Bridge Movie I

[pclayton]

Here's an adaptation of a hand I held in the MBC a few days ago. You are playing with a strong partner against two randoms and pick up in 4th seat white on red: ♠A752, ♥AJ8652, ♦K2, ♣K. Not a bad collection certainly.

 

However, the bidding in front of you gets very accelerated. 2♠ (weak) on your left, pass by partner, 5♣ on your right.

 

Your call?

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There are three choices: 5♥, double and pass. I don't like 5♥. Even if we catch a fit, we are going to have problems with the spade suit, as RHO will be able to overruff partner. The K♣ is obviously worthless too. The K♦ looks more like a defensive card than an offensive card. If I was in heat 3, I'd probably pass, but I think double is the percentage action. Should double be takeout showing primary diamonds and secondary hearts? I really don't think so, and if pard pulls, I expect very skewed distribution.

 

LHO now surprises you with a 5♥ (!!!) call. This actually happened at the table. I audibly exhaled and was very happy I didn't trot out 5♥!. RHO pulls to 6♣ and you find an easy double and the table rests.

 

Now you have to find a lead from (repeated): ♠A752, ♥AJ8652, ♦K2, ♣K.

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Lets do a little reconstruction: LHO is 6=4=3=0 or less likely 6=5=2=0. 6=4=2=1 is possible too, but not likely, so is 6=5=1=1. RHO has a slew of clubs, at least 8 and no real fit for either of LHO's suits, but with 8 or 9 clubs he really wouldn't care if he did anyway.

 

There are three main candidates, the A♠, the A♥ and the K♦. I don't like the A♠, but there is some sense to it. If LHO is 6=5 in the majors, there's a slightly higher chance the A♠ will live while the A♥ won't. Still, it always feels wrong to lead dummy's primary suit, unless we think we can get pard a ruff, which is real doubtful here.

 

The K♦ seems wrong too. If pard has the ♦A, we are creaming this hand, so thats not much of a worry, as the difference will be 800 to 1100 or so. However, the K♦ could be a disaster, as declarer could have AQx or even AQJ and we have just led the setting trick.

 

The A♥ is left. I think there is a moderate chance pard can ruff a heart, and I think there's a fair chance that it lives anyway. So we try the A♥.

 

[hv=d=n&v=n&n=skjt983hkqt97d43c&w=sa752haj8652dk2ck]266|200|Scoring: IMP[/hv]

 

1. A♥, 7, 3 (udca), 2♣ (drat!)

2. A♣, K, ♥9, 5

3. Q♣, ♥2, ♥T, 3

4. J♣, ♥8, ♠3, 10

5. ♠4, ?

 

Now what? (Hopefully you were thinking about this position as you pitched on the clubs.

 

[hv=d=n&v=n&n=skjt983hkqt97d43c&w=sa752haj8652dk2ck]266|200|Scoring: IMP[/hv]

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RHO appears to be 2=0=3=8 leaving pard with 1=2=6=4 or (more likely) 1=0=3=9 leaving pard with 2=2=6=3. After all, pard did give us count in clubs.

 

Ducking the A♠ could be disasterous. Declarer will rise with the K (out of desparation) and pitch losers on the ♥KQ.

 

So we rise with the A♠ and get the ♠4 from pard. It looks like we did the right thing and pard has Qx.

 

Now we have to lead:

 

[hv=d=n&v=n&n=skjt983hkqt97d43c&w=sa752haj8652dk2ck]266|200|Scoring: IMP[/hv]

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Obviously we have to play a diamond. Declarer is a lock to be 1=0=3=9. The choices are the K or the 2 .Here are the relevant positions:

 

 

1. [hv=n=s43&w=sk2&e=st98xxx&s=saqj]399|300|[/hv]

 

Doesn't matter what we play; declarer has just walked into an endplay.

 

2. [hv=n=s43&w=sk2&e=st98xxx&s=saqj]399|300|[/hv]

 

We get one trick no matter how we play .

 

3. [hv=n=s43&w=sk2&e=st98xxx&s=saqj]399|300|[/hv]

 

One trick for the defense.

 

4. [hv=n=s43&w=sk2&e=st98xxx&s=saqj]399|300|[/hv]

 

If we lead the K, declarer will duck and make 2 more tricks. If we lead low, declarer will probably duck playing pard for KQ.

 

5. [hv=n=s43&w=sk2&e=st98xxx&s=saqj]399|300|[/hv]

 

We need to play the K to unblock the suit to take 2 tricks.

 

6. [hv=n=s43&w=sk2&e=st98xxx&s=saqj]399|300|[/hv]

 

We will take two tricks.

 

7. [hv=n=s43&w=sk2&e=st98xxx&s=saqj]399|300|[/hv]

 

We will take 3 tricks, but we need to unblock .

 

On balance, it appears that leading the K helps n two cases and leading low helps in 1. However, go back to pard's club spots. Wouldn't pard try to convey a stronger diamond holding by playing low-hi in clubs? Accordingly, Case 7 can be thrown out. Would pard play low-hi with QJ9xxx? He probably should. There's not much to go on, and the difference between QT9xxx and QJ9xxx is very subtle, but in the actual hand if you shift to a small diamond, you will beat the hand 2 tricks but the K♦ will lead to -1. The complete hand:

 

 

[hv=d=n&v=n&n=skjt98xhkqt97d43c&w=sa752haj8xxxdk2ck&e=sq6h43dqt9xxxct53&s=s4hdajxcaqj987642]399|300|Scoring: IMP[/hv]

 

THE END

[mgoetze]

You forgot to mention whether South has found a new partner yet. ;)

[Finch]

"There are three main candidates, the A♠, the A♥ and the K♦. "

 

As I was reading through your movie, when it got to "what to lead" I thought "king of clubs seems obvious" and then discovered it wasn't even a candidate...

[Winstonm]

I prefer the club K lead here - it is going to fall anyway as declarer seem to have entry problems.

[pclayton]

As long as theres the possibility of a stiff club in dummy; I think the lead of a stiff King into declarer's hand is a risk. I could be wrong and this an unusual auction.

[awm]

I think there was a slight error in the analysis here. You mentioned this position as one where "it doesn't matter which diamond we play":

 

[hv=n=s43&w=sk2&e=sj98765&s=saqt]399|300|[/hv]

 

However, say you lead the two. If partner plays the nine, declarer wins the ten and bangs down the ace (he cannot get to dummy to finesse anyway). When the king falls you have taken no tricks. If partner plays the jack, declarer wins the queen and again bangs down the ace, taking three tricks when the king falls.

 

So on this position leading the king gets you one trick and leading low gets you zero.

 

It seems like the ♦K maximizes your chances of taking at least one trick (in fact there is no position where the ♦K gets you zero tricks and any other play would get you a trick). In addition, the examples where leading low gets you an extra trick generally require declarer to misguess (admittedly this is reasonably likely in some of those cases).

[pclayton]

I think there was a slight error in the analysis here. You mentioned this position as one where "it doesn't matter which diamond we play":

 

[hv=n=s43&w=sk2&e=sj98765&s=saqt]399|300|[/hv]

 

However, say you lead the two. If partner plays the nine, declarer wins the ten and bangs down the ace (he cannot get to dummy to finesse anyway). When the king falls you have taken no tricks. If partner plays the jack, declarer wins the queen and again bangs down the ace, taking three tricks when the king falls.

 

So on this position leading the king gets you one trick and leading low gets you zero.

 

It seems like the ♦K maximizes your chances of taking at least one trick (in fact there is no position where the ♦K gets you zero tricks and any other play would get you a trick). In addition, the examples where leading low gets you an extra trick generally require declarer to misguess (admittedly this is reasonably likely in some of those cases).

Very true - missed that one. Its not the same as pard holding JT 6th.