Nil Desperandum

[PhilG007]

[hv=pc=n&s=s5hakdqjtcq976532&n=sa8hjt5da98543ck4&d=s&v=b&b=7&a=1c1s2d2hp2s3sp3nppp]266|200[/hv]

 

When his partner cue bid spades,South was faced with a problem 5♣ was obviously absurd with all the remaining cards in that suit bunched in the East hand. 5♦ was equally remote since East would be in a position to give his partner club ruffs The only chance was that the spade cue bid indicated that the suit was adequately guarded.. On that basis South decided to risk 3 NT on the strength of his two top hearts and the diamond fit.. West,unsurprisingly led the K ♠ ]The sight of dummy made declarer draw in his breath.. On the very first trick,declarer is facing a real challenge.What would you do to make the contract?

[mikeh]

Why does south know that east has long clubs?

 

Why would South think that 3S showed a spade stopper? Edit: I posted only half awake. It is reasonable to think that North was cuebidding the suit he has stopped, but it is still absurd not to bid diamonds, and indeed weird not to have done so over 2H, in which case 3S would definitely promise a stopper

 

Why would South never raise diamonds?

 

Why would South think that east could or would give west club ruffs?

 

Why would any competent N-S pair play 3N rather than 5D?

 

Why would South decide that after 3S, north was limited in values? Such that 6D was not reasonable?not in the sense of driving to slam, but in the sense of telling partner one has great diamond support

 

Why is the play in 3N of any interest, given that no competent pair would ever bid it?

[KingCovert]

If this hand has any hope, your opponents are more insane than South on this hand.

 

If West has 8 spades, the K of diamonds and a doubleton Q of hearts then, maybe this hand has some hope...

 

Why East would free bid hearts with a 6-card suit headed by the 9 with like 6 HCP is beyond me though. Although, I guess I can see why West would sit for it.

 

I'm with Mikeh on this, if you look at South's hand and think No-Trump... Well, yeah. C'mon.

 

Duck the spade, win the continuation, cash a heart, finesse and unblock the diamond suit. Cash the remaining heart trick, dropping the queen and exit in clubs. It probably doesn't matter which club you exit. East will be endplayed into establishing your clubs or leading into the heart entry.

 

Note: If east has the Ace of clubs, they won't allow a club entry. And you have no other possible entries from South. And if west has it.. You're dead.

 

And if that doesn't work, West is taking spades and you're dead.

[DozyDom]

If this hand has any hope, your opponents are more insane than South on this hand.

 

If West has 8 spades, the K of diamonds and a doubleton Q of hearts then, maybe this hand has some hope...

 

Why East would free bid hearts with a 6-card suit headed by the 9 with like 6 HCP is beyond me though. Although, I guess I can see why West would sit for it.

 

I'm with Mikeh on this, if you look at South's hand and think No-Trump... Well, yeah. C'mon.

 

Duck the spade, win the continuation, cash a heart, finesse and unblock the diamond suit. Cash the remaining heart trick, dropping the queen and exit in clubs. It probably doesn't matter which club you exit. East will be endplayed into establishing your clubs or leading into the heart entry.

 

No need for 8 spades in W; that kind of extremely ridiculous hand in't necessary yet.. If the diamond is onside in a doubleton/singleton and the QH falls doubleton, you make anyway. Duck the first spade, then discard a diamond on the AS. Then cross to hand with a heart (lead the J; it might bait out a cover if the Q, cash the heart, lead QD. You're gold.

 

Still a ridiculous contract with ridiculous bidding. S hasn't shown his excellent diamond support or his 7 card clubs; failing to show one of those would be understandable, but both would be criminal. 3NT is a nonsense bid.

[KingCovert]

And how do you cash the diamonds?

 

Edit: Or do you really expect to trick West after discarding the Q/J/T of Diamonds?

[sfi]

And how do you cash the diamonds?

 

Edit: Or do you really expect to trick West after discarding the Q/J/T of Diamonds?

 

Just discard 1 diamond on the second spade and unblock the hearts. Now take the diamond hook. If LHO covers the first diamond, you can pitch the blocking diamond on the HJ.

[KingCovert]

Just discard 1 diamond on the second spade and unblock the hearts. Now take the diamond hook. If LHO covers the first diamond, you can pitch the blocking diamond on the HJ.

 

Ah yes! That makes sense.

 

As an aside, you'd really have to figure that spades are in fact breaking 8-2. East hasn't raised them. If they had a hand suitable to free bid hearts with 3+ spades. I don't think the contract would be 3NT.

 

If you can't double with confidence, 4S sure does sound good. Except for the whole honourless heart suit of course...

[mikeh]

Ok, we are supposed to play for west to hold something like KQJxxxxx Qx Kx x or KQJxxxxx Qx K xx and to have bid 1S then 3S and then passed 3N? Not to mention that east, with 6 hearts headed by the 9 and at most 5hcp bid 2H freely?

 

Really? Let’s put it this way: E-W seem perfectly suited as opps for the incompetent pair sitting N-S. and thi s is supposed to be ‘interesting’?

[sfi]

Really? Let’s put it this way: E-W seem perfectly suited as opps for the incompetent pair sitting N-S. and thi s is supposed to be ‘interesting’?

You woke up on the grumpy side of the Internet, didn't you? It may not be the most realistic layout ever, but the answer is amusing enough.

[mikeh]

You woke up on the grumpy side of the Internet, didn't you? It may not be the most realistic layout ever, but the answer is amusing enough.

 

 

I liked your post, lol. I think my problem is that I don’t suffer fools lightly.

 

I was wondering whether the OP is related to posssum😊

[apollo1201]

I was wondering whether the OP is related to posssum😊

If he were, there would have been at least half a dozen 2-screen long posts complaining on how his threads were always bullied and hijacked by pseudo-experts who are just there to turn him down and criticize instead of applauding this magnificent master bids as S of pass of 2H, then 3NT😉

[Tramticket]

Just discard 1 diamond on the second spade and unblock the hearts. Now take the diamond hook. If LHO covers the first diamond, you can pitch the blocking diamond on the HJ.

 

The Opening Post is clearly a constructed problem - from a book or newspaper article I am guessing.

 

It looked like an unblocking problem as soon as I saw it and I immediately guessed to duck the spade to be able to discard one of the blocking hearts. But it still needs a lot to succeed: you need west to hold precisely KX in diamonds and QX hearts. So I am placing West with ♠KQJ764 ♥Q2 ♦K2 ♣J108. So much for East holding all of the remaining clubs!

 

Edit: missed Mike's construction of the hands. But I wouldn't have thought that west is only over-calling 1S with seven or eight cards in spades

[mikeh]

The Opening Post is clearly a constructed problem - from a book or newspaper article I am guessing.

 

It looked like an unblocking problem as soon as I saw it and I immediately guessed to duck the spade to be able to discard one of the blocking hearts. But it still needs a lot to succeed: you need west to hold precisely KX in diamonds and QX hearts. So I am placing West with ♠KQJ764 ♥Q2 ♦K2 ♣J108. So much for East holding all of the remaining clubs!

 

Edit: missed Mike's construction of the hands. But I wouldn't have thought that west is only over-calling 1S with seven or eight cards in spades

Ok, so you think that east, with 10xxx 9xxxxx x Ax would bid 2H over 2D.

 

Well, if the alternative is that west would bid 1S with a bad hand and 7 or 8 good spades, maybe you’re right, lol.

[KingCovert]

Ok, so you think that east, with 10xxx 9xxxxx x Ax would bid 2H over 2D.

 

Well, if the alternative is that west would bid 1S with a bad hand and 7 or 8 good spades, maybe you’re right, lol.

 

Yeah. Exactly how I feel.

 

This is pretty much why the break has to be 8-2. Who introduces a new suit without an honour while holding 5-6 HCP, an outside ace, and primary support?

[Tramticket]

Ok, so you think that east, with 10xxx 9xxxxx x Ax would bid 2H over 2D.

 

Well, if the alternative is that west would bid 1S with a bad hand and 7 or 8 good spades, maybe you’re right, lol.

 

Yes, fair enough. There is no sensible construction on this hand - as you have ably demonstrated (I had up-voted your original comment).

[sfi]

The Opening Post is clearly a constructed problem - from a book or newspaper article I am guessing.

Probably. I didn't spend the time to work out if the bidding made sense (mikeh's original post suggested it doesn't and I have no reason to disagree). But I was curious enough to work out how to get around the play issues. These techniques always come up again in another guise so it seemed worth the time.

[sfi]

I liked your post, lol. I think my problem is that I don’t suffer fools lightly.

Happy to amuse and defuse at the same time. :)

[PhilG007]

The Opening Post is clearly a constructed problem - from a book or newspaper article I am guessing.

 

It looked like an unblocking problem as soon as I saw it and I immediately guessed to duck the spade to be able to discard one of the blocking hearts. But it still needs a lot to succeed: you need west to hold precisely KX in diamonds and QX hearts. So I am placing West with ♠KQJ764 ♥Q2 ♦K2 ♣J108. So much for East holding all of the remaining clubs!

 

Edit: missed Mike's construction of the hands. But I wouldn't have thought that west is only over-calling 1S with seven or eight cards in spades

 

"The Opening Post is clearly a constructed problem-from a book or newspaper article" Are you seriously suggesting that i would dare risk plagiarism ???? Stupid and ridiculous

[Tramticket]

"The Opening Post is clearly a constructed problem-from a book or newspaper article" Are you seriously suggesting that i would dare risk plagiarism ???? Stupid and ridiculous

 

It was from actual play? I offer my sincere apologies. Was it a teams or pairs event? What happened at the other tables - I can't imagine that this bidding was repeated?

[PhilG007]

Since no-one ventured to post a solution I give it here.

West led the K♠

Declarer ducked the lead and West switched to a heart,taken by declarer's King. He then led the 10♦covered

by the King and Ace. Declarer then cashed the A♠and pitched on it his A♥ The Q♦and J♦ were cashed and a club was led to dummy's King

and East's Ace(ducking would have served no useful purpose). East could now cash his Q♥ but had no choice but to either concede the remaining

tricks to dummy's diamonds or the clubs in the closed hand. This was the full deal :-[hv=pc=n&s=s5hakdqjtcq976532&w=skqjt9632h32dk72c&n=sa8hjt5da98543ck4&e=s74hq98764d6cajt8&d=s&v=b&b=7&a=1c1s2d2hp2s3sp3nppp]399|300[/hv]

[Tramticket]

Since no-one ventured to post a solution I give it here.

West led the K♠

Declarer ducked the lead and West switched to a heart,taken by declarer's King. He then led the 10♦covered

by the King and Ace. Declarer then cashed the A♠and pitched on it his A♥ The Q♦and J♦ were cashed and a club was led to dummy's King

and East's Ace(ducking would have served no useful purpose). East could now cash his Q♥ but had no choice but to either concede the remaining

tricks to dummy's diamonds or the clubs in the closed hand. This was the full deal :-[hv=pc=n&s=s5hakdqjtcq976532&w=skqjt9632h32dk72c&n=sa8hjt5da98543ck4&e=s74hq98764d6cajt8&d=s&v=b&b=7&a=1c1s2d2hp2s3sp3nppp]399|300[/hv]

 

Were you the declarer Phil? How did you come up with this line - I'm interested in your thought processes?

[KingCovert]

Were you the declarer Phil? How did you come up with this line - I'm interested in your thought processes?

 

At the risk of being flippant, what else do you really want to do?

 

As for why he took this line... He probably took the line for all the reasons in my first post in this thread.

 

Spades need to be 8-2, and West can't have a minor suit entry or the hand is hopeless. Diamonds blocks and without the doubleton QH, North has no entries. So, it's time to end play East in Clubs or Hearts

[shyams]

1. From memory, "Bridge in the Menagerie" features a similar themed deal. If I recall, Karapet is credited with the beautiful declarer play.

 

2. How many Wests will find these two plays below? Was West World-Class?

West led the K♠. Declarer ducked the lead and West switched to a heart,taken by declarer's King. He then led the 10♦covered by the King

 

3. Instead of ♦10 at trick 3, isn't it better to lead the ♦J? I feel like the Jack makes it (much?) harder for West to cover, no?

[DozyDom]

I did post a solution. It doesn't work on this layout. This will sound silly, but I genuinely believe it is more likely for E to have made a psychic 2H bid, with nearly no strength, some support, and 6 bad hearts, than for W to have 8 spades and a weak hand.

 

On the other hand, I would have gone down, and you made the hand, so it certainly looks like I'm the fool here.

 

 

EDIT: well, except for the bidding. I stand by what I said on that score.