"I've never played in a long match which...

[Phil]

Look how much easier the defense on board 46 was at our table because my partner won the King of spades whereas Zia won the Ace of spades (a falsecard that may well have succeeded in tricking the wrong person).

 

When I think about it you could switch to K of clubs because you knew declared had A!C while Hamman should've really played low club just in case declared had :

 

KQx Axx AKx Jxxx when king of clubs play blocks the suit...

I doubt Zia jumps up with the ♠A on that layout, but a low club could be right on other layouts when we are in a cashout and we need pard to hold the ♣J or A to beat the hand.

[kgr]

Look at it from the Hamman's perspective.

Rgr showed :Axx of hearts (count to first trick + queen taking the first trick)

He for sure has at least one spade honour. He didn't tackle diamonds so he has 4 tricks there. So his hand is something like:

 

a)Qxx Axx AKxx Axx

b)Qxx Axx AKx Axx

c)KQx Axx AKxx Axx

d)KQx Axx AKx Axxx

e)KQx Axx AKx xxxx

f)KQx Axx AKxx xxx

 

He will take 2 spade tricks (we know they break 3-3) 2 heart tricks 4diamond tricks and a club ace = 9 or if he doesn't have club ace he has 3spades tricks instead. Against hands c) and d) nothing helps. Against a), B), e) and f) club return is necessary. The heart play probably resulted from simple failure of counting declarer's tricks at least that would be the case with me if I played a heart.

Is it impossible that declarer had:

KQx=Axx=Kxx=AJ9x

Maybe declarer would not play Spade then and maybe Zia would not play Spade A, but IMO it is incorrect to say that an intermediate should easily find this play...Ok, mat it was never said 'easily', but IMO not a lot of intermediates will find the correct play (and knowing all these inferences). Or Fred has a different understanding of what an intermediate is.

Edit1: I was told that Fred took some time to think before playing ♣s. Note that most intermediates will never take time to think before playing a card. The simply don't have the experience to have a enough to think to take time.

Edit2: I found this a very instructive hand! (also seeing that a WC player failed on it)

[billw55]

Another thing I am curious about on board 46:

 

Over the years I have seen a handful of problems/columns/etc that involve pinning a stiff queen on opening lead. Invariably, the leader's suit looks like KJT9x or so. The author says something like "either you're leading into the AQ or you're not, might as well go for it", the K is lead, and there comes the stiff Q in dummy. I have tried this a few times on my own but haven't caught one yet B)

 

Fred, did you consider leading the K♥ at all?

[fred]

Fred, did you consider leading the K♥ at all?

Yes, but not for more than a second or two.

 

Fred Gitelman

Bridge Base Inc.

www.bridgebase.com

[bluecalm]

s it impossible that declarer had:

KQx=Axx=Kxx=AJ9x

 

Not likely because natural play would be starting diamonds but even if he someone had it after heart return he will take : 3spades, 2hearts, 3diamonds + Ace of clubs = 9tricks.

 

Ok, mat it was never said 'easily', but IMO not a lot of intermediates will find the correct play (and knowing all these inferences). Or Fred has a different understanding of what an intermediate is.

 

Well.. probably we are talking about different categories of players.

For me simple mistake is a mistake which could be easily avoided if given player took his time to count points/distribution/tricks and didn't make any obvious blunders in this analysis. Here the play is about as clear is it gets so it's "simple" according to my definition. It doesn't mean it's instantly obvious for anybody even elite players without giving it a thought.

 

I think the way to improve for me for example is to work as hard as possible to avoid such mistakes. I believe that what separates me and other "advanced" players from national top players (but probably not from world's elite) is about 5% judgement/technique and 95% getting those "simple" situations right.

[eyhung]

Over the years I have seen a handful of problems/columns/etc that involve pinning a stiff queen on opening lead.  Invariably, the leader's suit looks like KJT9x or so.  The author says something like "either you're leading into the AQ or you're not, might as well go for it", the K is lead, and there comes the stiff Q in dummy.

The last time I tried the sexy ♥K lead (from KJT9xxx) vs 3NT, I got the stiff ace in declarer's hand and the doubleton queen in dummy, allowing an unmakeable contract to make. So the K is definitely not without cost. The only reason I tried that lead was that my table feel told me that declarer was not thrilled to bid 3NT after I showed my long hearts and partner didn't raise, but I couldn't tell whether it was due to stiff ace or doubleton ace -- the only read I had was that he didn't have AQ.

[Echognome]

When I played in the LM pairs against Rodwell and Diamond, I had a choice of playing for them to have misdefended (not cashed out) or to just take one down (which I also happened to think would be a relatively poor score). So, I played for the misdefense for a very good board. It turns out that they had a signaling misunderstanding. Now I know that's in part because they are not a regular partnership, but it certainly happens even to the best of players.