How about: S wins the opening lead with the SA, ruffs a S, cashes HAK, crosses to hand with DK, and leads H10. W wins as S throws a C from dummy. W can now return anything, S wins, draws trump and claims, making 6! In fact 6H is cold against any lead except the CK, which would probably be W’s 13th choice for opening lead.

Hi David

Your line is perfect on the lie of cards and should be taken if playing 6 hearts. But if you look at just north & south cards and try to imagine east west distribution then IMHO the line given in the column is better as for example spades can be 5-3 instead of 6–2.

Best regards

Shantanu Rastogi

Shantanu: I don’t think so. A weak-2 opener promises 6 cards, although a few people will do so occasionally on 5. But the opening lead was SJ, meaning either doubleton or J10x. If the latter, then E opened a weak-2 on KQxxx. Yuck.

David Warheit –

North has three hearts.

Hi Bobby,

If I’d ducked the spade lead against Zia, and Aced the club switch, He’d have started with KQ109xx Jx xx K10x. After 3 rounds of hearts, west would have played another club and I lose control. Not that I’m succumbing to TOCM or anything….

regards,

Iain

Hi

Isnt this deal beautiful ? While some would like to be in 6 hearts the declarer in the column went down in 4 hearts. And this is the only complicated contract. 3 NT & 5 D make with ease and as mentioned in column 3 Spades doubled fetches a decent score.

Best regards

Shantanu

David –

I got my contracts mixed up — I was trying to make 6D.

Hi David, Shantanu, Jim2, & Iain,

All above make worthwhile comments, and most only concern themselves with the actual hand, with some different views about the likely defensive holdings. By the numbers, let me digress into what I deem worthy to take away from this experience.

1. No doubt EW bidding up quickly through 3 spades establishes the largest challenge to even top players reaching either 3NT, a sure trick contract to which 10 are assured.

2. 5 diamonds is also almost a slam dunk, making the double of 3 spades (at the mentioned vulnerability or 4 hearts much more speculative, thus inferior).

3. From a defensive standpoint, while many, especially at this vulnerability would open 2 spades and choose a TO double with the North hand after a troublesome raise to 3 with West, goading South to choose 4 hearts rather than a pass or 3NT. Again, my guess is that NS would bid exactly as shown at any reasonably high level of our game.

4. Do my opinions represent what would happen, or can anyone suggest different choices, and if so, would they stand the test of time and result?

5. Perhaps North would simply offer 4 diamonds as an overcall leaving South to ponder whether to merely raise to 5 diamonds or perhaps, more likely, cue bid 4 spades and possibly point to a futile diamond slam.

6. Going forward, I think it totally necessary for both East to open 2 spades, West to raise to 3 immediately and then using good enough judgment NS to linger in one of the making games (red suits or 3NT) and eschew the poisoned flowers of slam.

7. Sometimes easier said than done, but without EW doing their preemptive magic, our game takes on too easy of a hue, lessening the challenge due.

8. Finally there is more than just a few players who would open the East hand with 2 spades, while holding only 5 (instead of 6) which, of course, would be raised to 3 with then 3 trumps instead of 2, making the penalty double of 3 more attractive and thus more likely to be right.

No guarantees of anything, but only the realization after a long career, it is precisely these types of hands which the really great partnerships of yesterday and today, tend to get right, based only on superior judgment of knowing what to do against specific opponents and their collective tendencies, but not with any black magic involved, only the psychology necessary to do what is more likely right in any particular case.

And to the above is the most important reason to discuss what to do, not necessarily the technical reason of the choices of play and defense, although I am not trying to discount that important challenge either, in any strong way.

However, please do not ever forget before becoming defensive fiends, trying to give their aggressive opponents the worst possible result, defense, starting with a blind opening lead, is often much more difficult than is declarer’s play which has too many advantages to not take seriously.

Sorry, misspoke. 6H is cold. If W does lead CK, S doesn’t even have to ruff a S.

6H needs 3-3 hearts of honor doubleton, and also no club lead when the KC is behind the QC.

hi Bobby

I sent a problem, and could not find it, although when I resubmitted, saw a message saying it had already been submitted.

Is it possible that the message went into some black hole?

Best always

pp

Hi Peter,

Upon consulting the present archives the last post I have from you concerned itself with the “old chestnut” of leading the jack from the queen jack doubleton trump.

Other than that I do not view any other posts in the last few days. It may be that some mysterious force, unknown to either of us, might rise up in cyberspace and attack, but in the absence of that I do not have an answer.

If you remember what you wrote please write it again, and for my benefit please choose writing it on a later day, so that I will easily be able to see it and respond. It doesn’t have to match the particular day’s theme.

Good luck and please accept my apologies for whatever might have happened.