A reasonable slam

[helene_t]

[hv=pc=n&s=sakqj96h74dk52c64&n=s875hakq98dqjt74c]133|200[/hv]

You are in 6♠.

West overcalled 2♣ and North jumped to 4NT immediately (yeah I know it's not scientific bidding).

Lead ♣K (normal lead from AKxxx(x).

Plan the play.

 

This was a hand from tonight's session at the club

[LBengtsson]

Are the hands correct, helene? Ruff a ♣, draw trumps, throw South's remaining ♣ on ♥Q, play on ♦s for 12 tricks. I bet it ain't as easy as that :)

 

I gave +1 on my first glance as I somehow thought it was trickier than that. Am I missing something?

[jillybean]

Ruff a ♣

Small ♠ to A

Ruff a ♣

♥A,K, ruff 3rd heart high (loses if hearts are 5-1 or spades 3-1)

So do you establish ♦ first?

 

Ruff a ♣

Small ♠ to A

Ruff a ♣

Small ♦ to K

 

:D Am I missing the obvious?

[mikeh]

Ruff a ♣

Small ♠ to A

Ruff a ♣

♥A,K, ruff 3rd heart high (loses if hearts are 5-1 or spades 3-1)

So do you establish ♦ first?

 

Ruff a ♣

Small ♠ to A

Ruff a ♣

Small ♦ to K

 

:D Am I missing the obvious?

I’m afraid you are

 

The hand is cold against any distribution so long as you take your time to count winners. Actually, you can count losers as well. LB has it right

 

Ruff the club and pull trump…you don’t care how they break. You can afford to pull 4 rounds….to heck with worrying about 3-1…you are cold on a 4-0 break!

 

After all trump are gone, pitch your second club on a heart and drive out the diamond ace.

 

The instinct to ruff twice in dummy is understandable but when one sees something as simple as that, it’s mandatory to ask…what could go wrong, and then (unless there is no lie of the cards that could defeat your line), look for a better play.

 

Yes, it sometimes slows the game down and, quite often, you’ll end up with your initial line

 

But watch top players. One or two savants may always play quickly but the great majority of really good players take time before playing to trick one. Personally, I’d like to think that on this hand I wouldn’t play from dummy immediately, even though it’s obvious I’m ruffing. If my instinct was to ruff twice, I’d realize that 5-1 hearts will beat me. Or 2=4 with 4-0 trump. Then, I hope, I’d realize that I don’t have any losers other than the diamond ace, so the second club ruff is an illusion…a dangerous one at that.

 

When I saw they and, my first thought was ‘why post this?’ On reflection, I think it’s quite easy not to plan properly and fall for the illusion

[helene_t]

MikeH figured out what I did wrong :)

 

I was lucky that diamonds where 3-2 with East having the ace so I made it anyway, but on the way home in the car I realized that I misplayed it.

[jillybean]

I keep coming back to this, how can I not have seen 12 tricks!

Good lesson, thanks Helene.