[661_Pete]

The interest in this hand lies not so much in the play, as in how many declarers screwed up in a club contract. Myself amongst them. Unsurprisingly, five tables were in 5♣ (one of them X) and one in 6♣X - and only one of them made 11 tricks. Worse luck, it was the 5♣X table!

---

As you can see, a diamond lead kills the contract on the spot, but no defender found that killer lead. We were led an innocuous small heart. Now the contract seemed to depend on my guessing the spades right. This I did, but on taking their ♠A, the defence now shot through that diamond. And - silly me - guess what I'd played to the first heart? That's right: the A♥ - so no entry to dummy before the defence come in with A♣.

At the other tables declarers' mistakes were many and varied. But mine was the pits....

Perhaps I need to re-classify myself as "beginner"....

[billw55]

661_Pete, on 2016-November-01, 03:25, said:

Perhaps I need to re-classify myself as "beginner"....

Nah. A beginner would not notice their error at all.

[Fluffy]

opponent's overcalls need a new class as well

[Kaitlyn S]

Fluffy, on 2016-November-01, 11:33, said:

opponent's overcalls need a new class as well

Note to self: Bidding problems for beginners #3...

[billw55]

Fluffy, on 2016-November-01, 11:33, said:

opponent's overcalls need a new class as well

Perhaps opening bids also.

Kaitlyn S, on 2016-November-01, 12:04, said:

Note to self: Bidding problems for beginners #3...

Hmm, vulnerable 10 count opposite a passed hand, but 4432. I wonder how many votes double would get in a poll.

[1eyedjack]

I looked at this and wondered how, having won trick 1 with the Heart Ace, you got back to hand without exposing the diamond holding, in order to lead a Spade up.

I wonder whether West would have ducked the trump Ace had you overtaken the Club 5 with the Club 6, instead of letting it run. Funny that there was another thread in these forums about the rarety of a trick containing the 5432 of the same suit. It is close, but perhaps having painted yourself into that corner, you should continue with a second trump. At least then if you don't get the Diamond shift, you have a Club entry to the Spades.

[rmnka447]

Yeah, those "a cow flew by"* errors really hurt. Everyone has made them from time to time. The more they hurt, the more it gets ingrained to take your time, think things through, and keep your concentration so you don't make them again. Hopefully, next time, you'll remember this painful experience and work things out before making any play.

Just don't beat up on yourself if you make an error like this occasionally. They're part of the learning curve that all players need to go through to get better. Since you obviously care deeply that you goofed, it's a positive that you want to become better. Just understand it's part of the process of continually improving as a player.

Despite how well my partners and I play, we've had innumerable "a cow flew by" moments over the years. We've learned to recognize them, chuckle about them, but use the bad feelings to help us become even better.

* - as I recall S. J. Simon coined this phrase in his classic book "Why You Lose at Bridge" from way back. It's terrific label, that's just so apropos.

[smerriman]

1eyedjack, on 2016-November-01, 14:31, said:

I looked at this and wondered how, having won trick 1 with the Heart Ace, you got back to hand without exposing the diamond holding, in order to lead a Spade up.

This has me stumped too. The first issue with winning the Ace isn't the dummy entry, but the fact you have no way back to hand at trick 2 to finesse the spades in the first place.

[Kaitlyn S]

billw55, on 2016-November-01, 13:21, said:

Perhaps opening bids also.

You don't like 1C with South's hand? Seems clear to me.

billw55, on 2016-November-01, 13:21, said:

Hmm, vulnerable 10 count opposite a passed hand, but 4432. I wonder how many votes double would get in a poll.

I hope none. You don't expect to play the hand, and you don't want to give the declarer hints as to your distribution. You can always decide to balance against 1C-2C.

[sfi]

billw55, on 2016-November-01, 13:21, said:

Hmm, vulnerable 10 count opposite a passed hand, but 4432. I wonder how many votes double would get in a poll.

That's about the bottom end of the range for one regular partnership, and probably just out of it for another. The risk/reward ratio is pretty close in this hand.

[akwoo]

Kaitlyn S, on 2016-November-01, 19:06, said:

I hope none. You don't expect to play the hand, and you don't want to give the declarer hints as to your distribution. You can always decide to balance against 1C-2C.

Here's where the quality of your opponent's bidding agreements matter. If opps are playing inverted minors, you'll never get to balance against 1C-2C; you'd be balancing against 1C-3C.

I'm not sure I'd ever double with this, but I'm picking up opponent's convention card and then thinking rather than thinking and then picking up opponent's convention card.

[rmnka447]

Kaitlyn S, on 2016-November-01, 19:06, said:

You don't like 1C with South's hand? Seems clear to me.

The hand seems a clear opener to me, too. It meets the rule of 20, has 2 QT, and looks to take an absolute minimum of 7 tricks in ♣.

Quote

I hope none. You don't expect to play the hand, and you don't want to give the declarer hints as to your distribution. You can always decide to balance against 1C-2C.

Amen! Not only is it just 10 points, but the points are poorly placed. Doubling with this hand is placing values in partner's hand. Partner's hand can be anywhere from 0 to about a "bad" 12 after the pass. So coming in with a flat 10, you need to find partner with about 9-10 to make anything. But LHO hasn't spoken yet, LHO opponent's hand is still unknown and unlimited. There's no reason to expect that partner holds that much. If LHO makes a limited bid that comes back to you, then by bridge logic you have some reason to believe partner has something and you may have enough to compete. So, pass is superior here.

[661_Pete]

Well, it seems the hand is 'interesting' after all, judging by the number of comments!

Regarding the opening bid, well opinions vary: personally I don't like pre-empting when I have a good 11 HCP with all my honours protected. I anticipated ending up in 5 or 6♣ whatever. As for the intervention: yes I'm a bit puzzled too. West could hardly know they had a good fit in both majors....

Regarding my play, once I realized what I'd done, I got in a panic (who wouldn't?). But there was still a chance that whoever came in with A♠ wouldn't lead a diamond.

Thanks for the feedback.

[billw55]

Fluffy, on 2016-November-01, 11:33, said:

opponent's overcalls need a new class as well

billw55, on 2016-November-01, 13:21, said:

Perhaps opening bids also.

Kaitlyn S, on 2016-November-01, 19:06, said:

You don't like 1C with South's hand? Seems clear to me.

rmnka447, on 2016-November-01, 23:50, said:

The hand seems a clear opener to me, too. It meets the rule of 20, has 2 QT, and looks to take an absolute minimum of 7 tricks in ♣.

661_Pete, on 2016-November-02, 03:46, said:

Regarding the opening bid, well opinions vary: personally I don't like pre-empting when I have a good 11 HCP with all my honours protected. I anticipated ending up in 5 or 6♣ whatever.

Of course south has a routine 1♣ opener. I'm a little disappointed that anyone thought I would suggest otherwise.

But in fact, tracking from Fluffy's comment, I was actually referring to the opponents' bidding, and hence east's initial pass. I would open 1♠.

[661_Pete]

billw55, on 2016-November-02, 07:00, said:

Of course south has a routine 1♣ opener. I'm a little disappointed that anyone thought I would suggest otherwise.

But in fact, tracking from Fluffy's comment, I was actually referring to the opponents' bidding, and hence east's initial pass. I would open 1♠.

Ah, I misread you - sorry.

Perhaps East doesn't like opening with 9 hcp. I myself am wary of doing that even with a void. That way spells a misfit!

[Kaitlyn S]

billw55, on 2016-November-02, 07:00, said:

Of course south has a routine 1♣ opener. I'm a little disappointed that anyone thought I would suggest otherwise.

Sorry Bill, I haven't got all the posters pegged by level yet.

billw55, on 2016-November-02, 07:00, said:

But in fact, tracking from Fluffy's comment, I was actually referring to the opponents' bidding, and hence east's initial pass. I would open 1♠.

:Yeah, funny that we all missed that. BTW, you're not going to see that one in the Problems for I/N players However it is curious that with those two hands and East having the first crack, it was West who bid first for E-W.

[smerriman]

661_Pete, on 2016-November-02, 03:46, said:

Regarding my play, once I realized what I'd done, I got in a panic (who wouldn't?). But there was still a chance that whoever came in with A♠ wouldn't lead a diamond.

Just to satisfy my curiosity, can you clarify 1eyedjack and my point above - after you won the ♥A, how did you lead to the ♠J?

[miamijd]

As another posted stated, don't beat up on yourself too much. Pointless.

More declarer errors are made at trick 1 than any other time. Often, they result from failure to plan sufficiently. I can't believe how quickly most declarers play from dummy at trick 1; it's astonishing.

Cheers,
Mike

[MrAce]

1eyedjack, on 2016-November-01, 14:31, said:

I looked at this and wondered how, having won trick 1 with the Heart Ace, you got back to hand without exposing the diamond holding, in order to lead a Spade up.

smerriman, on 2016-November-02, 13:24, said:

Just to satisfy my curiosity, can you clarify 1eyedjack and my point above - after you won the ♥A, how did you lead to the ♠J?

♥A and then ♥K to hand.

♠ towards KJx

Of course he exposed the ♦ holding.

[1eyedjack]

MrAce, on 2016-November-03, 12:01, said:

[size="2"]

♥A and then ♥K to hand.

♠ towards KJx

Of course he exposed the ♦ holding.

Nearly.
Actually he ran the 5 of Clubs and played low from hand. The Ace was ducked and then Heart to King.
Hence my speculation about whether the Ace would have been ducked had the 5 of Clubs been overtaken with the 6