Hi Dear Mr Wolff
Paradoxically, east can return a club after cashing second high heart. West of course would not cover, South has to commit of cashing both high clubs else second club winner dies of atrophy. Now whether south finesses or plays trumps top down, west is least inconvenienced. But who would find that defense
Regards
bobbywolffJuly 14th, 2023 at 2:16 pm
Hi AVRR,
The good news is that only Jim2 found the incredibly great club shift from East at trick two, symbolizing his sensational aptitude and individual ability to stand out from all others, regardless of the Herculean effort so required. That club switch will now go down in bridge history as likely being the greatest single defensive play ever made, particularly during a major tournament leading up to a World Championship
Unfortunately, his partner held s. 2, h. J73, d. AJ102, c. QJ864. No doubt if East would have instead switched to his 5 of spades, Jim2 would have let it ride to dummy.
Unfortunately for him the South hand turned out to be: s. AKQJ10983 h. 64, d.82,
bobbywolffJuly 14th, 2023 at 2:26 pm
Hi Everyone,
Well I have to share the blame, since I left out South also having the 7 of diamonds and, of course a club void.
Jim 2, welcome to my senility.
jim2July 14th, 2023 at 2:29 pm
Our senility has its advantages. We’re always meeting new friends! 🙂
A V Ramana RaoJuly 14th, 2023 at 2:30 pm
Hi Dear Mr Wolff
I just posted on yesterday’s column. Request you and David, Jim2 and Bob Lipton also to see it
Regards
A V Ramana RaoJuly 14th, 2023 at 2:34 pm
& regarding selinity , OMG, looks like I spelled it wrong. Looks like I am going senile
Regards
David SJuly 14th, 2023 at 6:10 pm
Can South prevail here on a squeeze play?
Once South is on lead after trumping West’s 3rd heart (the 4th trick), South needs to first draw the 2 outstanding hearts, then run off all the remaining trump in hand.
This puts West in a bad place. West has to protect in both diamonds and clubs and declarer needs to keep track of what West discards on the last three trump tricks.
West must protect the club queen by holding onto 3 clubs, so is forced to discard two diamonds, baring the jack. This then allows declarer to play up to dummy in clubs, play the club king for a trick and reduce all hands to two cards, with West holding a single diamond jack and single club queen.
At this point declarer plays the diamond queen from the dummy, with East’s king covering and West’s jack falling. Declarer can now safely play the diamond 10 from hand for the 10 trick.
Does that work?
(Wonderful hand, by the way)
Jeff SerandosJuly 14th, 2023 at 8:27 pm
The club lead by West to defeat the contract is very intriguing. It seems to rely on East having two clubs, but upon further inspection, even if East has all three missing clubs – the club lead still weirdly defeats the contract even though you are granting South access to his otherwise stranded club tricks (assuming, of course, that your partner has the missing KD).
And since West can see that South can always prevail if he has two or three clubs, the play becomes the best hope of defeating the contract and doesn’t seem to ever give away the contract. All that said, I can understand the heart lead which looks like it gives nothing away if you don’t understand that the diamond position leaves your JD as the sentinel in the only layout that matters (ie, East has KD and South the ace).
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Hi Dear Mr Wolff
Paradoxically, east can return a club after cashing second high heart. West of course would not cover, South has to commit of cashing both high clubs else second club winner dies of atrophy. Now whether south finesses or plays trumps top down, west is least inconvenienced. But who would find that defense
Regards
Hi AVRR,
The good news is that only Jim2 found the incredibly great club shift from East at trick two, symbolizing his sensational aptitude and individual ability to stand out from all others, regardless of the Herculean effort so required. That club switch will now go down in bridge history as likely being the greatest single defensive play ever made, particularly during a major tournament leading up to a World Championship
Unfortunately, his partner held s. 2, h. J73, d. AJ102, c. QJ864. No doubt if East would have instead switched to his 5 of spades, Jim2 would have let it ride to dummy.
Unfortunately for him the South hand turned out to be: s. AKQJ10983 h. 64, d.82,
Hi Everyone,
Well I have to share the blame, since I left out South also having the 7 of diamonds and, of course a club void.
Jim 2, welcome to my senility.
Our senility has its advantages. We’re always meeting new friends! 🙂
Hi Dear Mr Wolff
I just posted on yesterday’s column. Request you and David, Jim2 and Bob Lipton also to see it
Regards
& regarding selinity , OMG, looks like I spelled it wrong. Looks like I am going senile
Regards
Can South prevail here on a squeeze play?
Once South is on lead after trumping West’s 3rd heart (the 4th trick), South needs to first draw the 2 outstanding hearts, then run off all the remaining trump in hand.
This puts West in a bad place. West has to protect in both diamonds and clubs and declarer needs to keep track of what West discards on the last three trump tricks.
West must protect the club queen by holding onto 3 clubs, so is forced to discard two diamonds, baring the jack. This then allows declarer to play up to dummy in clubs, play the club king for a trick and reduce all hands to two cards, with West holding a single diamond jack and single club queen.
At this point declarer plays the diamond queen from the dummy, with East’s king covering and West’s jack falling. Declarer can now safely play the diamond 10 from hand for the 10 trick.
Does that work?
(Wonderful hand, by the way)
The club lead by West to defeat the contract is very intriguing. It seems to rely on East having two clubs, but upon further inspection, even if East has all three missing clubs – the club lead still weirdly defeats the contract even though you are granting South access to his otherwise stranded club tricks (assuming, of course, that your partner has the missing KD).
And since West can see that South can always prevail if he has two or three clubs, the play becomes the best hope of defeating the contract and doesn’t seem to ever give away the contract. All that said, I can understand the heart lead which looks like it gives nothing away if you don’t understand that the diamond position leaves your JD as the sentinel in the only layout that matters (ie, East has KD and South the ace).