Trick one play (defense)

[awm]

[hv=d=s&v=b&n=s43haq84dkq764c65&e=sq972h65dat98cq84]266|200|Scoring: MP[/hv]

 

You are east. You are defending 4♥ on a limit raise auction at matchpoints (your side passed throughout). Partner leads the ♦3, playing 3rd/5th leads. Declarer calls for the ♦4. What's your play?

[CSGibson]

I probably play the ace. It would be rare for my partner to lead a doubleton without a trump entry, and it would also be rare for one of my partners to lead from jack empty fourth or jack empty third - they'd probably go totally passive and lead a trump instead, or lead from a higher honor - but a singleton would hit the table almost every time. I'll play ace-9, and hope I've read partner correctly.

[gnasher]

If it's a singleton, it's a bit surprising that partner didn't bid. Furthermore, if partner has led a singleton and we don't give him a ruff, the trick will sometimes come back. eg if declarer has Axx KJxxx Jxx AK.

 

Against that, leading from xx, Jxx or Jxxx is unattractive. It seems a close decision.

[lamford]

At teams I would rise and return a spade, playing declarer for something like KJx KJxxx Jxx Ax, or even AK in clubs. At MP this is more dangerous as a successful guess by declarer could lead to 12 tricks.

 

I think partner does have a singleton diamond, and he didn't bid because he has some 4-2-1-6 hand without enough values.

[xcurt]

It looks like our goal is to hold this to 10 tricks, assuming declarer has a normal minimum accept something like AK, K in the black suits, DJ, HK. If partner's play is a singleton (and it's quite likely that it is), and the layout is something like my example then he needs to cash his ace at T3. While that would be a thoughtful play, I don't want to put him under that kind of pressure. As gnasher points out, ducking will still give us good chances to take 3 tricks.

 

I'll play the 9, since I like to agree not to split more than one deep.

[gnasher]

I think partner does have a singleton diamond, and he didn't bid because he has some 4-2-1-6 hand without enough values.

You have a 6-card suit and RHO has opened the bidding, not in your six-card suit. The Lamford that I used to score up with would have been bemused at the phrase "without enough values". Are you an imposter, or are you growing old and foolish?

[Jlall]

Guess it pays to know your partner/declarer, but generally:

 

1) Very few declarers duck with a stiff D, even if it's right. Not that many duck when they're void either. It looks pretty silly if they underled, and people just don't think of it. At the very least I would expect most declarers to think for a long time before finding this play, rather than finding it routinely.

 

2) Would partner generally prefer to lead from xx of a random suit, or just lead a trump, or lead from a king of a side suit? Depends on partner I guess, I would be more likely to lead from my doubleton, but my most regular partners would usually lead aggressive from a black suit over that. However most people would probably lead a black suit for sure if they didn't have the A/K in one of them, so even if partner always leads a diamond with both black kings, it's unlikely.

 

3) How aggressively would partner overcall 1S or 2C or 3C? My partners generally overcall 1S aggressively with 5, and would be conservative about bidding with 4216. That said he's vul and we have 19 highs and declarer has shown a non min opener, so it's possible he has 5 spades and just not enough to bid imo.

 

Gnasher points out that sometimes if we can give partner a ruff we don't have to, but it's also possible that if we can't give partner a ruff, winning the ace won't cost, eg AJxx KJTxx Jx Ax (note this is the layout where playing with myself I would be most likely to lead a doubleton diamond, both kings, and going up ace doesn't cost).

 

Also against ducking... if partner has 2 small diamonds a good declarer is probably just going to win this diamond and play another diamond. At that point, we've had no opportunity to get a signal, and are in the dark about which black suit to play. So it's not like ducking will help us figure out the shift, of course a lot of declarers might mess up and pull a trump or something.

 

Personally I think it's compelling that partner would always lead a stiff diamond, and not often lead a doubleton diamond, and if they've led a stiff diamond we have a clear path to another trick whereas if we duck we still don't. I really don't think partner has Jxx or Jxxx so I'm not even weighting that much at all.

[lamford]

I think partner does have a singleton diamond, and he didn't bid because he has some 4-2-1-6 hand without enough values.

You have a 6-card suit and RHO has opened the bidding, not in your six-card suit. The Lamford that I used to score up with would have been bemused at the phrase "without enough values". Are you an imposter, or are you growing old and foolish?

Bitter experience has told me to pay attention to the footnote "Vulnerability: both"

[sathyab]

Hi Adam,

 

I have no idea what's right here, but just wanted to say Great Job reaching the finals of Platinum Pairs !!!

[awm]

Here's the actual hand. Declarer made a good play at trick one as it turns out:

 

[hv=d=s&v=b&n=s43haq84dkq764c65&w=sa865h72dj53ckt93&e=sq972h65dat98cq84&s=skjthkjt93d2caj72]399|300|Scoring: MP[/hv]

 

As you can see, E/W have three tricks. There is perhaps a small chance at four defensive tricks if a spade is played through declarer immediately. Note that two pitches on the diamonds don't help declarer particularly much, but three pitches do. If the ace of diamonds is played at trick one and a diamond returned, then declarer can ruff, pull trump, and discard all the losing clubs on the diamonds, then guess the spades to make five.

 

Even if east finds the diamond spot play, nothing is really lost to declarer since the ruffing finesse of the diamond ace is basically marked.