unblock or duck?

[jillybean]

Hi,

Opps are in 3nt after auction (1♦) DBL by partner (1nt) P : (3nt)

 

, you are on lead and hold:

[hv=s=sq105ha87d10732cq86]133|100|[/hv]

 

lead 2♦ - J♦ - K♦ - 5♦

 

partner returns K♥ - 3♥ - 7♥ - 2♥

 

trick3: Q♥ - do you unblock here or duck, what are the rules?

 

ty

jb

[Echognome]

Are we allowed to know how many hearts are in dummy?

 

It's also strange that partner did not return our club, so partner likely can see the contract set in his own hand as long as he knocks out the ♥A. Thus I will unblock the A on most layouts (unless dummy's holding makes it obvious I shouldn't.)

[1eyedjack]

It might be helpful to see dummy.

 

Personally, when leading through declarer, I lead third top of 3 or more touching cards, top of 2 touching cards. So lead of the K would indicate holding the Q but not J (would lead J from KQJ, and then follow up with K or Q to show count). Having said that, without the J, partner would probably underlead the Q on the 2nd round.

 

Assuming, therefore, that partner has indeed started with KQJx(..) then if there are three cards in dummy it should be safe to unblock and return the suit. If there are only 2 in dummy then there is a risk that declarer started with Txxx. In that case partner would have done better to lead x on second round, but then he might lose when declarer started with ATx and continuing with honour gains.

 

Without any other information I would tend to assume that partner started with only 4 cards in the suit, as with KQJxx partner might have overcalled 1H rather than double. I would also hope that partner has something outside that might constitute an entry, in which case blocking the suit may not cost. So if it is a straight guess then I would play low.

[jillybean]

oops dummy corrected was

 

[hv=s=sxxhxxdaqjxxxcakx]133|100|[/hv]

[SoTired]

Let me see... partner makes a t/o, I have 8hcp, and opps bid 3N ... Something screwy is going on. I suspect dummy has a long running minor.

 

1) I would lead the ♥A and if I don't get a happy signal from partner, I am switching to a spade.

 

2) If I wanted to lead a club, I would lead the ♣7, 2nd highest club, to make sure partner knew I had no strength in this suit.

 

3) Dummy sure is a surprise.... What systems are opps playing?

 

4) Don't you signal? Or are you playing Upside down? If not upside down, I would play the ♥8 under the ♥K

[Stephen Tu]

Your posted dummy seems wrong ... I'll assume clubs were AJx since you said partner won the K and returned heart.

 

Do not unblock! It is absolutely standard when you want an unblock to NOT lead your 2nd card from your original sequence. Otherwise what is partner supposed to do from KQx if he hopes you have ATxx? (It's not mandatory to lead 4 cd suits headed by the ace, when there are reasonable alternatives, after all sometimes partner turns up QJxx and declarer with K)

 

If an unblock is desired, he is supposed to lead low, or at least the lowest card of his sequence (K then J from original KQJxx).

 

Note also that if partner has KQJx & declarer Txxx he does not want an unblock from you. He might have SA and not need to run the whole suit right away.

[bid_em_up]

I find it also strange that both yourself and dummy appear to hold the Q♦ as well. :)

[jillybean]

the minors were transposed, it should be correct now!

[1eyedjack]

On the actual hand I think that declarer should have made it by careful play, as soon as the H:Q is led to the third trick, whether unblocked or ducked by West.

 

[hv=d=n&v=n&n=s63h62daqj964cak2&w=sqt5ha87dt732cq86&e=sk8742hkqt4dkcj74&s=saj9hj953d85ct953]399|300|Scoring: IMP[/hv]

 

While it remains worthwhile to understand in the abstract when to unblock and when to duck, in this occasion the real culprit was the lead of the unsupported H:Q. What is wrong with Spades?

Personally I would not have led a Diamond, but bad views on opening leads rarely warrant a large slice of the blame.

[Double !]

a silly question, but i'll ask it just the same:

 

If partner doubled 1D (template distribution = 4414), why am I not leading a major suit. Partner asked for majors. I am not crazy about under-leading from Axx with such a hand, but leading low from QTx could be reasonable. (To be honest, right or wrong, i would have led a low spade.) In fact, leading a low diamond on this auction just about announces your hand as being 3343. Declarer might ask self why the opps led my partner's suit, and likely come up with a reasonably accurate answer.

 

 

To address the question that was asked, I would play an encouraging card and not unblock.

 

DHL

[jillybean]

On the actual hand I think that declarer should have made it by careful play, as soon as the H:Q is led to the third trick, whether unblocked or ducked by West.

 

While it remains worthwhile to understand in the abstract when to unblock and when to duck, in this occasion the real culprit was the lead of the unsupported H:Q.  What is wrong with Spades?

Personally I would not have led a Diamond, but bad views on opening leads rarely warrant a large slice of the blame.

This makes no sense , my question was ‘should I unblock?’

[Double !]

i just saw the whole hand.

i question partner making a takeout double with 5-4 in majors: i would overcall with that hand (or michaels cue if permitted to do so with 5-4).

 

On this particular hand, an overcall would have made life a little easier on responder. C'est la vie: one hand proves nothing

 

nice problem hand jb :-)

 

DHL

[jillybean]

let me ask this question again with no hand or bad leads as an example :P

 

if you hold Axx, Kxx and partner leads high and continues high should you unblock? - assuming dummy does not hold 10xx

 

If partner starts with K/Q then plays low you surely (shirley!) have to play high and return the suit - everything else being equal.

 

What are the rules/standards regarding unblocking and asking partner to unblock?

Maybe I should just get a book and read about it. :P

[P_Marlowe]

let me ask this question again with no hand or bad leads as an example  :P

 

if you hold Axx, Kxx and partner leads high and continues high should you unblock? - assuming dummy does not hold 10xx

No.

 

If he wants to have the Ace

he should play low, because

unblocking is only good, if I

have Axx, i.e. am able to

return the suit.

 

If he does start with the Queen

followed by the Ace, I will unblock.

holding Kxx.

 

You would not over take the Queen,

as you would do holding Kx.

 

With kind regards

Marlowe

[Stephen Tu]

Yes, absolutely get a book. I highly recommend Bill Root's "How to Defend a Bridge Hand". Also excellent are Eddie Kantar's two volumes "Kantar teaches Modern Bridge Defense", and "Kantar teaches Advanced Bridge Defence". These latter two are available both in book format and in CD-ROM interactive format via BridgeBase.

 

I already gave you the rule for this situation in my post above. If you lead the high card of a sequence then continue with the second card in the sequence, it is standard not to unblock. To get partner to unblock, either lead low or the lowest card in the sequence. If you have KQJxx, lead K then J for an unblock, not K then Q. This is just common sense -- if one has KQx, and doesn't want an unblock (you are unblocking for partner!), you really have no choice but to play Q second round. It is when you have the longer suit with the longer sequence that you have an option of playing something else. This avoids debacles like KQx vs. Axx being played for 2 tricks only.

 

Another situation, that most players don't know about, is how to get partner to unblock for you when he led the suit, instead of you. say the suit is

 

[hv=n=sxxx&w=s?xx&e=sakjtx&s=s?x]399|300|[/hv]

 

Partner leads low, you want to play your top cards in case declarer has doubleton Q. But you need partner to jettison the Q if he has it or else the suit is blocked. Normally one plays 3rd hand the lowest card of a sequence, the K here. But to get an unblock, play ace, then king, which is supposed to wake up partner to dump the Q.

 

That way he can also do the right thing and NOT unblock, if the suit is actually something like

 

 

[hv=n=sxxx&w=s?xx&e=sakjtx&s=s?x]399|300|[/hv]

 

 

where as 3rd hand you'd just play K, then ace, holding another entry or if partner might have Jxxx

[P_Marlowe]

Yes, absolutely get a book. I highly recommend Bill Root's "How to Defend a Bridge Hand".

<snip>

great book, altough not as easy to comprehand as

"How to decalre a bridge hand" (?!),

but only, because defence is a lot mor complicated than

declarer play.

 

With kind regards

Marlowe

[1eyedjack]

let me ask this question again with no hand or bad leads as an example

The only reasons that I considered the question in the context of the actual hand were that (1) I thought that the question in the abstact HAD been answered earlier in the thread and that (2) I perceived a risk that the answers might confuse you when you attempted to apply said rules to the hand as dealt.

 

Anyway, I trust that the subsequent posts have clarified any remaining issues in doubt.

[jillybean]

OK, thanks everyone for your replies. I should not have asked the question in the context I did, bad hand - it came up at that time and reminded me that I dont know the when or how about unblocking.

 

ty

jb