A hand from "Winning Declarer Play"

[Trumpace]

I liked the book and would recommend it to others.

 

Here is a hand from the exercises:

 

N/S, E/W playing standard american with standard leads etc.

 

East is dealer and the bidding goes

 

1D - X - Pass - 2NT
Pass - 3H - Pass - 4H
All Pass [space]

 

You are south, and West leads the Diamond 2.

 

You see:

 

[hv=d=e&v=n&n=saqhk95dkj943c932&s=skjthajt83d8cq875]133|200|Scoring: Rubber

lead ♦2[/hv]

 

You play low from dummy, East wins the ♦Q, cashes AK of clubs and leads club J, you win with Q as West follows.

 

Your contract now depends on locating the trump Q. Who would you pick?

 

(As usual Adv/+ please refrain from posting spoilers too early).

[vuroth]

So east had the AQ♦, the AKJ of clubs, and did not bid the second round even knowing that the promised diamond stop was on her right? I'll say the queen of trump is on my left.

[y66]

Good book. Fun problem. I think I see the answer. Don't think it's been posted yet though.

[xx1943]

South double of 1♦ is a terrible bid. Why not make a noraml 1♥-overcall?

 

 

 

So east had the AQ♦, the AKJ of clubs, and did not bid the second round even knowing that the promised diamond stop was on her right?  I'll say the queen of trump is on my left.

There is no reason to bid at the 3-level, when opponents show combined 24+ HCP with

♠xxxx ♥Qx ♦AQxx ♣AKJ

 

But ......(hidden:)

this hand had not opened 1♦ but 1NT

Could it be, that opener is unbalanced?

What do we know about openers distribution?

He has exactly 3♣.

He has 4♦, because the led ♦2 is not doubleton or singleton and with 3-3 in minors the normal opening is 1♣.

He has at most 4♠ and probably at least 3♠, because witha 6-carder rresponder could bid 2♠ weak

Therefore his distribution is: 4243 or 3343 or 2443. With 16 HCP he had oned 1NT.

 

[TylerE]

 

 

East has:

 

3 clubs, 4 diamonds (Not 5 because W didn't lead a high diamong, and not 6 because they didn't try to give partner an overruff. E Has the AKJ of clubs, and the AQ of ♦, and 4-2, 2-4, or 3-3 in the majors. That's a 14 count...the only missing high card is the Q♥, which west must have given East's failure to open 1NT.

 

 

[vuroth]

I'm completely not buying 1943's spade reasoning.

[jdonn]

I'm completely not buying 1943's spade reasoning.

It doesn't matter, you don't need that part of the reasoning.

 

 

RHO has 3 clubs.

RHO can't have a 5 card major.

RHO can't have 5 diamonds since the lead from a doubleton would have been high.

RHO can't have 6 diamonds since he would play one instead of the third club.

So RHO can be 2443, 3343, 4243, or if you think it is possible for a 1♦ opener 4333 or 3433.

Those are all completely balanced distributions, so RHO can not have the queen of hearts because it would make 16 hcp and thus would have been a 1NT opening.

 

[vuroth]

Once again, I miss the full import of the opening lead. Seems to be my achilles heel of late.

[xx1943]

Is it possible that the lead is from Ax2 :blink: and openers hand is xxx, Qxx, Q10xx, AKJ ??

[Finch]

Here's a bit of a warped fantasy...

 

 

Suppose RHO has xx Qx AQ10xxx AKJ.

Wouldn't it be amusingly good play to defend how he has done? He can see there is very unlikely to be a trump promotion, so he tells you all about his HCP in the minors and waits for his trump trick.

 

 

[xx1943]

Here's a bit of a warped fantasy...

 

 

Suppose RHO has xx Qx AQ10xxx AKJ.

Wouldn't it be amusingly good play to defend how he has done?  He can see there is very unlikely to be a trump promotion, so he tells you all about his HCP in the minors and waits for his trump trick.

 

Nice idea, but

 

1)how many defender would play like this?

2) I know a lot of people, who oen even this hand with 1NT. (Esp. in BBO)

 

[vuroth]

Also, how often would this go off when declarer didn't even notice, and partner had the J♥?

[jdonn]

Is it possible that the lead is from Ax2  :angry: and openers hand is xxx, Qxx, Q10xx, AKJ ??

Well even if you think it's possible you have no reason to play for it. So it might be interesting to think about, but it doesn't really help solve the problem.

 

Here's a bit of a warped fantasy...

 

 

Suppose RHO has xx Qx AQ10xxx AKJ.

Wouldn't it be amusingly good play to defend how he has done?  He can see there is very unlikely to be a trump promotion, so he tells you all about his HCP in the minors and waits for his trump trick.

 

 

Warped indeed, especially when partner has Jx or Txx of hearts. :)

 

[Finch]

Not to go into the hidden text any further, but one of the things I find myself doing when watching/commentating vugraph is spotting lethal false cards that the defence could have found, except that they never do in real life.

[mikeh]

I have not read the book, but this problem looks like an excellent B/I introduction to inferential card-reading.

 

The criticism of the bidding is ill-founded. At the time that this book was first written, overcalls were limited bids, and doubles were normal with anything close to appropriate shape.

 

Anyone interested in reading the book would be well-advised to ignore the bidding, other than for the clues it gives in the play.

 

It is similar to the way in which North Americans have always had to read Kelsey books... arguably the best overall collection of material ever produced by a single writer. His books on team play, where you 'played' a 64 board match, scored in 8 board segments against realistic other table results, were and remain classics. The level of play required was very high but the bidding was very different from what good players did on this side of the pond.