A Tale of 4 Spades

[pilowsky]

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times." I've never read Dicken's book, but it's an unbeatable opening line.

Speaking of opening lines, I just finished one of my worst tournaments. Characterised by multiple excellent learning experiences: to put it politely.

 

The first 4S contract split the field. The good players made it. I wasn't one of them. As soon as the cards struck my eyes I thought 4♠ elimination endplay Max Chauvet, great youtube video etc and then I messed it up.

Eight people bid and made it, 17 people bid and made 4S-1, 2 people went off 2 and 3 people let East play in 4 Diamonds.

There's something about a solid 5 card spade suit to the AKQ that screams 4S, so there I was.

I know that West has 4 hearts to the K ( and probably no spades), and I know East has a butt-load of diamonds presumably to the AK…

When dummy arrives I count nine tricks. West leads the ♦Q and East overtakes with the Ace and fires back the ♥8

Here's what I did wrong:

my result

 

 

When board 11 came round I was feeling pretty cocky. I just bid 4♠ out of the box.

This one was makeable but is a real matchpoints hand. The score depends entirely on the suit led = for clubs, +1 for diamonds and +2 for hearts. I got a club lead.

[hv=pc=n&s=sakqt9h5dkqjt52cj&w=shk98742d987ckq93&n=sj754haqj63d3ct85&e=s8632htda64ca7642&d=s&v=0&b=11&a=4sppp]399|300[/hv]

fwiw, 5[cclubs]x -100 was the better result for EW.

 

For those of you unaware of the perils of Board 11,

. If you watch this video you may understand why the British and the Americans have difficulty understanding each other when playing Bridge.

[DavidKok]

It took me a moment to notice that you are describing two deals at once, with the first one not shown. Here is the layout:

 

[hv=pc=n&s=sakq84haq5d7cq532&w=shk643dqj64ckj964&n=sj7653ht72d953ca8&e=st92hj98dakt82ct7&d=n&v=n&b=5&a=pp1sd3s4d4sppp]399|300[/hv]

 

On your line I think it is the percentage play to insert a small heart when East attacks the suit, guaranteeing 2 tricks in hearts unless West has KJ(+). Since you are missing the 9 inserting the Q fails to develop a trick if West has the king.

 

As for the second hand, it is unfortunate the defence found the best lead. Two points of interested on that hand are that the heart finesse has no upside (in fact, you ruff the ace of hearts right after!) so it is better to rise with the ace. Also East misdefended by ruffing the ace of hearts, if they pitch a club with a cool face you have to change tacks and go for a crossruff to get to 10 tricks.

[nige1]

[hv=bbo=y&myhand=M-459461114-1602539281]300|300| Pilowsky "It was the best of times; it was the worst of times." I've never read Dicken's book, but it's an unbeatable opening line. Speaking of opening lines, I just finished one of my worst tournaments. Characterised by multiple excellent learning experiences: to put it politely. The first 4S contract split the field. The good players made it. I wasn't one of them. As soon as the cards struck my eyes I thought 4♠ elimination endplay Max Chauvet, great youtube video etc and then I messed it up. Eight people bid and made it, 17 people bid and made 4S-1, 2 people went off 2 and 3 people let East play in 4 Diamonds. There's something about a solid 5 card spade suit to the AKQ that screams 4S, so there I was. I know that West has 4 hearts to the K (and probably no spades), and I know East has a butt-load of diamonds presumably to the AK…When dummy arrives, I count nine tricks. West leads the ♦Q and East overtakes with the Ace and fires back the ♥8. Here's one for Nige1. If you watch this video you may understand why the British and the Americans have difficulty understanding each other when playing Bridge.

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

Thank you, Pilowsky for the instructive deal and apt video. As DavidKok points out: ducking RHO's ♥ switch doubles your chances, and ensures the contract, as the cards lie. The best defence is for East to switch to ♠T. Now a winning line is hard to spot. A successful line is to draw 3 rounds of trumps ending in dummy, squeezing West. He must keep 3 ♥s and 4 ♣s, so he discards a ♦. Now you play ♣A and duck a ♣. Defenders' only safe exit is a ♦. You ruff the ♦, ruff a ♣, and ruff a ♦ [/hv][hv=s=HAQ5C5&w=Hk64CJ&n=S3HT72C&e=HJ98DTC&a=SS]300|300|

In this 4-card ending, you exit with a ♣ to endplay West.[/hv]