Hi Dear Mr.Wolff
Declarer played well. But I request you to reflect whether east would be justified to raise diamonds in vulnerable position with just three points. Actually east could have put south to test by leading a diamond when in with Heart K. Now south is forced to ruff and loses a vital tempo. Even if he decides west has four spades, the squeeze on west does not operate for as south will be in dummy when he finds about the bad break in hearts and will be in dummy when he cashes the hearts. My point is South would have gone down if west unexpectedly turned up with four spades ( But he would succeed as the cards lay)and If south trusts that west will not make overcalls even with a six card suit in vulnerable position with less than seven points, he had a certain winning line. Simply play west for Q of spades. So whether east returns a diamond or a heart it does not matter. If it is a heart, win in dummy, ruff a diamond, take spade finesse , cash K of spades and come to hand with another diamond ruff and discard dummy’s losing heart on A of spades. And if east returns a diamond, south ruffs and takes spade finesse.
But again , It is a matter of Judgment
Regards
AVRR

That capital j… surely a Freudian slip…

At last year’s Slush Cup, I sat East and, though pard did insert a one diamond overcall, had to sit through some sort of auction like the one in the text. When it finally subsided, N-S were at six clubs, though I doubt either of them knew how they got there.

Declarer could never have pulled off a squeeze even if handed a tube of toothpaste.

Instead, he reasoned that pard’s simple overcall meant he had one or both high cards above a jack outside his suit. Hence, he simply drew trump and took both major suit finesses. Sometimes bridge is an easy game.

Hi AVRR, Michael, & Jim2,

Since AVRR took time to give a reasonably complete analysis concluding with Judgement with both a capital J and an alternate middle e to which Michael likely and correctly alluded to as Freudian (that in itself is judgmental but, no doubt, likely, right on) and Jim2 then and again giving a plug for his favorite bridge tournament, the Slush Cup, we are now on the way to discuss what should be the winning guess, not only on this hand, but what should be the more important considerations on similar layouts.

From a learning view, (to me and by many lengths the more important) not from the above three who responded, who have all earned their spurs right here in River City, but to the unwashed anonymous others who possibly and hopefully check in with this site, but stealthily remain silent.

All aspiring players need to do three chores on every bridge hand that they will participate in, while declaring or defending (dummy getting a pass) and those three are (drum roll): Counting, counting, and more counting.

Then, that having been done, rather than fret about where a stray queen may be located, think instead, if possible, to what this particular partnership or sometimes only individual players are likely to do, e.g. many younger and modern day players will almost always, particularly at low levels raise (single or jump), with 4 trumps (here East in diamonds) and when he or she did not, was there a tempo break (even a slight hitch) or rather instead a simple pass without the slightest fanfare?

Therefore, whether West would have overcalled diamonds with or without the queen of spades is difficult to determine, but while being vulnerable the safety of a six card suit, at least to a vast majority, will rule the judgment day.

Being able to zero in on what to determine is not a born talent, only one developed by experience, but unless the opponents are brand new to the game, in which case, almost all would never consider bidding vulnerable with only 5 or 7 hcps and therefore (at least on this hand) subject the declarer to a lesser degree of evidence, ironically making the hand harder to make, unless a clever declarer can “feel” which holding is more likely.

Caution: The above advice is far from foolproof, but as Damon Runyon, a well known American poet and sports fan once said, “That is the way to bet”.

Thanks to all three of you for reading this far, even if it was only just skimming. And, yes bridge can be an easy game, but in order to feel good enough to say so, will usually rest solely on one’s results.

I argue not, but do want to point out that the Slush Cup declarer would go down only if the overcaller lacked not “a stray queen” but BOTH the QS AND the KH, along with West not raising with BOTH of those same cards.

HI Folks,

What happens if West judges to lead his heart instead of the DK? I suspect South has to rely on the spade finesse and it is his lucky day. Suppose though that he wins HA, draws trumps and plays a heart which East ducks (winning the K and playing a heart back might also be OK). Now what on a single-dummy basis?

Regards,

Iain

True enough about what Runyon once said. On another occasion, he wrote “Son, some day a man is going to offer to bet you that he can make the Jack of Spades jump out of a deck of cards and squirt cider in your ear. Don’t take your bet, for son, if you do, you’ll wind up with an earful of cider.”

Although I don’t think it was cider he was writing about.

Bob

Hi Jim2 (friend of Lena),

Yes, I am guilty of overlooking the mention of the king of hearts in the determination of whether or not to take the simple spade finesse or not.

However, instead of possessing the queen of spades, I suppose if West held s. void, h. x, d. KQJ1098765432, c. void she still might be reluctant to overcall in diamonds. Surely most middling+ players, certainly including Carol Channing, would find a way to, at the very least, show off her best friend(s).

Hi Iain,

I think that eventuality would force declarer to take the winning spade finesse, leaving the defense frustrated by what appears to be an on the surface, more effective, opening lead forcing declarer to rely on a less effective, but successful percentage attempt at scoring up the contract.

However, some declarers may opt to take the immediate losing option of a heart finesse at trick one rather than to fall for what declarer may think is a very sneaky LHO trying to upset the apple cart or should I say giving declarer a “heart attack”.

Hi Bob,

No, probably not, but I think that line was also used in the great long ago play, (very few now reading were born yet), “Guys and Dolls”.

However, at least to me, bridge is a game which often puts that advice to good use.