In the other room, after the same auction & same play to the first 2 tricks, E led a small H at trick 3. S went up with the Q and made his contract. When asked later why he played the Q, S said that unless W had 7 spades, which he found extremely unlikely, E returned a H because he was loaded in H but missing the 10, so he hoped S would play H normally. This S won the runner-up prize for Declarer POY.

Hi David,

No doubt South made an intelligent play when, with your hypothetical, South rose with the queen of hearts, since he projected ahead and realized that if somehow a heart duck by him would produce either the ace or king, highly unlikely but one can never be sure perhaps East held 6 hearts to the HJ10. However even if so, when West then led back to East’s other high honor, he upon winning it, would now revert back to spades for the significant set.

Of course, certainly in the role of judging possible award winning plays, one needs to always put himself in the form of the player executing whatever play he made to be considered, and just perhaps in this case think that, of course South made the right play, thus performing at maximum ability, true, but not really award winning, only a normal day at the office for him (or her).

At least the above is what my old eyes think and not necessarily agreed on by all others.

Thanks for your post, allowing two believable sides to be considered.

Hi Bobby,

Declarer understandably played the S10 today, but suppose he plays low. Will East play the S7 or place his partner with (potentially) KQ86x, AQ86x(x) or similar and play the Jack anyway? Of course if East has the SA or West the DK, it doesn’t matter but this could work on occasion.

David’s post though shows the merit of a show of apparent strength, even if bluff. East surely doesn’t have KJ10xx or similar so playing the 9 will just encourage a heart continuation regardless. Exuding an aura of confidence has led to surprisingly good results although my occasional bluff redoubles in high level competition (pairs only) are not to be recommended unless playing with a very, very tolerant partner.

Regards,

Iain

PS Loved the quote today although there is a flip side. Many people who’ve made great changes or progress were originally thought to be crazy; being thought crazy doesn’t necessarily mean you’re a force for good!

Hi Iain,

Of course, if declarer decides to not play the ten of spades from dummy a trick one he will be, (to excuse this gross abuse of good bridge), better placed for making his contract. That is, if he ducks the continuation of the spade jack and then, of course, rises with the queen of hearts when, and if, East leads a low one, instead of switching to clubs instead, which will allow the defense to still prevail.

Shakespeare once wrote a play called “As You Like It”, to which my computer agrees, in 1599. Seemingly, the playing of bridge offers many versions, some of which will echo that name, but others, not so much.

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