Hello Bobby
I added a question to the Sunday column.
Iain ClimieJune 13th, 2023 at 8:00 am
Hi Bobby,
Brilliant stuff although helped by East having no heart intermediates. East should get things right holding HQ9x(x) at T1 but there is always a danger of autopilot (even at high levels) especially if declarer calls for a low heart from dummy quickly.
Regards,
Iain
jim2June 13th, 2023 at 1:27 pm
The last sentence of the text interested me.
Suppose West makes a non-heart lead.
Say, South draws trump, ruffs the fourth club, returns to had with KD, and cashes the last trump – thus has won the first 9 tricks.
What are West’s last four cards?
Iain ClimieJune 13th, 2023 at 1:40 pm
Hi Jim2,
As the cards lie, West is nicely squeezed but, if you tried that line, he’d have started with 5 Clubs and the HA and come down to 2 winners after the last trump. Needless to say an attempted guess in H falls foul of Bridge’s answer to Voldermort in the Harry Potter books….
Good spot, though, and my sympathies as ever!
Regards,
Iain
Iain ClimieJune 13th, 2023 at 3:31 pm
HI again,
OK, TBF, when C aren’t 4-4 you know not to try that last trump and fall back on the doomed guess. An old partner of mine once tossed a coin in a KJ guess (after apologising to the oppo) and it worked; ever resorted to that?
Regards,
Iain
bobbywolffJune 13th, 2023 at 3:34 pm
Hi Iain & Jim2,
I definitely enjoyed you two’s parry and thrust. Since I am not in possession of Harry Potter’s books, I can only imagine Volvemort’s bridge answer.
Perhaps it is time for me to give an opinion as to what and how I could spot a talent which might differentiate one top player from another and that is (drum roll) no doubt, the one who has a greater lifetime record of guessing these situations to a higher percentage is palpably the (much) better winner and thus ……..
bobbywolffJune 13th, 2023 at 3:42 pm
Hi Iain,
No, I have not been present on a coin toss to decide which finesse or such, but have heard of one of the best players ever on earth, once to agree to do just that and supposedly got lucky in how the coin landed, but then it was found out to be “called heads” by him with both sides of the defective coin (you both guessed it), “heads”.
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Bridge-related
Hello Bobby
I added a question to the Sunday column.
Hi Bobby,
Brilliant stuff although helped by East having no heart intermediates. East should get things right holding HQ9x(x) at T1 but there is always a danger of autopilot (even at high levels) especially if declarer calls for a low heart from dummy quickly.
Regards,
Iain
The last sentence of the text interested me.
Suppose West makes a non-heart lead.
Say, South draws trump, ruffs the fourth club, returns to had with KD, and cashes the last trump – thus has won the first 9 tricks.
What are West’s last four cards?
Hi Jim2,
As the cards lie, West is nicely squeezed but, if you tried that line, he’d have started with 5 Clubs and the HA and come down to 2 winners after the last trump. Needless to say an attempted guess in H falls foul of Bridge’s answer to Voldermort in the Harry Potter books….
Good spot, though, and my sympathies as ever!
Regards,
Iain
HI again,
OK, TBF, when C aren’t 4-4 you know not to try that last trump and fall back on the doomed guess. An old partner of mine once tossed a coin in a KJ guess (after apologising to the oppo) and it worked; ever resorted to that?
Regards,
Iain
Hi Iain & Jim2,
I definitely enjoyed you two’s parry and thrust. Since I am not in possession of Harry Potter’s books, I can only imagine Volvemort’s bridge answer.
Perhaps it is time for me to give an opinion as to what and how I could spot a talent which might differentiate one top player from another and that is (drum roll) no doubt, the one who has a greater lifetime record of guessing these situations to a higher percentage is palpably the (much) better winner and thus ……..
Hi Iain,
No, I have not been present on a coin toss to decide which finesse or such, but have heard of one of the best players ever on earth, once to agree to do just that and supposedly got lucky in how the coin landed, but then it was found out to be “called heads” by him with both sides of the defective coin (you both guessed it), “heads”.