[Walddk]

Scoring: IMP

W: 3NT
Lead: H7

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One of the most interesting defensive problems during our broadcasts from the recent European Youth Team Championships in Italy arose on this deal in the match between Denmark and Turkey.

Pass from South, 1NT (15-17) 3NT by West-East. You decide to lead ♥7, and declarer wins with the jack. Next comes ♣9 and you duck smoothly (where did we see that Q10x combination before?).

Declarer plays low from dummy, and your partner's jack scores. He obediently returns a heart to declarer's king and your ace. When you cash ♥Q, West pitches a diamond, and yet another one on your 9.

Yes, it's annoying. The heart suit was blocked from the start, but that can't be helped. However, the spotlight is on you now. What do you next? A spade, a diamond or perhaps a passive club? How do you get partner in to cash the setting trick in hearts?

Does it matter? (Maybe Fluffy should refrain from answering since he should know the hand).

Roland

[FrancesHinden]

1. Declarer had a 1D opening, as he is 4252. Holding 3 clubs he would have tried to run them from the top (he must hold a club lower than the 8 so they aren't blocked), as he doesn't know the hearts are blocked.

2. Suppose partner doesn't have an ace. Then declarer has 9 tricks unless partner has both pointed kings. But if declarer has A,KJ,A,none as his aces & kings, he has to have both queens in the pointed suits as well to get up to 15. He can take either finesse because they are both right. Even if he has only 14 he must have one queen and that finesse is right.

3. So partner needs an ace to beat it. Partner knew the hearts were blocked. Holding an outside ace, would he cash it just to ensure one off? No, not if he trusts us, because he has two hearts in which to give us suit preference.

4. My agreement is that partner's heart at trick one is 3rd hand high, or if he can't beat a not-very-high card in dummy, count. So he gave count at trick one. When he played a heart back having won the club, he would usually play back his lowest now to help me tell the difference between an original 3 & 5. That leaves him two more hearts on which to tell me which suit his ace is in. So if he plays high-low on them I play a spade, low-high I play a diamond.

If this isn't a regular partner I will consider the order of all 3 of his hearts excluding the first one and hope he his consistent with his suit preference message.

[cherdano]

I also think that I can safely blame partner (or our agreements) if he wasn't able to give me a suit preference on the hearts. However, if my partner is unable to signal, I would return a low diamond. If he has the diamond ace, and declarer has ♠AQ, he will get squeezed out of his ace. If he has the ♠A, I can guard the diamonds, and at least I am too dumb to see a squeeze.

[Fluffy]

I won 3NT because they led 3/5.. the ♥9, and partner never played ♥ believing me to have ♥AKQJ .

[FrancesHinden]

And the full hand was...?

[luis]

I think it can be more interesting if we know which hearts spots pd played.
When I cash the third heart pd knows the suit is blocked, declarer will discard and he has 3 cards in hearts in his hand so if he has the sA he will play his highest heart, with the diamond ace he will play his lowest one and with no ace he will play his middle heart.

Assuming he plays his middle heart then declarer has the two missing aces. If declarer has the two missing aces then he also has the sQ or dQ and the hand is quite cold.
So what the hell is this? Either pd missginaled or declarer opened 1NT on 12HCP?

I don't understand the question about "getting pd to cash the seeting trick in hearts" since if we take one more trick it will be not a heart and it will be the setting trick anyway. We already took 3 hearts and a club. Something is wrong....

[Walddk]

luis, on Jul 27 2005, 05:59 PM, said:

I don't understand the question about "getting pd to cash the seeting trick in hearts" since if we take one more trick it will be not a heart and it will be the setting trick anyway. We already took 3 hearts and a club. Something is wrong....

Very true Luis. If partner has an ace, the contract will go two down, provided ... well..... I will bring the full layout a little later today.

Roland

[Walddk]

Scoring: IMP

W: 3NT

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European Youth Team Championships 2005, Italy.

Denmark v Turkey

Table 1:
♥7, 8, 6, J
♣9, 4, 2, J
♥2, K, A, 10
♥Q, ♦6, ♥3, ♦2
♥9, ♠4, ♥4, ♦4

North had paid close attention to the way South played his hearts (2, 3, 4) and trusted his partner. So he switched to ♦J. South won the ace, cashed ♥5, and the contract went 2 down.

Table 2:
♥Q, 8, 6, K
♣9, 4, 2, J
♥3, J, A, 10
♥9
♥7

To these tricks South followed with the 4 and 5. North knew of course that partner still had ♥2, so suit preference signals for a spade, right? He duly switched to a spade!

Curtains.

Poor South got squeezed in spades and diamonds, and the "impossible" 3NT rolled in. 13 IMPs to Denmark.

A holding of 65432 is best suited for poker, agreed, but spot cards are pretty important at bridge too. You can hardly find a better example than this.

Roland