Defense against 3NT

[Finch]

OK, this isn't a beginner hand. It isn't an expert hand either, it's somewhere in the middle, so I don't know where to post it. I thought it was a nice clean exercise in deduction at the time (clean = you can work out with 100% certainty the winning defence).

 

Anyway, you are playing IMPs in a friendly* match and you are defending 3NT.

 

*i.e. it is absolutely vital that you win

 

You are West, dummy is North

 

[hv=d=s&v=n&n=sq9hqj7dkq83c9842&w=saj105ha542dj10ckj7]266|200|Scoring: IMP

1NT P 2NT P

3NT all pass[/hv]

 

1NT was a rather old-fashioned 13-15

After some consideration you decide to lead the jack of spades (I think it's a horrible lead problem, but you will have to live with this). The first trick goes Jack, Queen, 2, 4. Partner's card at trick one is standard count in spades.

 

Declarer plays the queen of hearts, which you allow to hold (partner plays the 9), the jack of hearts (partner plays the 8) which you also duck, and a third heart on which partner discards the 3 of spades and you win. Your discarding agreements are reverse attitude, standard count.

 

Now what?

 

It's possible that partner has tried to tell you something with his carding, but other than knowing his card at trick one was standard count, you don't need him to have done anything helpful to work out purely from your hand and the auction what's right here, and why.

[dicklont]

Declarer accepted the invitation with 4-4 majors, so he's not minimal in HCP.

Therefore he holds ♦A and partner must have ♣Q and I hope he has ♦9xxx on the side to stop the diamonds.

This will keep declarer on 8 tricks for now.

I must avoid to be endplayed and help declarer to score ♠K

 

I play ♣K now and I continue with ♣J when declarer ducks .

[Hanoi5]

♣K from me, too.

[BobElliott]

Why can't partner have 5 spades? Partners play of the heart suit should be

present count in SPADES. HIGH then LOW (USING STANDARD COUNT)

should indicate that he doesn't "LIKE" spades(started with 3), LOW then

HIGHER = started with 5 spades.Assuming this agreement, you would

assume only 3 spades and shift to the club king."SMITH ECHO" ???

[Hanoi5]

If partner had 5 spades and he threw one away...how do you plan to get this contract down?

[BobElliott]

Partner WOULDN'T throw a spade away on the 3rd heart IF HE STARTED

WITH 5. Therefore the play of the hearts SHOULD BE suit preference for

the minors. HIGH then LOW, FOLLOWED BY SPADE PITCH(=3S)SHOULD

show D. LOW then HIGH, FOLLOWED BY SPADE PITCH(=3S)SHOULD

show C. This can be reversed depending on partnership agreement.

[mtvesuvius]

K♣ switch for me... I hope partner has the 9♦...

[vuroth]

Therefore he holds ♦A and partner must have ♣Q and I hope he has ♦9xxx on the side to stop the diamonds.

This will keep declarer on 8 tricks for now.

I must avoid to be endplayed and help declarer to score ♠K

I had the same analysis.

 

I got to this point and thought "Yeah, no wonder it's not a beginner hand. I wonder if the declarer play would have been more a beginner hand". :P

 

Since partner simply must have the Q♣, and I HAVE to let partner lead spades, K♣ as well.

[cnszsun]

Declarer has ♠K,♥K,♦A,♣A, so he has no place for ♣Q.

If declarer's ♣ holding is not A10x, we can return ♣K, then J to get chance to beat it.

[Echognome]

Similar to others' analyses. We have 14, dummy 10, declarer 13-15, totalling 27-29 high card points. Given that declarer accepted the invitation, we can guess he has 14 or 15 points. Although this is not 100%, given that declarer is not looking at a good source of tricks (we see too many honors between our hands and dummy's in every suit), it is likely he has 14 or 15. In fact, I cannot construct a hand where he has a good 13 count that is consistent with the auction (e.g. 5 clubs to the AQT) which would also be consistent with the play (playing on hearts without holding the K). So if we put declarer on 14 or 15, then partner has 1 or 2 high card points.

 

Since partner cannot hold a K, then declarer is "known" to hold the ♠K, ♥K, ♦A, and ♣A. That gives him 14. All jacks are accounted for as well. This means that partner has the ♣Q.

 

So, the only hope is that partner holds 9xxx in diamonds and QTxx or Qxxxx in clubs. If declarer holds three clubs we are also dead unless partner holds the T, since declarer can hold up twice and then endplay us in spades for the 9th trick. If partner holds QTxx we have to hope that partner knows to overtake our J on the 2nd round.

[jdonn]

Declarer accepted the invitation with 4-4 majors, so he's not minimal in HCP.

Therefore he holds ♦A and partner must have ♣Q and I hope he has ♦9xxx on the side to stop the diamonds.

This will keep declarer on 8 tricks for now.

I must avoid to be endplayed and help declarer to score ♠K

 

I play ♣K now and I continue with ♣J when declarer ducks .

I agree with the analysis, except I don't see what declarer being 4-4 in the majors has to do with not being minimal in HCP, but whatever.

[dicklont]

I agree with the analysis, except I don't see what declarer being 4-4 in the majors has to do with not being minimal in HCP, but whatever.

When I consider accepting an invite I need either more than minimum HCP's or a nice fivecard suit.

The last factor is ruled out on this hand.

 

Others reason that declarer must have two kings and two aces and partner ♣Q.

This is more precise than my "not minimum" conclusion.

[david_c]

Maybe I'm missing something here - I can see partner has to hold the ♣Q, but why does that mean we have to play clubs now? Declarer only has eight tricks, so why can't we exit in one of the red suits?

 

Indeed, if declarer has three clubs then playing ♣K, ♣J is fatal, whereas declarer has big problems on a more passive defence.

[y66]

DJ. If declarer ducks, then CK.

 

If declarer has 2 clubs then he is 3442 and can take a spade, 3 hearts, 4 diamonds and the CA. So, we must hope he is 3433 and pard has DQ and D9.

 

Edit: Disregard this post. As skaeren points out below, I miscounted pard's spades.

[skjaeran]

DJ. If declarer ducks, then CK.

 

If declarer has 2 clubs then he is 3442 and can take a spade, 3 hearts, 4 diamonds and the CA. So, we must hope he is 3433 and pard has DQ and D9.

Why do you place declarer with 3-card spades when partner signals an odd number, later confirming to hold 3, not 5? Thus we all know declarer holds four of them.

[Phil]

Agree that partner must have the ♣Q. Pard also needs the ♦9.

 

The spade pitch is curious. I really don't think its from 5 (highly unlikely we are leading from AJT and if we have JT9x, he might have thrown the setting trick).

 

Therefore pard is 3=2=4=4 / 3=2=5=3 / 3=2=3=5. We can throw out the last, because declarer has nine tricks in the way of 1S, 3H, 4D, 1C.

 

With 3=2=5=3 (and declarer 4=4=2=3), pard probably would have thrown a diamond, but perhaps not. It gets rather interesting here. If I exit a small club, and pard plays the Queen, I'll get endplayed later. If I exit a high club, declarer can duck and eventually establish the 13th club. So I can't see a defense to this pattern.

 

With 3=2=4=4 (and declarer 4=4=3=2), pard is going to be coming down to some pressure in the minors if we play two high clubs out of hand (as David_C mentions) - since everything transfers everything over to pard. Just as badly, a low club leads to us getting endplayed. The ♣K seems to be OK. Passive defense also seems to be OK.

 

The endgame bothers me however, and I feel like I'm missing something.

[david_c]

With 3=2=5=3 (and declarer 4=4=2=3), pard probably would have thrown a diamond, but perhaps not. It gets rather interesting here. If I exit a small club, and pard plays the Queen, I'll get endplayed later. If I exit a high club, declarer can duck and eventually establish the 13th club. So I can't see a defense to this pattern.

What's wrong with playing a diamond?

[Phil]

With 3=2=5=3 (and declarer 4=4=2=3), pard probably would have thrown a diamond, but perhaps not. It gets rather interesting here. If I exit a small club, and pard plays the Queen, I'll get endplayed later. If I exit a high club, declarer can duck and eventually establish the 13th club. So I can't see a defense to this pattern.

What's wrong with playing a diamond?

Yeah, true, declarer has no winning options I can see even if declarer has the ♣10.

 

So a diamond is looking better and better.

[dicklont]

Yes, you are right and I was wrong.

When declares has ♣A10x playing clubs twice long will help him score the 13thx club.

So ♦ it is, he can't prevent east to score ♣Q and then play ♠.

[y66]

Assuming

 

- East has 3 spades from his play to-date and the CQ based on the auction and what we know about declarer's hand.

 

- Declarer has Kxx3 KT63 Ax(x) Ax(x) and can set up another spade trick on power if we give him time.

 

- East has the D9 and 4 or 5 diamonds else we're not setting them.

 

I don't think it matters just yet if we lead a top club and find declarer with ATx (or Axx). But it will become a problem if we help him set up his long club in dummy while he still has a diamond entry.

 

So play a diamond now, win the spade return and attack clubs planning to take 2 spades, a heart and 2 clubs. Or play a high club now then shift to a diamond when it wins.

 

Might East have pitched a spade from 87632 98 9xxx Qx? Perhaps. Seems unlikely though. But even if he did, I don't think it matters on this hand.