I assume that E discarded a D on the 3d club (a spade would surely mark W with the SQ, so S should then make the safety play in H-play the DAK and lead a low H toward dummy). When E discards a D, however, I still play DAK and led a low H, winning when E has the singleton HK or when W has the singleton HK & either S honor, or when someone has HKx and W has the SQ. If E overruffs the ruff of the 3d club, however, now S has to guess whether to finesse E for the HK and W for the SQ or to play for hearts now to be 1-1 (and W have the SQ). So my conclusion is that E should have overruffed. Note that E knows that his partner has no hearts.

Hi David,

My take on this hand, which was real and was reported, is that indeed, East played his deuce of hearts under ruffing the 10 played from dummy (perhaps he did not correctly hear declarer calling the 10 of hearts) whereupon declarer blundered when he overruffed himself with the ace.

This set off a chain reaction which led to the unfortunate ending for declarer. Since the spade finesse was onside all the time he was blessed into making the hand, assuming he guessed the location of the heart king, after the normal overruff with the jack by East at trick three.

If your assumption (as to what happened with East discarding a low diamond instead of the heart 2) is correct, then your analysis is indeed, and as usual, right on (except I do challenge your statement that if East discarded a spade, that would deny his holding of the queen since excellent defenders are capable of such misleading discards and for the right reasons).

At any rate I apologize for the confusion, brought about by unnecessary sloth on our end.

Happy Holidays!

I am confused. If declarer ruffed the third club with the ten and East under-ruffed with the deuce, how could declarer over-ruff with the ace? Declarer still had a third club?

Hi Folks,

Shouldn’t South cash 2 D ending in hand then take spade finesse to find out if he can afford to safety play trumps?

Iain

XpS Assumes a non spade discard at T3

Hi Jim2,

Yes, because of the confusion caused by me, this hand has gone from bad to worse.

Continuing on, after, as David surmised the 10 of hearts won the trick (with East throwing a low diamond), South eschewed the safety play (thinking East does not have the jack of hearts and might be void) and led a heart, (not the 10 which theoretically had already been played) to his ace and got the news that he was now set when East showed out.

David suggested that he would have taken the safety play (was this iinterclub tournament IMPs or matchpoints?). In any event East, by not overruffing, and at the very least, enticed the declarer to go wrong.

Sorry for the distractions, but Bill Pencharz did make a good defensive play and, whether he deserved it or not, won the battle.

Hi Iain,

Probably, but whether the contest was IMPs or matchpoints probably becomes vital in choosing the safety play or not.

Also, since there are 2 ways to safety play the trump combination, low from hand or low from dummy barely beating the card from East and there is a very low percentage risk of a ruff after losing the trump trick makes it all moot, which in turn is driving me crazy, mostly because of my earlier ineptness.

Hi Bobby,

Thanks but relax – it is Christmas! We’re the better for drink here.

Iain

Iain –

Playing on spades first adds a ruff risk. For example, say East has four spades to the queen and West the singleton heart king. Declarer plays AS, spade finesse, and East wins and gives West a ruff.

I confess to sympathy with the actual declarer here. Conceding a trump trick after stripping diamonds guarantees the contract by avoiding any spade finesse with the endplay unless trump are 3-0 in the East. If trump are 3-0 in the West, declarer can still succeed if spades behave.

If I knew the actual declarer’s name, I might offer him some consolation by sending him a copy of my TOCM ™ thesis.

Hi Jim2,

I take your point about the risk of playing 2 rds of spades so the plan (unless east sheds a spade at T3) is to take a first round spade finesse after 2 diamond winners ending in hand. If it loses, then the HA has to be played; if it wins, then run the H9 if east plays small.. If he shows out, then HAx does the trick.

I agree with your sympathy, though!

Regards,

Iain

Hi everyone,

On some of these hands (perhaps many) our best and brightest students only need to wait it out, until the smaller points have been debated, with the result usually being a positive educational experience for would be future experts. Such is the advantage of having a cadre of high-level, patient, determined, bridge analysts who, above all, care for the game and the accuracy which is needed to play it at a high level.

I, for one, am very proud of how this process has grown. And BTW, at least in my opinion, respect for each other is ever present and in NT.

If anyone has not noticed, Iain chooses the better safety play (of the two that I mentioned), by leading a heart from the dummy, just in case the singleton heart king is with East.

Dear Mr Wolff

The quote of the day is interesting. What is gamesmanship in bridge ?

best regards

Shantanu Rastogi