One from Chicago

[pclayton]

I had an indifferent nationals. Met a lot of friends from here, but didnt do especially great, except the Open Pairs. Here's one of my favorite hands from the qualifying:

 

You play in 3♣ with: [hv=d=n&v=e&n=sj863ht7daq94cak9&s=s2hkj986d32cj8764]133|200|Scoring: MP[/hv]

 

Pard opens 1♦, RHO doubles, you xx (actually transfer to ♥'s). LHO tries 2♠, pass, pass, 3♣ by you - all pass.

 

1. K♠, 3, and RHO encourages.

2. small diamond shift, and you successfully hook the Q, RHO playing the J.

3. You try the 10♥ off dummy. RHO flies with the A and plays

4. 10♦ which you win the Ace.

5. When you play the ♥ 7 off the board, RHO looks irritated and plays the Queen.

 

Take it from here.

Edited July 25, 2006 by pclayton

[joshs]

I am still not sure why the opening bid was 1C instead of 1D. Was there an alert you forgot to tell us about (I want to know what I can read into RHO's shape). In any case RHO is looking like 4333 shape or perhaps 4324 shape. I certainly expect the club Q on my right (SA, Heart AQ, DJ seems a bit light to come int without real shortage, unless he was just messing around with his diamond plays....) In either case I am playing AK and a club....

[pclayton]

I edited the initial post. opening bid was 1♦, not 1♣.

[pclayton]

Aw, nobody?

 

Here's the entire hand: [hv=n=sjxxxhtxdaqxxcak9&w=skqxxhxxxxdkxxxxc&e=saxxxhaqdjtcqtxxx&s=sxhkj9xxdxxcj8765]399|300|[/hv]

 

After K♠, Q♦, ♥, A♦, ♥ I tried the A♣. Curtains! I was hoping East was playing games in one of the red suits and that I could make 130 with East having QT-4th of clubs.

 

The only way to make 9 tricks is to play for this exact layout. So, after the K♥:

 

6. ♥ ruffed with the A

7. ♦ (or ♠) ruffed with the 5

8. ♥ ruffed with the K

9. ♦ (or ♠) ruffed with the 6

10. ♥ ruffed with the 9; overruffed, but you take two more tricks as your J-8-7 are equals against East's Q-x-x.

 

Its a funny hand. If the heart spots aren't as strong, I think most of us would find this play.

 

Also note that it is immaterial if East shifts to a trump at any point.

[han]

Hey! In an attempt to spend less time thinking about bridge I was planning not to post anymore, but I've got to react to this hand. I played in 3CX after the following auction:

 

1D-(p)-1H-(p)

1NT-(Dbl)-2C-(2S)

p-(p)-3C-(p)

p-(Dbl)-all pass.

 

After west lead the spade king and played another spade, I ruffed.

 

trick 3. diamond finesse.

trick 4. Heart won by ace.

trick 5, diamond to dummy's ace.

trick 6, spade ruffed (shortening my trumps)

trick 7, heart king, queen falling on my right.

trick 8, high heart, pitching a diamond, RHO ruffing.

trick 9, club 10 covered by the jack and overtaken by the ace.

trick 10, ruffed a spade,

trick 11, last diamond, pitching a diamond.

trick 12, RHO is endplayed (♣K9 in dummy) and conceeds.

[ArcLight]

Nicely played Han.

 

In Phils case, his opponent made a weird takeout double. How was Phil to expect that? I would think that his opponent would also get to play some high level contracts on 3-2 "fits" and in the long run wouldn't do well. Of course they would dish out some random bad results along the way.