Plan defense, judge auction

[sathyab]

[hv=d=n&v=b&w=s872ht842d985c875&s=s654hkq73dk6caq63]266|200|Scoring: MP[/hv]

 

Pd RHO you LHO

 

p 1d X P

 

1nt X p 2d

 

all pass

 

Playing in the LM Pairs in Chicago in the first qualifying session, this hand occurs fairly early in the session. Your RHO is someone you recognize from his pictures in the ACBL bulletin, in case it affects your decision. Do you agree with South's final pass ?

 

You lead the King of hearts. You're playing UDCA and pd contributes the 9, declarer wins and plays back the Jack which you win, pd playing the 5 to the second trick. How do you continue ?

[pclayton]

[hv=d=n&v=b&w=s872ht842d985c875&s=s654hkq73dk6caq63]266|200|Scoring: MP[/hv]

 

Pd RHO you LHO

 

p 1d X P

 

1nt X p 2d

 

all pass

 

Playing in the LM Pairs in Chicago in the first qualifying session, this hand occurs fairly early in the session. Your RHO is someone you recognize from his pictures in the ACBL bulletin, in case it affects your decision. Do you agree with South's final pass ?

 

You lead the King of hearts. You're playing UDCA and pd contributes the 9, declarer wins and plays back the Jack which you win, pd playing the 5 to the second trick. How do you continue ?

Declarer appears to be 4=2=4=3. Pard shouldn't play the 9 from 9-5, since with the 10 in dummy, there's no bath coup. So pard should have 9=6=5 of hearts and I'll interpret the 5 as SP for clubs.

 

So I'll track a low club. One of us may get endplayed later, but for now this looks like the best continuation.

[sathyab]

Playing UDCA in a suit contract, he would play 5 from 95, right ? If declarer has the Jack, pd has already blown it by leading K from that horrible holding of KQxx (may be other leads were worse, let's hope !), so the best you can do is give him attitude. Yes, partner will have a headache if he get in before you do when you play the 5 for he may place you with the J5.

 

Sathya

[pclayton]

Playing UDCA in a suit contract, he would play 5 from 95, right ? If declarer has the Jack, pd has already blown it by leading K from that horrible holding of KQxx (may be other leads were worse, let's hope !), so the best you can do is give him attitude. Yes, partner will have a headache if he get in before you do when you play the 5 for he may place you with the J5.

 

Sathya

No he absolutely should not play the 9 from 9-5 here. Count is paramount.

[Codo]

This is no discussion, whether pd has to give count or not. But of course it is important whether the 9 showed 3 Hearts, or that he does not like Hearts...

 

If the nine shows length, he has 3 Hearts 965. In tis case I interprete the 5 as suit preference for cllub.

If the 9 was attitude, he dislikes Hearts,, so he may as well have 965 in Hearts.

The other possibility is that he has 95 and does not want a Heart ruff, but this is not likely.

So the 5 is still suit preference for a club switch.

 

But I won´t follow his signal , after all he may well look at KJx,xxx,Qjxx,JTx in which case a spade lead may be even worse then a club lead.

I play the King of Diamond. PD has at least JTxx and should have have more, so this should be save too. And it makes the chance much higher, that I won´t be endplayed so often.

[bid_em_up]

Ok, I dont play udca, but I dont see how the 5 can be suit preference for clubs. (other than he could have played the 6 instead...ok....i see it but)

 

Given partners heart holding of 965, he had two choices of which card to play at trick one. Either the 9 or the 6, right? So why isnt the first card played the suit preference? Seems to me it may be important to be able to switch immediately on occasion, instead of having to lead 2nd round of my suit to see partners next card.....

 

Or is it a common treatment in UDCA to play the highest first and the second card shows SP? Is this even allowable under carding methods? (I didnt think combination signals were legal.) If you normally play it this way, I am curious, do you disclose it?

 

Regardless of the answers to the above, I think if I am going to lead a club, leading the club Q has to be better than a small one. Declarer rates to have the K, but maybe we can create a later entry to partners hand via the J if it is needed later. We also prevent partner from doing something silly, like playing the 10 from K10x and letting declarer win a trick holding Jxx. (I have had partners do this before when underleading in this situation). :)

[pclayton]

...

 

Given partners heart holding of 965, he had two choices of which card to play at trick one. Either the 9 or the 6, right? ...

This is one of my huge pet peeves. No matter what kind of signaling you play, never play the 6, unless you think the 9 can cost a trick.

[bid_em_up]

...

 

Given partners heart holding of 965, he had two choices of which card to play at trick one.  Either the 9 or the 6, right? ...

This is one of my huge pet peeves. No matter what kind of signaling you play, never play the 6, unless you think the 9 can cost a trick.

I see the point behind this also....the 9 is easier to read as an upcoming High/Lo (udca) than the 6 is.....but, if you can read either card....

 

Say the holding was 982, wouldnt you want the 1st card played to be SP, not the 2nd?

 

Seriously, there is a reason I dont play UDCA. :)

 

Its this kinda stuff that I havent bothered to learn the intricacies of to make it worthwhile for me to play them.

[Guest Jlall]

Say the holding was 982, wouldnt you want the 1st card played to be SP, not the 2nd?

no. you can't combine signals. If you play the 8 it can never be readable, you might have 98 doubleton. You just give the clearest count card possible, and then give suit preference.

[bid_em_up]

Say the holding was 982,  wouldnt you want the 1st card played to be SP, not the 2nd?

no. you can't combine signals. If you play the 8 it can never be readable, you might have 98 doubleton. You just give the clearest count card possible, and then give suit preference.

Aha, thanks.

[sathyab]

I agree that playing the six on this hand makes it impossible to read; in general I hate the six whether on lead or returning partner's suit or whatever, it's probably the most ambiguous spot in the deck.

 

Anyway, pd should have 3 lousy hearts, 965. Given that, is 5 a suit preference or is pd following suit without thinking about it ?

 

Playing a Diamond from the King doesn't appeal much it'll ruin whatever holding pd may have QTXX suddenly becomes a lot less formidable for declarer when you or partner is eventually end-played into playing Diamonds one way or another.

 

That realistically leaves a spade or club. Can we figure out that a spade is right regardless of what the 5 meant ? If it's right to play clubs, should we give thought to Ace, Queen and another club ? Pd is unlikley to have just two clubs, he would have a major suit then. Besides, we're getting end-played all the time, shouldn't we share some of the fun and joy with pd too ?

[pclayton]

I agree that playing the six on this hand makes it impossible to read; in general I hate the six whether on lead or returning partner's suit or whatever, it's probably the most ambiguous spot in the deck.

 

Anyway, pd should have 3 lousy hearts, 965. Given that, is 5 a suit preference or is pd following suit without thinking about it ?

 

Playing a Diamond from the King doesn't appeal much it'll ruin whatever holding pd may have QTXX suddenly becomes a lot less formidable for declarer when you or partner is eventually end-played into playing Diamonds one way or another.

 

That realistically leaves a spade or club. Can we figure out that a spade is right regardless of what the 5 meant ? If it's right to play clubs, should we give thought to Ace, Queen and another club ? Pd is unlikley to have just two clubs, he would have a major suit then. Besides, we're getting end-played all the time, shouldn't we share some of the fun and joy with pd too ?

There are times that pard can snooze through the play. This is not one of them. You are marked with a strong hand and you need a lot of help from pard. If Bruce was napping here, get him a Coke.

 

Pard could have Qxx of spades (a spade is detrimental), xxx (spade is super passive) or KQT (one lead doesn't hurt, and it could build an entry for a club lead).

 

Other spade holdings like AKT and AJx are harder to judge whether or not pard wants the suit led. They are barely possible with the bidding.

 

Clubs are easier; either pard has the King or not. One good thing is that if you assume declarer is 4=2=4=3, one club lead might not cost if declarer has KJx, since you are sort of endplayed anyway. A spade lead might skewer the suit with one lead though.

[Codo]

Anyway, pd should have 3 lousy hearts, 965. Given that, is 5 a suit preference or is pd following suit without thinking about it ?

 

Playing a Diamond from the King doesn't appeal much it'll ruin whatever holding pd may have QTXX suddenly becomes a lot less formidable for declarer when you or partner is eventually end-played into playing Diamonds one way or another.

 

That realistically leaves a spade or club. Can we figure out that a spade is right regardless of what the 5 meant ? If it's right to play clubs, should we give thought to Ace, Queen and another club ? Pd is unlikley to have just two clubs, he would have a major suit then. Besides, we're getting end-played all the time, shouldn't we share some of the fun and joy with pd too ?

I still don´t see, why the King of Diamond can blow a trick. If pd has QTxx nothing had happened at all.

This still looks much safer then figuring out if a spade is always safe or if his signal has any meaning. And you avoid to get endplayed much easier.

After you lead your Diamond, someone has to play club into your finesse to make you lead again. To avoid this, declarer has to duck the king but you have now one less card for him to endplay you.

[dank]

The choice is between a club and a diamond. A spade is out because of partner's suit-preference ♥5. Playing the ♦K doesn't rate to do much for you because if it holds (or loses) you will have no idea whether to continue trumps. Best must be a low club, and if partner doesn't have the king, he must have good diamonds (as he has terrible holdings in all black suits and bid a value-showing 1NT). So if declarer shows up with ♣K we can consider playing a diamond later. But most likely cashing 3 rounds of clubs is our best defense right now.

[sathyab]

[hv=d=e&v=b&n=saj8h965dqt43cj87&w=s975ht842d982ct96&e=skqt2hajdaj65ck32&s=s643hkq73dk7caq54]399|300|Scoring: MP[/hv]

 

Ok, here's the full deal. I got some of the spots wrong when I reproduced the hand from memory (the ACBL web-site was down), but the critical spots in the heart suit, 965 in North's hand are correct.

 

South believed that playing the Nine first and following it up with the 5 later (playing UDCA) was suit preference for clubs. He played a club and watched in horror as declarer grabbed the trick with the King and played a club. South was on lead again and shifted to a spade now. Declarer plays a low Diamond to dummy's 9 and pd's T, takes the next spade, ace of Diamonds felling the Kinganf finally ruffs his good spade with a Diamond and gets out for down 1.

 

We analyzed it later to see if it makes any difference if South plays Ace and Queen of clubs, now pd wins the third club with the Jack and can play a low spade. If declarer plays the Ten he's home again for down, but if he plays a higher honor, then a Diamond to the nine, North can with with then and play back a Diamond. Now if declarer plays the Ace and another Diamond, North can exit in Diamonds, the defense scores 1h, 2c, 2d and 2s for that magic +200.

 

If South plays a spade either because North followed with the six of hearts at T2 or independently (?) comes to the conclusion that a spade is likely to cause less damage when it's wrong than a club switch, North takes the Ace and exits a spade, passive defense eventually end-plays South into playing clubs himself from his own hand for -200.

 

The king of Diamond shift wasn't given much thought by South at the table and I thought later that it didn't appeal to me. But looking at it now, it seems okay. Problem is that declarer is likely to duck it, in which you must continue the suit and eventually defense will prevail.

 

This is the kind of bread-n-butter MP deal where it appears as though the 1D opener doubled mainly to take NS out of their comfortable spot of 1nt knowing it'd be hard to defend it solo. If NS recognize it as such, i.e, that it's a low-level part-score with no great fit for either side, shouldn't them be doubling to protect their plus score just in case they chuck a trick on defense ? Note that with his 14 and partner's 1nt response vul, South should have enough confidence that they have the balance of strength. Even if opener has five Diamonds and say two clubs instead of 4-3, NS can still beat the contract 1 trick easily.

 

Imagine how much harder NS have it if EW weren't vulnerable. Now not only would they have to double, but have to beat it two tricks, as they're almost sure to make +120. There were quite a +150 for NS.

 

BTW, Phil, you won't get it out of me if I was sitting North or South :D