BunnyGo

Is this really the time to be making a length lead? Partner might think you're looking to get a ruff.

So here's the whole hand as presented by Rodwell: [hv=pc=n&s=s53hq8753dq97ck32&w=skqjt764h6da86cj4&n=sa2hakt42dkj4cq98&e=s98hj9dt532cat765&d=n&v=n&b=5&a=1c(Strong%20club)p1h3s4hppp&p=sksas9s3hah9h3h6hkhjh5s6d4d2dqdasqs2s8s5d6djd3d7dkd5d9d8c8c5ckc4c2cjc9]399|300[/hv] The lesson was that West should have dropped the Jack of clubs under the King. However, I think that the declarer played the hand wrong. There is little hope of picking up the clubs for just one loser, and I don't think there's much hope of an endplay, but it's likely that West has a club honor (T,J or A), with at most two clubs. I think the play should be as follows: [hv=pc=n&s=s53hq8753dq97ck32&w=skqjt764h6da86cj4&n=sa2hakt42dkj4cq98&e=s98hj9dt532cat765&d=n&v=n&b=5&a=1c(Strong%20club)p1h3s4hppp&p=sksas9s3hah9h3h6hkhjh5s6dkd3d7dasqs2s8s5d8djd2d9d4d5dqd6c2c4cqcac5c3]399|300[/hv] I should say that I just now realized why my line isn't good (count your losers :)). The reason I thought this was better was that it would never give West the chance to unblock. It's clear to me now that you need to hope that West has a doubleton T or J (or both!) and doesn't find the unblock. Anyways, hope you found this as interesting as I did.

1) Ugh...either the 2 of spades, 2 of diamonds or A of clubs. I'll go with the Ace of clubs. It's unlikely to blow a trick, the danger is just setting up a suit in dummy for pitches...oh well if it fails. 2) I'm leading a trump. I agree with Phil that I don't want to blow a trick. They may be able to pitch spades on diamonds, but I'd rather cut down on ruffs (this hand sounds distributional) before they get too many. 3) I'll lead the spade king. The heart or club could easily be the better suit to attack, but I'll hope to hit partner with 4 or 5 spades to the A or J.

3NT.

Yes, click on the name whose hand you want to be seeing, and the others (except the dummy) will disappear. P.S. Welcome to the forums BudVisor.

It's almost a double winkle...maybe it is one.

agreed, but if you check the spoiler, he rebid 3♣. I think he's asking about our opinion of that bid.

Jeez matmat, really living up to that "resident troll" title. :rolleyes:

I also bid 2♣.

This hand was an example in the Rodwell Files. The hand as presented had a declarer error giving the defense a way out (the lesson of the hand was that the defense didn't find it...), but the author didn't mention the declarer error giving the defense a chance. I found it very interesting. [hv=pc=n&s=s53hq8753dq97ck32&n=sa2hakt42dkj4cq98&d=n&v=n&b=5&a=1c(strong%20club)p1h3s4hppp]266|200[/hv] The lead is the King of spades, won by the Ace, East playing the 9. Hearts are 1-2 (West pitches a spade). Now what? Edit: For those with the book, the hand appears on page 95. I'll post the full hand and my answer (hopefully the correct one) later.

Undos require both players to accept, so the table was waiting for you to accept.

Actually, most of the example hands are from the past 2 years.

Unless I miscalculated, West was merely trying to keep them out of 6S making. :P

If I passed the first time, I'll sit for the double and lead a trump. I'm a bit surprised. I don't expect that field to bid close games. Next time, the key finesse won't work. Looking forward to it. Double...that said, I doubled 3♦. You win this BAM.

I picked it up, but didn't want to wait around for him to sign it...he was busy playing cards, and that's what I wanted to do too.

1) I'll double. Even against the type of opponent you're facing (where you're guaranteed one extra trick on defense from the RHP), I'm not sure I want to trap pass...and against this type of opponent, they often get to 3♣. 2) No, never at matchpoints. 3) Double for hearts. There's time to show clubs and spade shortness later. 4) WHACK! I'll take that plus please, thank you. 3NT might make, but we don't have to have more than a few slow spade tricks, 1 heart trick, 2 diamonds, and a few clubs. Not enough to make 3NT, but easily enough to take 3♦X down 2 or 3.

good point.

Since the lead was a diamond, it is likely that LHO is 3=3=3=4 and RHO is 4=4=3=2, otherwise I'd have expected LHO to lead a major suit on this auction. So when I cash the 4th diamond, LHO cannot pitch a club. If he pitches a spade, then I'll drop his Q and set up a long spade. If he pitches a heart, then I'll cash the A of club, and a spade to the Ace. If he doesn't unblock the Q, then he's to be endplayed. If he does unblock the Q, then I can set up a long spade.

1) I treat the 4♥ bid as natural, strong enough to want to be in game, but not particularly interested in slam. 2) East has a tough bid. I'd think that bids here are cue-bids, but what East wants to know is how good West's clubs, diamonds and hearts are (in particular, the Ace of clubs, King of Diamonds, and King of hearts...two of these makes 6 good, three makes 7 good). If this is a forcing pass situation (and I think it is), then I think passing and bidding next time is better, it's more forward going and better describes the hand. 3) 5 hearts seems normal. With two small spades and three small diamonds West does not have a good cause to bid slam opposite what seems to be a cue-bid (even if it's a second suit...that's not so good). 4) I give East the blame. Edit: I think the double by East is the worst bid of the sequence. East is still willing to go to slam, and has no reason to think that 5S isn't necessarily making.

Indeed...you can pay to play in an ACBL matchpoint game every 13 minutes, you can pay for other non-free events too.

learnt.

I agree with gordontd, but would like to elaborate a little. Your hand particularly would like to show hearts from the start, but you don't have the strength for it. A "standard" use (when you are responder) of double is that if you then bid at your next turn you are showing a hand with a long suit but not enough points to bid it the first time. This seems to sum your hand up perfectly.

Was it a club lead? diamond? on a heart lead things aren't so bad...

What I think Mike is getting at is that if you finesse and lose, then there could easily be a diamond shift, club ruff, and this is now down. While just playing spades from the top all but guarantees the contract. Not sure what's best (I'm terrible at matchpoint decisions like this) but at IMPs for sure I would spurn the finesse, and probably at matchpoints too.