After E won the HA and returned a H, S won in hand (not in dummy-not possible), CASHED THE SA, and then continued as described.

Hi David,

Yes, of course, apologize?, heartily, Why?, carelessness and horrible proof reading by me, run amok.

However, on this hand West falsecarded on the first heart with the nine, allowing declarer to run it to the seven in dummy.

And speaking of bridge, if you believe that above excuse there is a big beautiful one in both New York and San Francisco I’d like to sell you. and at a bargain price.

However, in truth we were just testing our readers to see who noticed our INTENTIONAL error and you were the only one who had the chutzpah to challenge us. And now about that bridge, you may want to buy?

Does the above sound anything like the current Presidential USA election?

Hi Bobby,

A couple of stray thoughts. Firstly, can the contract reasonably be made on a club lead, apart from double dummy (CA, DAK shedding club, club ruff, HK then set up and cash the clubs after drawing trumps)? Secondly, should West consider not leading a spade when East fails to double 2S on this sequence?

A case of loose lips sink ships today, I fear, although West might have led a spade anyway if NS were allowed a free run to 6H. I’ve played various types of Mult 2D over the years and the urge to trot out the toy whenever possible does have to be resisted on occasion. If East just keeps quiet, what is the best line do you think?

Regards,

Iain

Hi Iain,

All I can add to the two lines of play at the forefront, both winning lines is that in the absence of the Multi then after a spade lead, just cash two spades, throw a club away on the high diamond and come back to hand with a diamond ruff, ruff the losing spade and return with a club ruff, probably ruffing with the eight, then safely draw trumps (4 leads).

One wise caveat to pass on while through the years playing against good winning players:

Whatever body action RHO tries to give you while following suit (and most play that game), which is not unethical but simply a game that whatever East is trying to convey with his body action about the possibility of you being overruffed, do exactly the opposite to which he is trying to raise your concern. If, in other words, he is trying to convince you to ruff high, don’t and if he is not, do.

Reason being is that he knows exactly your problem (almost every good player worth his salt ALWAYS knows that, so all he can do is try and mislead you into doing the wrong thing).

However since a Multi was opened, that doesn’t look like the right line. However since the six of spades was led, and a higher one next time, you might trust him, if you consider him the less dominant player in his partnership and play him for the 3 spades he is representing.

However there is an ilk of very good player who while defending a slam almost never gives the right count or the normal opening lead, figuring his partner will certainly know how to defend anyway so why should he help you.

Those are very dangerous types, hard to play against, but being forewarned may be being satisfactorily warned.

From the above I know I haven’t helped much, but playing these types of hands will toughen up that declarer for the long run.

Hi Bobby,

Thanks for that, especially the point about giving false count against a slam. Definitely one to think about.

Iain