Lost a doubled under

[kayin801]

[hv=pc=n&s=sat42hat2d72cqj72&w=sq9h87dkqjt9854c4&n=sj86hqj95d3cat985&e=sk753hk643da6ck63&d=s&v=n&b=15&a=1d(2+%20diamonds)2d(%3F)3c(2H%20shows%20a%20better%20hand)4c(pick%20a%20major)d4dp4hd5dppdppp]399|300[/hv]

 

Opponent's bidding went off the rails, but that happens sometimes and when it does you wanna take full advantage.

 

Whether or not the X of 4♥ was lead directing (S thought it was just "double auctions off the rails"), N lead the heart Q (hooray!)

 

Upside-down everything.

 

Trick 1: Heart Q holding

Trick 2: Low heart to 10

Trick 3: Low diamond spot to A

Trick 4: Low diamond to K, N pitches a low club

Trick 5: Club lead towards dummy, N tanks and eventually ducks

 

Final result: N/S +100 instead of +300

 

Obviously N can rise with the club A, but they were worried declarer had 3 clubs to the Q and S had the spade Q and 4 diamonds (go for the throat!). Can S make N's life any easier, or should N have definitely figured it out?

[cloa513]

[hv=pc=n&s=sat42hat2d72cqj72&w=sq9h87dkqjt9854c4&n=sj86hqj95d3cat985&e=sk753hk643da6ck63&d=s&v=n&b=15&a=1d(2+%20diamonds)2d(%3F)3c(2H%20shows%20a%20better%20hand)4c(pick%20a%20major)d4dp4hd5dppdppp]399|300[/hv]

 

Opponent's bidding went off the rails, but that happens sometimes and when it does you wanna take full advantage.

 

Whether or not the X of 4♥ was lead directing (S thought it was just "double auctions off the rails"), N lead the heart Q (hooray!)

 

Upside-down everything.

 

Trick 1: Heart Q holding

Trick 2: Low heart to 10

Trick 3: Low diamond spot to A

Trick 4: Low diamond to K, N pitches a low club

Trick 5: Club lead towards dummy, N tanks and eventually ducks

 

Final result: N/S +100 instead of +300

 

Obviously N can rise with the club A, but they were worried declarer had 3 clubs to the Q and S had the spade Q and 4 diamonds (go for the throat!). Can S make N's life any easier, or should N have definitely figured it out?

Why did South lead a diamond when there is no danger of dummy getting a ruff, simply return a club and surely partner should win the ace and return a spade.

[phil_20686]

[hv=pc=n&s=sat42hat2d72cqj72&w=sq9h87dkqjt9854c4&n=sj86hqj95d3cat985&e=sk753hk643da6ck63&d=s&v=n&b=15&a=1d(2+%20diamonds)2d(%3F)3c(2H%20shows%20a%20better%20hand)4c(pick%20a%20major)d4dp4hd5dppdppp]399|300[/hv]

 

Obviously N can rise with the club A, but they were worried declarer had 3 clubs to the Q and S had the spade Q and 4 diamonds (go for the throat!). Can S make N's life any easier, or should N have definitely figured it out?

 

It looks like north has badly misanalysed. Declarer could have made it much harder by playing a diamond back to the 8 or something like that. But when declarer puts the K on the 7 it is dollars to donuts that his suit is solid. In this case he would normally have continued drawing trumps. Also, partners diamond return is not really consistent with him holding four diamonds to an honour.

 

Further, north knows 100% that declarer has two spades (or more) since partner has opened a precision diamond rather than 1S, he can have at most 4.

 

Incidentally, south has misdefended badly by leading back a trump, which actually guarantees -1 on this layout, declarer can run the diamond into the tenace, ruff down the ace of hearts, cross back in diamonds and play the heart K pitching a club. This does seem to indicate to north that west should be 2272, since partner needs a third diamond to be sure declarer cannot get to the kH when he sets it up.

 

Another think is that north can see that the contract is surely cold if the club K scores and south does not have the spade ace, as now the defence can score teh club k, ruff a heart, cross back in spades, and will score 1c 1h 2s + 7 diamonds. Once you have given south the ace of spades its very difficult to avoid the conclusion that you should rise and play a spade.

 

Conclusion: North was at fault when he ducked the club ace, but south was at fault for not appreciating the importance of the 7D, which prevents declarer getting two dummy entries to score a heart trick. So its 100% each. :)

[lalldonn]

Yes, south already gave up a trick with the diamond return so it's hard not to fault him even though declarer didn't take advantage!

 

It seems north should figure it out anyway, what he was playing for make both west's bidding and south's defense even weirder than they were.

[mikeh]

Maybe I missed something (and I agree that the diamond return was an error and that N ought to have known S lacked 4 trump) but didn't S double 4♣? And then N played S for a holding such as Jx in clubs? I wouldn't have thought that was a logical idea.

 

So both get blame here, imo. Declarer also screwed up, but got away with it.

[gszes]

My suggestion to all beginner defenders is when in doubt

take the setting trick then try and figure out what to do.

Most total disasters occur when convincing yourself that

ducking the setting trick is the right thing to do.

Nuff said about N defense.

 

S didnt try to cash the heart A (good) but was careless with

the dia return. I am sure by trick 3 N/S must have realized W had

lots and lots of diamonds and not the majors.

 

partners 3c bid showed a club return to be completely safe and

the club Q a stand out to make it harder for P to dream up a

reason to duck the A.

 

phil_20686 feels 100% to each is right and in a perfectly

mechanical world I would agree but here the duck of the

club A seems far far worse. 160% N 40% south (agreeing with

the 200% apportioned by phil_20686).