When it looks easy ...

[Walddk]

[hv=d=n&v=b&n=sk753hk10d105ca7543&s=saq964h54dak3ckq9]133|200|Scoring: IMP[/hv]

Vugraph from China this morning. As South you have arrived in a fair 6♠ (it would have been better if played by North, but that can't be helped). West leads ♦9, also known as the Curse of Scotland, and East covers your 10 with the jack, alternatively follows with the 6 if you play low from dummy.

 

You win and ..... ? Plan the play please.

 

If you are better than beginner/intermediate, you are kindly requested to use hidden text.

 

Roland

[inquiry]

 

I hate hands with 13 apparent tricks and someone tells me to try to win 12.

 

If both black suits behave we have 5S+5C+2D+1D ruff for 13 tricks. If LHO has four spades, he has a spade trick with his JT8x, and they will also get the heart ace. There is nothing we can do about WEST having 4♠, so we ignore that possibility. However, we can protect against RHO having 4S by playing low spade to the King. If all follow, great. Pull trumps, play three rounds of clubs, ruff a club if clubs are 4-1, cash diamond, ruff diamond, pitch heart on 13th club.

 

So if spades are 3-1 and clubs no worse than 4-1, we are home. What if evil east has 4♠? After winning ♠ in dummy, play spade towards AQ9x. East will split, win queen. Cash top ♦, ruff a diamond, and play spade towards A9x through J8. Pull EAST last trump. Now, we need either 3-2 clubs, or the heart ACE with WEST. Play club KQ, if both follow, take you 12 tricks. If someone shows out, while still in your hand, lead a heart towards the dummy's king. You can not afford to play four rounds of clubs, ruff, as they will win the H-ACE and a diamond when you lead a heart up. Also, of course, you need to keep Kx of hearts in dummy so on the trump ACE, you must pitch a club from dummy just in case. 5S, 2D, 1D ruff, and 4C will see you home... be happy with 12 tricks even if 13 were there on nice club break.

 

So... 1- protect against EAST having 4 spades, 2- protect against 4-1 clubs as best you can, 3 - lead a heart up to the king (if necessary) before being forced to use your last trump.

 

 

 

[jocdelevat]

If trump is not 4-0 I take trump out and play clubs. if 4-1 I ruff one club. On the last club I will discard a heart.

[Walddk]

If trump is not 4-0 I take trump out and play clubs. if 4-1 I ruff one club. On the last club I will discard a heart.

And what if trumps break 4-0. Can you still make it?

 

(should be possible for beginners/intermediates to read between the lines now).

 

Roland

[goobers]

Would've played this at the table without much thought, but thanks to Roland's warning...

 

If trumps are 4-0, then we have to cash the SK from dummy first to retain a finesse position over the JTx with East.

[Walddk]

[hv=d=n&v=b&n=sk753hk10d105ca7543&w=shaq83d98742cj1062&e=sj1082hj9762dqj6c8&s=saq964h54dak3ckq9]399|300|Scoring: IMP[/hv]

South: 6♠

Lead: ♦9

 

Vugraph from China the other day. The theme is suit combination. Many beginners and/or intermediates would not even think that there is a problem in the spade suit, and there would not be most of the times. There is no problem if the suit breaks 2-2 or 3-1 (90% altogether), but there is if spades break 4-0.

 

There is nothing you can do if West has all four; then he must come to a trump trick. No need to worry about something you can do nothing about. If East has four, however (half of the times spades are 4-0 = 5%), you can pick them up if you play carefully.

 

After winning the diamond in hand at trick 1, it is essential that declarer plays a low trump from his hand. If he cashes a top honour, he must lose a trick and the slam goes down.

 

At trick 2 it transpires that East indeed has all outstanding trumps, but he is not entitled to a trick because you were aware of the danger. You win dummy's king, play a low spade back towards your hand and win as cheaply as possible (East will likely split his remaining J108).

 

Now you cash the other top diamond and ruff a diamond in the dummy. The last trump from dummy leaves East with no good answer. His Jack and 8 are under your Q9.

 

Let me change one card and give dummy ♠10.

 

K1053

 

AQ964

 

With this combination it is correct to cash the ace or the queen first, because when you have the 10 in one hand and the 9 in the other you can pick up the 4-0 regardless who has four. It will be revealed after you cash the top honour and now the jack is finessable no matter who has it.

 

On the actual layout there is still one danger though. When you pull East's last trump, dummy is out of trumps (remember that you ruffed a diamond earlier). Now it's important that you discard a club from the dummy, not a heart. You may need the guarded ♥K later.

 

You give up on the overtrick but that is not important at IMPs. If clubs break 4-1 (and they did as you see), you must rely on ♥A to be onside, and then it won't help if you have bared the king.

 

Cash ♣KQ, get the bad news in the club suit too and finally lead a heart towards Kx. 12 tricks, 1430 in.

 

I am happy to say that declarer, Liu Jun, played the hand exactly like this, card by card, and was rewarded with 13 IMPs when NS in the other room stopped in 4♠ (11 tricks).

 

Vugraph is not only entertaining, it is also a great place to be when lessons are to be learned. This is an excellent example in my view.

 

Roland

[pclayton]

Here's a cousin of Roland's card combo I saw in a Money Bridge Tourney 2 days ago:

 

[hv=n=st87532&w=s&e=s&s=sa96]399|300|[/hv]

 

The lead is in your hand and you can afford 2 losers but not 3. You have one quick entry to the board, and some slow entries.

[Quantumcat]

The problem is 4-0, so don't cash the ace first and let someone have KQJ, lead the ten and run it, if east covers with the jack put on the ace (and get only 1 loser if west has singleton honour!) if both follow you're fine, or if west shows out then you still get 2 losers. Is that right?

[foo]

The problem is 4-0, so don't cash the ace first and let someone have KQJ, lead the ten and run it, if east covers with the jack put on the ace (and get only 1 loser if west has singleton honour!) if both follow you're fine, or if west shows out then you still get 2 losers. Is that right?

Close, but No. Work it out.

 

T87xxx

+

A9x

 

The lead is in your hand and you can afford 2 losers but not 3. You have one quick entry to the board, and some slow entries.

 

If KQJx+=, then They get 3 tricks no matter what you do.

If any kind of 2+2, Then you can always get 5 tricks; giving them only 1 trick.

If you bang down the A, you guarantee only 2 losers for all 2+2 and 3+1 holdings, but you will lose 3 tricks to =+KQJx, a holding you =can= handle.

 

You also have to worry about blocking the suit given your entry situation...

[Quantumcat]

I see what you mean, if you use up the entry to the board to run the ten, you can't get back later to take the cards you set up. So just hoping that it isn't KQJx makes sense. Why don't you post more questions like this, and once there are three or four replies, then answer the question and explain why the answer is the way it is. (Of course, ban any non-genuine beginners from answering the questions and robbing us of the opportunity to have to think on our own :rolleyes:)