Trumpace

This is a hand from the humourous book "Beaten by the masters" by David Bird. This hand appears on page 113. It appears to me that the author has missed a better line than the one given in the book (or perhaps that is the point of the joke!). Anyway... You reach 7S as South (after West preempts 4♦) and West leads the ♦Q. [hv=d=s&v=n&n=sq74ha4dak7caq932&s=sakt962hj98dck865]133|200|Lead ♦Q[/hv] Plan the play. As usual Adv/Exp please don't post spoilers too early.

http://www.bubblebox.com/play/puzzle/975.htm

Frankly, I don't see why this should be an issue. You play with a random person and expect them to have accurate info on their profile? What about the rating? Does that bother you too? As sceptic said 90% of the poeple probably just play socially and haven't read a book etc. About the point that people are lying, I don't think they are all wilfully lying, it is just that they probably just don't know. People who put advanced as their rating, might actually have been winning in their local clubs, which according to BBO, they are advanced. If you think they are being obnoxious, BBO has a good feature: mark them as enemies and move on. If you are serious enough about the game, you should know better than to fret about incorrect information on a random person's profile. Better yet, find a regular partner and play with them. 0.02

So you are playing declarer for something like AJx Axx Axx Qxxx A spade return won't help in that case I think. Also, why didn't declarer run the club to his Q?

In a rubber bridge game, you are East and hold QTxxx, KT9xxx, Jx, x No one is vul. South is dealer and opens 1NT. Bidding proceeds: 1NT - P - 2C - P 2D - P - 3NT - All Pass ( 2C - Stayman, asking for 4 card major 2D - No 4 card major. ) Partner leads the ♣T and you see [hv=d=s&v=n&n=skh8xxxdkt9xxcajx&e=sqtxxxhkt9xxdjxcx]266|200|Scoring: Rubber Lead ♣10.[/hv] Declarer wins the ♣A in dummy, leads a ♦ to A (pard plays low showing an odd number) and then ♦ to 9. You win the ♦ J. Now what? (As usual Adv/Exp please don't post too early).

Can't you ruff in dummy and throw a heart?

That looks right to me. It seems odd that with Jxxx opposite Qxx, we need to lead from that suit and that too the Q. Leading to the Q from dummy won't help, as RHO can rise with the A, play a spade back to LHO and get a spade ruff.

What? You want us to comment on the fact that you clearly weren't playing weak jump overcalls? I don't suppose so - this is rubber after all. Or do want a comment about whether this is a suitable hand for an intermediate jump? Hmm - well I play intermediate jumps and this is a max for me with the 7th club. But somehow I doubt that you were looking for a discussion about the upper limit for an intermediate jump overcall... So, I suppose you want a comment on the fact that the opps have sold out but appear to have about 22 of the 40 hcp including 8 of the 12 controls plus an eight card fit they didn't find. Perhaps they are bit timid? Is that what you wanted someone to say? Nick The point of this thread is the card play. By feel free to comment, I meant feel free to say it is a stupid bid etc. Note, I did not specifically solicit comments about the bidding by saying please comment on this, but I said feel free... so the fact that this is a card play thread should not deter you from giving pointers to the beg/int about bidding and that if the bidding is atrocious, at least someone should say so and not let the beg/int be influenced by it. Hope it is clearer to you now.

You are South and hold Qxx, KQ, x, AQJT9xx. North deals and passes. RHO bids 1♥. You try a 3♣ bid which ends the bidding. (Feel free to comment on this). LHO leads the ♥T and you see: [hv=d=n&v=n&n=sjxxxh98xxdkt9xcx&s=sqxxhkqdxcaqjt9xx]133|200|Scoring: Rubber[/hv] RHO wins the ♥A and continues with a low ♥. You win the ♥K and play ♣A and J as both follow and RHO wins the ♣K. RHO then returns a low ♥. You hold your breath and discard your singleton diamond, LHO discarding a diamond too as you win in the dummy with the ♥8. You have been lucky so far. Now what?

Well done. I think all of you have it. Here is another 5S contract. You reach 5S after West overcalled in Diamonds. West leads ♦Q and you see: [hv=d=s&v=n&n=sjt9h5432dak3cak3&s=sk876543haq6d2c42]133|200|Scoring: Rubber Lead ♦Q.[/hv] Plan the play.

Playing Rubber you reach 5S and West leads the ♣2. You see: [hv=d=s&v=n&n=sqjt92ha2dqjcqj43&s=sk8754hk3da3cak65]133|200|Scoring: Rubber Lead ♣2, East plays the 7.[/hv] You play a low ♣ from dummy and East plays the ♣7 and you win the K. Plan the play. As usual Adv/Exp please refrain from posting too early.

There is a slight extra chance of ♠T98 tight, but yes, basically it seems like ♦ finesse after RHO wins ♠K on trick 1.

I am assuming that making 6NT is good enough to give us a good score. So at the table I would probably take the simple line (the first one that comes to mind): Win heart with K, club to dummy, spade to J. If that loses to Q, I expect a non-spade return and then fall back on 3-3 diamonds. I am pretty sure this will be wrong.

Close, unclear and depends on vul. It also depends on the bidding, did LHO chime in with 1h/2h? The overtrick(s) come in only 13% of the time, vs. stiff K off 2.8%, but stiff K off you might still survive if hearts 4-4, or 6-2 with RHO having DA. Plus stiff K makes the 5-3 break more likely, it would take awhile to figure this out exactly. Vul is Nobody vul. Also don't you have to split the 13% into 2 overtricks vs 1? Also, are we even considering what will happen on the other table? Assuming declarer is in 3NT, and takes the 100% line... For instance if the hearts block, declarer will make an overtrick in some cases. This is just getting too complicated... I agree with Stephen, this is not clear at all, and might even depend on what our team-mate sitting in the East seat might do.

When I posted this problem, I hadn't even considered the overtrick(s) issue, which is too hard (and unfair) to B/I. Perhaps I should have just written it as a Rubber bridge hand. My Apologies...

Once LHO follows to the second round, the odd becomes ~52 vs 48 for drop vs finesse. In terms of the vacant spaces argument, one card left (the Jack): 11 spaces with LHO, 12 spaces with RHO. Might be wrong though. Also, I am not able to think of a way to bring Bayes(Restricted choice) into the picture... RHO didn't have a choice and it seems we cannot read anything into the way in which LHO played his spots.

Sometimes corrections to the problem etc are discussed, we cannot have spoilers etc revealed/sandwiched between those posts. Also the answer being hidden might dissuade some people from giving up too easily or accidently viewing them. It might not be doing any good, but IMO it is not doing any harm either (except for the minor inconveniece to read/write such posts).

1) How would you play the following combination for 3 tricks? [hv=n=sq932&w=s&e=s&s=saj74]399|300|[/hv] 2) In an IMPS game you are South and reach 3NT. LHO leads the ♥Q. You see [hv=d=s&v=n&n=sajt9hakdk32cq932&s=skq8h432dq54caj74]133|200|Scoring: IMP Lead ♥Q[/hv] Plan the play. As usual Adv/Exp please refrain from posting too soon.

I don't see anything weird... using IE though.

For IMPS, yes.

Scoring is MP. You have bid to 4S and are declarer (South). West leads ♦K and you see [hv=d=s&v=n&n=sk93h654da32caqjt&s=saqj8542hk32d4c32]133|200|Scoring: MP Lead ♦K.[/hv] Plan the play. If the scoring was IMPS, how would you play? (As usual Adv/Exp please refrain from posting too early).

If we ignore the play upto the point when declarer leads the Q, then yes, it is 50-50 in the cases which matter (QJ with declarer and T with partner). So basically, an answer to your question if North's who did not cover were defending rationally, is "not enough information" :P Also, I guess the scoring was IMPS...

And if declarer ducks the spade, pd will have to return a spade. So is ♠7 right? (I guess so, since he probably knows we likely have 3, but the bidding seems very strange to me). Weird, all my posts in this thread have been about leads.. :P

What kind of leads do N/S play? Would N lead the 5 from 985?

The scoring is Matchpoints.