[pclayton]

I was kibbing Cohen / Berkowitz in the Vanderbilt and Cohen was faced with this defensive problem (not sure about the spots, but it doesn't change the theme):

Scoring: IMP

---

Auction:

West.......North.......East.......South
2♠......3♣.......Pass.....3♥
Pass........4♣......Pass......4♥
All pass

You sagely lead the A♠; echo from pard - showing a doubleton.

T2. K♠, small, pard plays 2, declarer follows

T3...?

[mike777]

Agree, this was a great lesson in counting. I guess the key is how many pitches do we think declarer needs?

Would playing Obvious shift have helped here, with p playing High low in spades rather than showing count? Not sure!

[Fluffy]

Good problem, I areally have no clue of what to return, I will exclude a ♦ since partner having KJ is not very liklly, and its the only time when it will be good.

Returning a ♣ its the passive one, is it better than a trump? only when you are making the last needed finese for declarer in trumps giving he the entry he is lacking, again it is hardly the case.

A ♠ overruffed may be quite good, but don't go that fast, declarer may discard a ♦ and use dummie's trumps for something better if neccesary.

so all in all I believe a trump is the best return.

[inquiry]

♥8, play partner for ♦King, three hearts with one higher than the seven. and four clubs. if you lead low heart and partners hearts are any of the following combinaiton you will be sorry...

H42
H32
H43

Where H = A, K, Q, J, T, or 9, you will be sorry. The plan is to prevent ruff in dummy, prevent entry to dummy, not help declearer by leading a diamond. Partner will win overruff the spade in dummy and return last heart and await his (hoped for) diamond king.

[Winstonm]

The only hand I can construct that is consistent with the bidding and in which declearer does not have an answer is this:

9xx, KQJ10xxx, A10, x

In this case, the winning play is a club, taking away the entry to the threat card before it can be used. I could lead the heart 3 first, but that puts the pressure on partner to find the club switch - if he wins the ace and returns a heart the squeeze will operate. A spade could also work even if partner holds the A23 of hearts, but again, he woud have to over ruff with the ace and lead a club.

Probably wrong for the millionteenth time, but I'm going to try to build a fence around partner and lead a low club. No doubt I'm sure I'll find declarer with:

9xx, AKQJxx, xx, xx

WinstonM

[mike777]

Winstonm, on Mar 21 2005, 06:15 PM, said:

The only hand I can construct that is consistent with the bidding and in which declearer does not have an answer is this:

9xx, KQJ10xxx, A10, x

In this case, the winning play is a club, taking away the entry to the threat card before it can be used. 



WinstonM

No, with that declarer hand just give p his ruff with 9 of h and A of H.
Give declarer 9 of H and declarer still makes by ruffing s with 7 of H.

[Winstonm]

Quote

No, with that declarer hand just give p his ruff with 9 of h and A of H.

Make that the a millionteen and one.

[Winstonm]

Quote

♥8, play partner for ♦King, three hearts with one higher than the seven. and four clubs. if you lead low heart and partners hearts are any of the following combinaiton you will be sorry...

If this is the case, then partner will have to be on his toes as declarer can play two rounds of high hearts and throw partner in with the 9 of hearts on the third round - if pard holds only the King of diamonds, then declarer must hold AJ10x and will come to 10 tricks unless pard unblocks on the second high heart. If declarer happens to hold the 2 of hearts, there is no escape.

If this were the acutal holding, wouldn't it be best to play any heart at trick two, before cashing the second spade? With a heart switch at trick two, can the hand be made?

WinstonM

[Rebound]

I'm with Winston in that I thought a trump switch at t2 would be effective. However, on the play as shown, I return a trump. But I've been thinking: what if declarer has a solid heart suit and club support, opting for the 10-trick game? Is this a possibility on the given auction? If so, a third spade would seem to be the better lead. What do you folks think? Am I off in left field as usual? :-)

[mike777]

Rebound, on Mar 22 2005, 02:24 PM, said:

But I've been thinking: what if declarer has a solid heart suit and club support, opting for the 10-trick game? Is this a possibility on the given auction? What do you folks think? Am I off in left field as usual? :-)

No, If p had Ace of D, they can play 2 of spades at trick one asking for D shift and play back second spade at trick three.

We need to find 4 tricks when declarer has only 3 minor suit cards including A of D. We got 2 so far.

Also if P has long D with AK may have bid over 3clubs.

[flytoox]

I think pd should take more responsibility with this hand. Since he asks for continuation of spade, I think it is better to simply follow his suggestion. If pd has HKxx and DA, then we can set them quickly. If spade continuation is wrong, I guess pd's carding is not quite right.

[Winstonm]

It would sure help on this problem if we knew the signals being used - are they playing straight count, attitude, or something entirely different.

If standard attitude, the only thing I can think of is that partner holds the Ace of diamonds and Kxx of trumps and needs to force dummy to ruff.

If count, why didn't he switch at trick 2 to a trump?

Or did he high how with 3 trumps, making sure we cash and don't do something dumb if opener holds xx, QJ109xxxx, AKx, x?

Seems the only holding I can come up with where it matters what I do is the following: After the second high spade, if declarer held: 9xx, KQJ1093, AJ, xx then a Club switch will allow partner to win the first heart and lead a second club, killing dummy - anything else gives away the contract.

I think.

WinstonM

[pclayton]

I think this an absolute bear of a hand. I should have posed this as the play problem, but I thought the theme was intermediate at best, even though Buratti got it wrong at the other table. Well, he couldn't have played too bad, he won the event .

Here's the complete hand:

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The winning defense is a trump; which locks declarer in his hand. He will be lucky to escape for -2, but partner will be endplayed after winning the K♦. ***Note the trump gambit here**** - declarer can play ♥AK and a low heart ENDPLAYING East! SO East has to unload the ♥J-9 as if they are burning his hand as he holds them.

Both defenders played a 3rd round of spades. Buratti ruffed (!) in dummy, overruff, and trump back. Say goodbye.

Onstott pitched a diamond, which left the defenders helpless.

__________________________________

First, I don't think anything is clear here, and no matter what type of signaling you use, I don't think you can read too much into pard's willingness to echo with xx of spades, except pard shouldn't echo here without an ability to overruff dummy, and, perhaps, hold the ♦AK.

There are several possibilities:

1) Pard can overruff dummy (not the ace) and holds the ♦A
2) Pard can overruff dummy and holds the ♦KJ
3) Pard can cash 2 diamonds and declarer holds solid hearts down to dummy's 7 spot.
4) Pard has the ♥A, the ♦KJ and can't overruff dummy (except the A)
5) Declarer holds ♦AJ with or without the 10.

All of these cases need to be weighed with declarer holding void, x and xx of ♣'s.

So, I think overall the winning defense is a diamond at T2. However, our overruff potential is somewhat negated when declarer holds a stiff club and can with the ♦A and pitch the spade before exiting a heart.

When Declarer holds xx of clubs; 3=6=2=2 or 3=7=1=2, partner must hold the A♦ or the A♥ to beat this.

Seemingly the two defenders were only playing for pard to hold the ♦A and an overruff, but a diamond continuation solves this. I will concede that if declarer holds Jxxx of ♠'s, you might look pretty dumb not cashing the K♠, but maybe not.

What about a trump at T2? This works in every case a diamond does, except where declarer has solid hearts or missing only one honor (not the A). A trump works better when declarer has ♦AJ or AJT and a club void. If declarer has x or xx of clubs, a trump can be dangerous. With ♣xx, declarer is claiming, and with a stiff club and ♦KJx, we lose our overuff.

Overall a great hand. More comments welcome of course.

[Winstonm]

Notice too on this hand that a diamond switch at trick 3 allows declarer to win the ace of diamonds and play the third spade himself while he pitches a diamond - again it is adieu to the defense.

[beatrix45]

Trouble is that declarer gins in clubs with any 2 or 3 card holding. I'm going for the spade overruff and the diamond or heart A from partner.

Trixie