se12sam

My honest answer is that at the table I'd play ♠3 without much thought. I agree with Phil that I'd place partner with the ♠Q and there is no hurry in the spade suit. However, as this is a problem hand, I can think of a reason for putting up the ♠9. It is possible for declarer to have ♠8xx. If the 9 holds, I can play clubs right away. When I win later with the ♠K, I can cash the ♦Q (if partner's ♣Q has not yet cashed, then low ♣ and win ♦ return with Q) and play a 3rd round of diamonds to promote partner's trumps.

Risky, but sometimes it is worth sticking our neck out. I prefer double; if needed, partner makes a scrambling bid and we could land in 3m.

Pass. I lead a diamond. Dummy could have strong hearts, a spade void and clubs. Our main hope is to be able to set up a second trick before the ♣A is extracted. And that is more likely to be in diamonds.

In my humble opinion, charging should be aimed at the right people. I think BBO should charge the ORGANIZER for projecting their Vugraph; and not to the spectators to watch. * When viewers see an event from (say) Pula being broadcast and see some top players on Vugraph, we wonder about the place. After a bit of googling, some of the viewers may choose to go there next year. Even if only a small fraction do, it will still benefit both the local economy and the bridge tournament. * The same applies for events like Schapiro Spring Foursomes, Gold Coast, Weekend in place X etc. Every broadcast increases interest, attendance and eventually benefits the organizers. * WBF Regional tournaments (PABF qualifiers, BFAME qualifiers) broadcasts could be driven by other considerations -- e.g. prestige / to show-off that their Zone is good etc. * Finally, events like Bermuda Bowl could find alternative reasons. They can prove to their sponsors that tens of thousands of people around the world watch; plus they can AND should create and sell merchandise commemorating every event. Some of us BBO viewers will buy booklets, mugs, DVDs etc. My key points are: 1. Keep it free -- like TV is largely free. In my opinion, BBO is not competing against pay-per-view boxing, or specialized sports network. 2. Negotiate charges with each organizer. You may wish to charge lesser to Bermuda Bowl, USBF, Spingold etc and higher to specialized/holiday bridge events. Best wishes, and thank you for a great product

Have a great one!

When you play the 4th ♥ to LHO, you are playing to trick 10. Which three cards do you retain in hand? :)

There are two possibilities I need to consider: A - The 1NT bidder was a joker. B - The diamond bidder genuinely has a 1-1-7-4 or more extreme distribution If A, I can pass and partner will find a double. If B and I bid, this could cost a lot. (e.g. 1-1-7-4 with ♥A with LHO can cost ♥A, ♥ ruff, two clubs etc) Sequence 1. I bid 5♥. Partner can decide from now on; he will know my values are well placed in majors. Sequence 2. I pass with some trepidation. Partner can pass, double or sacrifice but it is going to be a problem for either of us to guess right. Sequence 3. Easy pass. I doubled earlier so if there is a penalty available, partner will know what to do. Sequence 4. Easy pass. My 4♦ bid has done most of the talking. Now I leave the decision to partner.

Actually, an endplay is imminent if declarer held this hand. You lead a heart and declarer plays ♥x (the pips in dummy are bigger). Partner has to win and is endplayed immediately. * If partner returns a heart, declarer wins and plays ♣A then ♣x. This creates 1+2+4+2 tricks for him * If partner returns a club, the endplay repeats after a few tricks. Declarer puts up dummy's ♣Q, crosses to hand in ♣A and runs the remaining 3 diamonds. Finally, the last club from dummy puts partner in for a lead into ♥AQ

Consider yourself Grosvenored then. Declarer has an obvious holdup with Axx. Agreed :) However, if we are playing standard carding, the 6-4 shows even count -- and partner could have clarified by playing 4-6 or 6-8 with a 3-card holding. If we are playing UDCA, I still have a problem...

If this is correct, the question remains as to why RHO threw a low spade on the 3rd heart when he had other discards available.

I pass. If I have to bid, then I bid 3♣. I'm sorry I don't get the 2♠ bid. Do we expect partner to have 5-4 in majors? If so, isn't the opponents' silence deafening? They have ~9 card fit in diamonds and have passed. Possibly partner has bid 2♥ to improve on the 2♣ contract. I have a singleton diamond and a 2-card support. That's enough for me...

I need the ♠K with East. And a lucky 3-3 in clubs -- pretty much what Phil said. I start by playing ♣4 towards dummy. - If West follows with the ♣2 or ♣3, I can run it to East. Win East's ♦? return in dummy, cash ♣K and play low spade to ♠Q. I need clubs to be 3-3. Then I can make 2♠, 4♣, 2♦ and 1♥ - In the more likely case of West playing a higher club, I win in dummy and play back a club -- hopping up with the Ace. I need West to hold a 3-card suit missing both Q&J.

Declarer is probably sitting with ♠82 and hoping I cash the ♠Q. Declarer could have began life with ♠A852 ♥AQ ♦A953 ♣Axx. At this time, he has only 7 tricks. The only way the contract makes is if I cash the ♠Q before playing a heart. This sets up the ♠8 AND sets up partner for a later endplay (partner gets thrown in with ♥K to lead away from his presumed ♣K) I think partner will produce enough tricks in defense if I switch now to ♥6. If declarer started life with 3 ♣ tricks, I don't think I can beat the contract. PS: I'll feel sore if partner played those cards from ♠642 or from ♠864

Play ♥Q and claim? I don't think the overtrick matters or will materialize.

4♠ -- though I am curious whether Ben's system has a 3♦ by South to be forcing on partner (some sort of raise/correct to 4♣)

I might risk 3♣. The hand has a very high offensive value and (if partner has some club length) a low defensive value. I wish to dissuade partner from raising me easily OR from doubling them later with some scattered defensive values.

I'd tend to go with Josh's line of reasoning and bid 4♠. The 3♦ bidder could easily be the joker here; at this vul, partner will have some valuable distribution.

I suppose it gets easy if South passes. Would I pass with the South hand? To be honest, I'm inconsistent on this one -- sometimes pass, sometimes bid. Playing with a regular partner who strives to bid in 3rd seat after two passes, I'd pass. Pass - 1♣ - (1♥) 1♠ - 2NT 3♦ - 3♠ 4♠ - all pass 1♠ is 5+ and non-forcing; 2NT is 18-20 with heart stopped

I agree all the points Josh has made so far. I was the 2♠ bidder at the table and I thought this hand was on the heavy side for a 2♠ raise. The bid could easily have been 3 HCP lighter.

South needs to make 4 discards on the run of spades. It will most likely be 1♥, 1♣ and 2♦ cards. Throwing two clubs eliminates that suit from any squeeze equation etc. So at trick 8 when you take the ♦ finesse, West wins (with the presumed King) and plays back a heart. You are forced to play the third heart winner from dummy and (if hearts are not 3-3) guess which minor suit to unguard. Doesn't this reduce some of the chances you listed?

Thanks all. The voting favors pass, which is what happened at the table. I posted this because it was a BBO teams board and the result at both tables was 2♠ +4 (!) for +230 and a push board. http://tinyurl.com/lgss9g

I find it easier to win the king from AKJ than the ace from AQx, and much easier than winning the ace from AQ only. As declarer against good opposition, you might reasonably assume that from AKJ they'll always win with a high one (unless they have ♥Qx, of course). Even against a world-class player, we can forget the idea that they might have falsecarded with AJ or KJ only. In that case: - A heart finesse gains against ♥Qxx(+) onside with ♠AKJ offside - A second spade finesse gains against ♥Q offside and ♠HJx or ♠Jxx onside. (I've assumed that if you take an unsuccessful heart finesse you will then try to pin ♠J.) That makes the second spade finesse correct, regardless of how good LHO is. So no, it's not a good example of the point you were making, but it's an interesting hand. We haven't considered spades to be genuinely 1-4 with West having a singleton Ace or King. If we exclude all 5-0 splits after the first round of spades, a 1-4 split (East longer) should be approx 15% chance. However, a heart queen is still only slightly lower than 50% (if spades are 1-4, west has more "vacant spaces")

How about this one then? Is this a better example or a worse one?http://webutil.bridgebase.com/v2/news_fetch.php?id=144

[hv=d=e&v=e&s=st8763hat64dakca9]133|100|Scoring: IMP Bidding goes: East South West North Pass - 1♠ - pass - 2♠ Pass - ??[/hv]

I need some guidance. While declaring, what is your thought process on potential deceptive plays by defender? Do you (as a rule) pay-off a deception (i.e. assume normal play)? Let me elaborate with a constructed (and possibly primitive) example below: [hv=n=sxxh652dakxxcxxxx&s=sakxhkjt943dxxckx]133|200|Scoring: XIMP You reach 4♥ as South. West leads ♦Q. You win in dummy and play top 3 spades (ruffing in dummy). You lead ♥5 to the ♥7, your J and West's ♥A. In tempo, west plays a high diamond and you are in dummy for the final time. Do you play a low club off dummy? Or do you continue with a low trump (hoping to finesse East's ♥Q? Assume that opponent carding is not helpful and that opponents are expert. What would you play from dummy at trick 7?[/hv] If East / West are expert, there is still a decent chance that West has the ♥Q (even a ♥AQ doubleton is not ruled out). There are frequent such situations that arise in normal play - A finesse wins, but when you repeat it you find it loses - Holding KQTx (in hand) opposite xxx, you play low to the King winning. Next time, low to Queen and West produces the Ace. Sometimes I realise such positions as declarer. And I find myself spending energy/time thinking whether opponents were being deceptive. My key question is -- Am I fretting about something that should not bother me? Should I pay-off a deception? Thanks