Safety play

[nige1]

[hv=pc=n&s=Sjt96565HQJDAQ9CAJT&n=SAKQ83H2D87543C76&d=n&v=n&b=15&a=pp1N2C(1-suited 10+ HCP)2H(TFR)p2Sp3D(G/F)p4Sppp&p=S4S3S2S5HQHKH2H5H6SQH9HJ]300|300|Challenge event 21. Best hand, IMPs NS/N.

More misplays. Click Next.

South is declarer in 4♠.

West leads ♠4 ♠3 ♠2 ♠5.

Declarer leads ♥Q ♥K ♥2 ♥5.

West exits ♥6 ♠Q ♥9 ♥J.

Assuming that West has at least one ♣ honour, can declarer now guarantee the contract?[/hv]

[mikeh]

Yes

 

 

Edit: I didn’t mean to poke fun. It’s a good hand. I just didn’t want to spoil the fun for others by posting the line I chose.

[Tramticket]

 

Club to the ace and duck a club.

 

Whenever diamonds are plated, cover East's card.

 

[Cyberyeti]

 

Club to the ace and duck a club.

 

Whenever diamonds are plated, cover East's card.

 

 

this doesn't work

 

 

E wins and plays a diamond, W wins that and exits a club and you still have to lose a diamond

 

You draw the trump and play a club to the 10, W wins and returns a club to avoid giving the contract immediately, now you can ruff the 3rd club (or win and play a trump to dummy), and a diamond towards hand as you describe works.

 

 

[AL78]

Small diamond to the nine. If East play the ten or jack, cover with the queen. West has to open up the clubs, lead into the diamond tenace or give a ruff and discard. That generates a ninth trick, I'm struggling to see the 10th trick at the moment, there looks to be at least a couple of endplay possibilities. I'm sure there is something I've missed, I struggle with mentally constructing all possible layouts and finding a line that works in all of them.

 

I'm looking at a line which involves throwing a club on the second round of hearts, then ace, ruff, back to hand with a trump, ruff last club, diamond to the nine or queen if East covers. I haven't got time to check it out properly at the moment.

[PeterAlan]

I agree with Cyberyeti.

 

 

The basic point is that you have to eliminate the ♣s before playing a ♦ from dummy to the familiar AQ9 holding, without letting E win a ♣ and play a ♦ through. The ♣10 is a distraction; ♣AJx will do (even if a second ♣ trick is available, a ♦ discard from dummy is no use), and ruffing the third ♣ puts you back in dummy for the ♦ lead. For completeness, you need to draw the second round of trumps remaining in dummy to play the first ♣ from there, and if E plays ♣K or Q on the first round, you win and exit with ♣J to W.

 

 

[nige1]

You draw the trump and play a club to the 10, W wins and returns a club to avoid giving the contract immediately, now you can ruff the 3rd club (or win and play a trump to dummy), and a diamond towards hand (covering East's card) works.

[hv=pc=n&w=S4HK&s=Sjt96565HQJDAQ9CAJT&n=SAKQ83H2D87543C76&d=n&v=n&b=15&a=pp1N2C(1-suited 10+ HCP)2H(TFR)p2Sp3D(G/F)p4Sppp&p=S4S3S2S5HQHKH2H5H6SQH9HJ]300|300|Challenge event 21. Best hand, IMPs NS/N.

More misplays. Click Next.

South is declarer in 4♠.

West leads ♠4 ♠3 ♠2 ♠5.

Declarer leads ♥Q ♥K ♥2 ♥5.

West exits ♥6 ♠Q ♥9 ♥J.

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

After drawing trump, I intended to play as Cyberyeti suggests. I mis-clicked, however, finding that I had led a small ♦ :( I forlornly finessed ♦9 :( which lost to West's ♦K :) Hence, I ended up with a completely undeserved overtrick :)

Not all my mis-clicks escaped unpunished :( In another match, with four top honours in ♣, I mis-clicked a small ♣, to be defeated in a cold 3NT, which GordonTD made easily. [/hv]

[mikeh]

BTW, I don't think that the correct line can be called a safety play. It is simply proper technique. A safety play involves taking a line that is likely to take one fewer trick than would a 'normal' line, in order to maximize the chances of making a contract, usually (but not always) at the expense of forgoing the best chance of an overtrick.

 

Here is a classic safety play:

 

You hold A9xx opposite KJxx and need to score 3 tricks in the suit, being able to afford one loser.

 

The correct safety play is to cash the King, then low towards the Ace, covering whatever RHO plays. If he has Q10xx, your 9 holds and you score 3 tricks. If he shows out on the second round, you rise with the Ace and lead towards the Jack.

 

Obviously, at BAM or matchpoints (unless there are reasons to think that taking 3 tricks will get you a good score), you cash the Ace then lead towards the KJx, intending to finesse. This is the best play for 4 tricks, but loses to Q10xx offside, which the safety play avoids at the cost of taking only 3 tricks when the Qxx or Qx are onside (which is significantly more likely than Q10xx offside).

[mikeh]

Small diamond to the nine. If East play the ten or jack, cover with the queen. West has to open up the clubs, lead into the diamond tenace or give a ruff and discard. That generates a ninth trick, I'm struggling to see the 10th trick at the moment, there looks to be at least a couple of endplay possibilities. I'm sure there is something I've missed, I struggle with mentally constructing all possible layouts and finding a line that works in all of them.

 

I'm looking at a line which involves throwing a club on the second round of hearts, then ace, ruff, back to hand with a trump, ruff last club, diamond to the nine or queen if East covers. I haven't got time to check it out properly at the moment.

 

One has to learn to take one's time on hands like these. I think you will find, on reflection, that your line simply cannot lead to 10 tricks unless East has J10 of diamonds or at least the King, which is against the odds. Once you recognize that your contemplated line is unlikely to win, press re-set on your thinking and picture in your mind an alternative. Now, sometimes and indeed often you may come back to this original line since, unlikely though it may be to succeed, it is the best chance. But quite often you will find a better, if not 100%, line.

 

You have to lose a club, unless East has J10 of diamonds, in which case you can probably set up dummy's diamonds for club pitches (unless West has stiff King). So consider what happens if you lose a club to west.

 

He can't lead a heart: you ruff in dummy and pitch a diamond from hand. He can't lead a diamond into your AQ9 (and you will have pulled the last trump before leading the club so he can't exit with a trump even if he has it, not that it matters since on a trump return you win, cash the club Ace, ruff a club and, bingo, in a position to endplay west).

 

So he has to lead a club. That gives you a club trick you don't need....so don't win it in hand: ruff it. This is the most difficult thing to recognize,,,,ruffing one's own winner seems counter-intuitive.

 

Now a diamond towards AQ9, covering whatever east plays. You don't care what happens....if west wins it, he is stuck. He has to give you a ruff sluff if he leads a round suit or lead into your diamond tenace otherwise.

 

A good rule of thumb, once you discover a possible line that can fail on some layouts, is to press that reset. It is arguably the most difficult part of becoming a good declarer, and it takes time at the table.

 

Don't be afraid to take time. I took about 10 minutes to play to trick one in a KO match, running several lines through my head before embarking upon the one that I finally chose. I play with a partner (a very fine player) who takes several minutes on most hands...back in the day when we played a bit on OKBridge, practicing, we had to stop playing in their matchpoint events because we almost never completed 2 boards in the allotted time.

 

When I began playing with him, I was frustrated at how slow he was, but then gradually realized that he was mentally playing various lines in his head, and I began to consciously try to do the same, even as dummy. The result was that, for a time anyway, I became a very good declarer.

 

A very good tool for honing this technique, without annoying partners or opponents, is the BridgeMaster feature here on BBO.

 

Don't worry that you don't pick up this quickly: few players have the innate talent to visualize hands rapidly. I surely don't....but it is fine to be what is sometimes called a 'grinder' at the table. Grinders tend to win:)