The hand that almost made me quit!

[Yzerman]

I had the following hand in a recent tournament. This hand was towards the end of a KO final in which the match was very tight. Basically, for the previous 22 boards my only contribution to the team was simply following suit and playing fundamental bridge, for anything I did or did not do to this point had much effect on the current reslts. Although I am not the type of person to play bridge on the basis of 'state of the match', I realized that this deal could be crucial to the outcome;

 

Unfavorable vul for us (we VUL, they NOT) .... 23 board of 24 board match and u suspect score is tight ....

 

9843

Q2

AJ1064

A7

 

 

AK5

J1097

Q2

Q1094

 

Auction -

 

North East South West

P 1N* 2C*

P 2D* P 2H*

3H* X 3N P

P P

 

Quick explanation - 1N = 11-14, 2C = capp (one suit), 2D = relay to suit, 2H = suit, 3H = fast stayman .....

 

RHO had made a lead directing double as it turns out (obviously from OUR heart holding) with the stiff King. After considerable thought, RHO switches to the 4 of clubs.

 

How to play the hand?

 

FYI, 1 - Personally I dont think there is much going on with the hand technically (there is very little to do the hand with respect to technical play), but there are alot of inferences and spot cards to work with.

 

FYI, 2 - After some response I will give actual layout, but I will make additional commentary for discussion. At the table I got the hand wrong, and instanteneously felt an extreme amount of disappointment and guilt for I felt this could have been the swing that might determine the match. I did not let this bother me for the last deal, but I was sulking in my beer the entire evening over this hand. My personal feeling towards this hand, the match and bridge seemed to have suddenly gone from an enthusiastic approach to the game to suddenly HATING the game, for I felt like a failure. Any comments on the emotional overhead towards/regarding bridge in situations like this?

 

MAL

[inquiry]

:P Well.. the great news, with two four of clubs in the deck, you can always get the hand thrown out. ;)

 

The problem here is late entry to the diamonds, should the diamond hook be off or someting nasty like that. So my first thought is club Queen to try to protect the late entry. But there is another way to scramble to 9 tricks... 3♠, 2♣, 2♦, 2♥ (needing spade 3-3 or west with doubleton QJ, QT or JT.

 

So West has six hearts, and in theory, no other four card suit (especially with such a horrid suit)... So this is my plan. Club Queen, expecting it to win (surely East didn't double on just the king of hearts and 4144 type distribution) and if covered by king, try at least one top spade. Of courrse if the club queen holds, i play diamond queen with not a care in the world.

 

As for the emotional aspects of the game Mike, you let it get to you. If I thougth of giving the game up after every bad hand I played (or bid), I would be able to think of nothing else. Instead, I try to enjoy the game and learn (and often, relearn and relearn the same lessons). And sometimes I surprise myself and get it right.

 

Ben

[alcin91]

Hi:

I'd play the ♣9. If it gets the K, I have 3 ♣ tricks (finessing), 2♦, 2♠ and 2♥. If LHO unkindly has the J, I win in dummy and play a ♣ to my hand. From here on in, I try to get as much information as possible before playing ♦. RHO should have the ♣ K for his switch to the 4. He must duck to avoid giving me 3 tricks. I win in hand and play a ♥. I should now be well positioned to count the hand and decide either to endplay RHO or play for the ♠ break.

[luke warm]

as you know, i've spent an awful lot of time watching you play (and practice), mike.. from my view, as an absolutely world class kibber, i have more fun and learn as much if not more from your play as i do from anyone, and that includes some household names...

 

you get down on yourself more than most of us do (i agree with ben, i'd give up almost nightly if i let myself dwell on my bad bids/plays)... the truth is, your opinion of your play is far, *far* less than that of anyone who knows you... i don't know how good i could be if i had your judgment, for example... anyway,

 

[hv=w=s9843hq2dajt64ca7&e=sak5hjt97dq2cqt94]266|100|N-----E-----S-----W

P----1NT---2C----P

2D---P-----2H----3H

X----3NT[/hv]

i think i'd play the ♣Q... if it's covered, i win the ace and lead a spade to hand... i play 3 rounds of spades (might as well give myself another chance)... if the ♣Q isn't covered, the hand's over

[Yzerman]

Okay .. time to fess up what I actually did @ the table ..

 

Would anyone ever consider ducking the club to dummies A7, missing only the K the J and the 8 ?

 

If the C8 is in RHO you can claim as the dummies holding will force either J or K. The disadvantage of this is IF LHO has the K8x or 8xx you have just went down in a contract you would have otherwise made (J8x does not apply as you cant take 3 tricks in clubs). Even if you get the club suit wrong, you still have a few fallback positions on the hand to find a 9th trick (assuming RHO holds Kxxx or longer diamonds).

 

Anyways, after considerable thought I committed the hand to this play and the hand simply fell apart after this play as the remainder of the opponents holdings were NOTHING resembling what you might suspect from the auction.

[pclayton]

Hi Mike:

 

This is a real tough hand and if you misguess a few things you're certain to go down.

 

I wouldn't worry too much about it, the nature of good players is to dwell on their own mistakes when one loses a close KO match. Almost certainly there are some things your teammates did as well, and I can (almost) guarantee you they aren't ticked at you.

 

I would probably play the 10 on the lead of the club through. If RHO is a real strong player (and it sounds like he is), he is trying to attack dummies entries to the diamonds. If he has both minor suit kings, he should Deschappelles the hand and push the ♣K out his hand at T2.

 

So I'm placing the Jack on my right and the King on my left. If I guess this right, the hand is a cakewalk and I'm playing for uptricks.

 

If the Jack gets played on my right, I will win and play a heart off the board. You DID unblock the Q♥ at T1 didn't you? The heart will probably win, but I'm in hand to make a diamond play. RHO will have to make a pitch off the heart which will tell me a lot about the hand overall.

 

I'll now play a diamond to the Jack. If it loses, I block the diamond suit, but I have 9 tricks by force. And, there is a strong chance LHO will 2nd hand high from Kx or Kxx if I lead low. I just duck.

 

So assume the ♦J wins. Play a club off the board; RHO has to duck and your Q wins. Here, I'll likely play A-K and a 3rd spade and hope for the best. RHO will probably be endplayed and have to lead a diamond.

 

I still might get the hand wrong, but this looks like the most promising start.

[Guest Jlall]

Just to comment on the emotional factors: I think it's good that you felt terrible. It will make you play harder if you feel terrible after making a mistake. I always am very upset with myself when i make a mistake, after the game. Don't even think about it during the session though. If you are harder on yourself, it will elevate your game to a higher level.

[Guest Jlall]

If he has both minor suit kings, he should Deschappelles the hand and push the ♣K out his hand at T2.

Semantics but that would be a Merrimac (entry destroying play). Deschappelles is an entry creating play most commonly seen in a position like this

 

 

Kxxx

 

AT Jxx

 

Qxxx

 

Where the Qxxx hand has a few winners to cash, so north leads the king. Declarer must win, becuase if he ducks the defenders can just lead another one. But now the queen is an entry.