Should West reason that with DQJ10xx South will probably lead the DQ here tryin g to induce a cover. TBF, West can certainly place South with all the outstanding high cards so I have some sympathy with not covering – he was unfortunate not to have the D10 when life is much easier.
Regards,
Iain
bobbywolffJune 10th, 2023 at 1:49 pm
Hi Iain,
Yes, life is easier, but not necessarily defensively safer.
While defending (to my view, almost always more difficult because of not viewing all of their combined assets), it is next to impossible for a key defender (the one who will be more challenged with his discards and likely, the order of them) to be able to not only defend perfectly, but, while doing so, not help declarer with telltale hesitations as the play progresses. A defender may announce at the table that he wants to think about the whole hand, when and if he feels right to so such a thing, always with the caveat of the defenders and later the TD who might be called, agreeing later with the players involved, that the defender who called, had at least a decent legal reason for the call. IOW, not a hand totally full of deuces, or the equivalent. Finally my experience is liberal enough to give that defender the benefit of the doubt and even though he is helping his partner who may be the one subject to the correct order of discards, I do not feel that to do otherwise is then fair to the defense who is now suffering from an unequal handicap.
Other experienced players may disagree, but, at least to me, that problem will never go away, unless adequate time is spent on, at the very least, of trying to justifiably solve it.
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Hi Bobby,
Should West reason that with DQJ10xx South will probably lead the DQ here tryin g to induce a cover. TBF, West can certainly place South with all the outstanding high cards so I have some sympathy with not covering – he was unfortunate not to have the D10 when life is much easier.
Regards,
Iain
Hi Iain,
Yes, life is easier, but not necessarily defensively safer.
While defending (to my view, almost always more difficult because of not viewing all of their combined assets), it is next to impossible for a key defender (the one who will be more challenged with his discards and likely, the order of them) to be able to not only defend perfectly, but, while doing so, not help declarer with telltale hesitations as the play progresses. A defender may announce at the table that he wants to think about the whole hand, when and if he feels right to so such a thing, always with the caveat of the defenders and later the TD who might be called, agreeing later with the players involved, that the defender who called, had at least a decent legal reason for the call. IOW, not a hand totally full of deuces, or the equivalent. Finally my experience is liberal enough to give that defender the benefit of the doubt and even though he is helping his partner who may be the one subject to the correct order of discards, I do not feel that to do otherwise is then fair to the defense who is now suffering from an unequal handicap.
Other experienced players may disagree, but, at least to me, that problem will never go away, unless adequate time is spent on, at the very least, of trying to justifiably solve it.