for example I was playing in it) so an inference about what an expert player would have done won't help much here. But I missed the fact that it works to draw only two spades, after two have been pitched, even when W started with five since the third spade in dummy can be pitched as trump are drawn and then the last spade cashed in hand.

I can also see the point of passing 2♥ although I am not totally convinced. It's true that 4♥ cannot be made against good defense, and that is even with partner having quite a good hand, so maybe I should be convinced. But we do have 26 highs and an eight card fit. If partner has the club jack instead of the spade jack this hand gets a lot easier. Sure, that's wishing for everything just right. I should not raise to 3♥ if partner cannot have the hand he has. I think that is the argument being made. I'll think about that. And thanks.

Although not an expert game I do think that against 4♥ a trick 3 switch to the club Jack, from Jx, is pretty clear. Unless partner has something good in clubs I have no idea where four tricks will be coming from. If it goes JQKx then West has to figure out that if the Jack is stiff and East has a heart then a club trick will be scored eventually without the ruff.

[rhm]

PhilKing, on 2012-December-04, 09:39, said:

Ruffing the third diamond merely postpones the inevitable.

The four-card ending is ♠J ♥- ♦- ♣732 opposite ♠- ♥- ♦- ♣AQ95.

West needs to keep two spades and three clubs. If he comes down to two and two, we have a trivial guess, but basically it's a classic striptease.

Good catch.
But I maintain that an expert would not discard down in spades and make the end-play easy.
The striptease needs a competent declarer

Rainer Herrmann

[phil_20686]

against normal people an early easy spade pitch is usually from five. Which seems to make sense of the rest of the hand too. Opener cannot have four spade when he bid 2d, and so he must have at least two more spades, so probably best to cash two spades draw trump pitch a spade and then play a club to the 9 for a classic endplay.

Also, your partner should have banged down 4H over 3H - he is clearly maximum for his bidding, and that is all this sequence can be asking him.

[PhilKing]

phil_20686, on 2012-December-04, 13:03, said:

against normal people an early easy spade pitch is usually from five.

It's easy from any holding because he can see AKQ in dummy. But ...

rhm, on 2012-December-04, 11:29, said:

Good catch.
But I maintain that an expert would not discard down in spades and make the end-play easy.
The striptease needs a competent declarer

Rainer Herrmann

Yep. West's best second discard if 5413 is a club once East fails to switch. He now needs us to misguess the four-card ending.

[kenberg]

Let's suppose that the contract is 4♥, and suppose that it is clear or at least plausible that declarer has five decent hearts. For example, suppose declarer had bid 3♥ over the second double.

I would think that now, at trick 2, West should play whatever card is most likely to get a club switch when all available diamond tricks have been taken. If by any chance three diamond tricks are available then a club switch must be one of those what else would you do situations. But East can, and does, have seven diamonds. Surely West should reason: If declarer has the Jack of clubs we are not beating 4H. If partner has the Jack of clubs I want him to lead it, or at least lead some club. So whatever signal is most likely to get a club switch should be the play at trick 2.

East should be well on his way to figuring this out anyway. Declarer bid 1♥, not 2♥, on the first round. Looking at his own limited high card array, he can infer West has the club king. It won't be enough. If declarer has Txx, then East's Jack is not taking a trick no matter how declarer plays. So he gives his partner the ten, not because he logically holds it but because the hand cannot be beaten if he does not. After two diamonds, he switches to a club, the Jack I would think. Encouragement at trick 2 for a club switch would be nice, but it should really not be needed.,

With our auction, the situation is entirely different and entirely hopeless. Defenders are not taking five tricks on any conceivable line. And I doubt declarer will be taking ten since he won't be screwing around with some endplay maneuvers when he can see nine tricks. Over rectifying the count doesn't pay off well. Added: On second thought, I guess playing a couple of rounds of spades does not put a nine trck contract in danger. If W ruffs and gets out with a trump, draw and then execute the endplay to bring it back up to nine.

Anyway, I am becoming convinced that partner really cannot have a hand like what he has and bid only 2♥, so I should pass 2♥. Next time, when I do this, and partner spreads for ten tricks, I will refer him to this thread.

Side comment. People argue a lot about carding methods. In my experience, sending a message is usually easy no matter what methods you are playing. The trick is deciding in time what you want to say.