What's a weak 2 upside down?

[Cyberyeti]

Sir,

Pardon me but I ,personally ,totally dislike ,if not hate, the K AND R METHOD .Hoever opening 2♠ in the 1st seat on the given hand is too aggressive ,if not silly, with the very valuable KJx of hearts which are too good a value for a ♥ contract may be even a 4/3 Moysian.

 

I tend to use K&R as a sense check when I already think a hand is worth more/less than its HCP. I also would not open 2♠ as I said, but not for that reason (I could have 4 hearts the way I play), but with 6-4 and 9HCP and no reason to downgrade, this is a minimum 1♠ opener for us. 2♠ denies that much for us.

[Huibertus]

The thing with these "apperently can make" contracts it that the way you have to play it to actually make it, in a lot of cases isn't the right play.

 

The 4♠, yes you can make it if you make six tricks in the side suit and for trumps by shortening dummy. And that will only work if ♦ Q is an entry. So you have to play towards it some time during play. And you have to do it before you have played a second round of trumps and know of the 4-1 split, so would be asuming 4-1 right from the start.

 

However, ♦ K in east, and not getting over ruffed with a small trump while shortening dummy is surely less then 50%.

 

The play I would take is a double finess in ♦ and play ♠ to be 3-2, losing a diamond and 2 ♠, let ♦ Q run trick 2, take the return from E in dummy, play A,T of trumps and use ♥ Ace for a diamond to the T. That would succeed a bit over 50% of the time. Not sure about the exact percentages but my feeling is the difference is about 8%. Bad luck, on this hand it fails, but the play is superior.

[dsLawsd]

For Board 5 it is not a 2♠ bid because with KJx of hearts and a void there are multiple potential places to play it and you are preempting yourself.

 

1NT cannot be faulted, but at IMPs 1♣may be better to start for much the same reason as you can "smell" a potential misfit plus the possible slam in the unusual case. At any game I visualize the possible problems in transportation. In 4 ♥ I would duck a trump to East and see what happens...

 

A great set of hands for discussion!

[nige1]

I realise that complex double-dummy play is of limited interest. :( So, rather than write a tedious detailed new post, I've made a small edit to my previous post in this topic, to include a beautiful variation on the suggested line, that I'd somehow overlooked. It culminates in a rare and pretty 4-card ending,:)

[Cyberyeti]

I realise that complex double-dummy play is of limited interest. :( So, rather than write a tedious detailed new post, I've made a small edit to my previous post in this topic, to include a beautiful variation on the suggested line, that I'd somehow overlooked. It culminates in a rare and pretty 4-card ending,:)

 

The reason I went double dummy on Pilowsky's boards was that he said things like "apparently makeable" which suggested he didn't see how it was done.

 

Only one of the 3 boards do I think the line might be found at the table and I obviously didn't make that clear enough.

[pilowsky]

The reason I went double dummy on Pilowsky's boards was that he said things like "apparently makeable" which suggested he didn't see how it was done.

 

Only one of the 3 boards do I think the line might be found at the table and I obviously didn't make that clear enough.

 

He didn't: Pilowsky is new to the game. He only makes these posts when he can't figure it out - or if he thinks it's pretty funny. His Mother also thought he was trying.

[pilowsky]

My propensity for bidding 1NT on anything that looks promising between 14 and 18 against GIB seems to pay dividends in the long run, but as you have noticed, my card play hasn't caught up yet.

This one also caught me out - another makeable 4♥ that I missed and only just worked out. I think it relies on a good knowledge of suit combinations. and card memory.

[hv=pc=n&s=s43hadat53cakt972&w=saj5hk4dkj972c865&n=sqt92hqj87532dcj3&e=sk876ht96dq864cq4&d=e&v=n&b=2&a=p1np4dp4hppp]399|300[/hv]

At least I figured this one out myself - finally!

And just to show that there is some justice in the world, someone else did bid and made it in a slightly different way! This board came immediately before the Bots went nuts and gave me 10 IMP's.

Here it is.

[nige1]

[hv=pc=n&s=s43hadat53cakt972&w=saj5hk4dkj972c865&n=sqt92hqj87532dcj3&e=sk876ht96dq864cq4&d=e&v=n&b=2&a=p1np4dp4hppp]399|300| Pilowsky "At least I figured this one out myself - finally! My propensity for bidding 1NT on anything that looks promising between 14 and 18 against GIB seems to pay dividends in the long run, but as you have noticed, my card play hasn't caught up yet. This one also caught me out - another makeable 4♥ that I missed and only just worked out. I think it relies on a good knowledge of suit combinations. and card memory. And just to show that there is some justice in the world, someone else did bid and made it in a slightly different way! This board came immediately before the Bots went nuts and gave me 10 IMP's.".

+++++++++++++++++++

Pilowski's problems, in this topic, don't require double-dummy play -- against normal defence. Sensible planning -- Yes. Some good views -- Perhaps. And, OK, to dot all the i's and to cross all the t's -- Gib can be useful, -- but not essential. On this last hand, after cashing the ♥A., declarer must guess to play a small trump rather than an honour, so that he can ruff high, when LHO leads a 3rd ♣. The successful declarer drove out ♥K with an honour but survived when LHO failed to continue ♣s [/hv]

[Cyberyeti]

And he should go one off, why didn't W return his club promoting the ♥10 instead of returning the diamond at the end ? Probably because of the psyche of 1N so the bot didn't think you could have 6.

[nige1]

And he should go one off, why didn't W return his club promoting the ♥10 instead of returning the diamond at the end ? Probably because of the psyche of 1N so the bot didn't think you could have 6.

CyberYeti is quite right, as usual. He replied while I was editing my reply.

 

 

 

 

[Cyberyeti]

CyberYeti is quite right, as usual. He replied while I was editing my reply.

 

The cool thing about it is that you can't return the club when in with the spade, you have to wait. I think if you return the club initially, declarer will ruff high and try to fell the ♥K, while if you wait, the trump promotion just works and it's less obvious to lead a low one. That said, the main case where leading the high heart works (K10 or K9 left in the E hand) is defeated by a club when in with the spade, so maybe you should play to drop the K by leading a low one.