If I had been a defender, declarer would have won the spade in hand and led a small trump.
bobbywolffJuly 28th, 2023 at 1:43 am
Hi Jim2,
When I was young, (yes, I once was), there was a rumor that there was a bridge player, still alive, whose opponents had never miss guessed a card while playing against him. Could that be true and if so, did that player give you an identifying last name which rhymed with glad? Sorry if that is true since that name became Jim2 bad.
At least those players showed some passion.
A V Ramana RaoJuly 28th, 2023 at 11:47 am
Hi Dear Mr Wolff
Also another subtle point. When declarer ruffs a diamond, east must let a spade go and carelessly must not discard a club when defense collapses.
But perhaps , coming to initial part of play , while the inference by declarer that east holds heart A is perfect, playing heart from dummy would help only if east held singleton A. If east held A doubleton, it doesn’t matter from where heart is led.
Regards
Iain ClimieJuly 28th, 2023 at 12:11 pm
Hi Jim2,
To worsen matters further, declarer would not only take that line but decide that the rule of restricted choice was relevant even though consideration of vacant spaces might suggest West probably has H length. Having said that, if you were West with J10 alone, declarer would have a Rueful Rabbit moment – even having decided to finesse, he’d have pulled the wrong card and dropped your holding!
Have a good weekend. Ever considered the lottery though? All that bad luck at bridge may be outweighed elsewhere.
Regards,
Iain
bobbywolffJuly 28th, 2023 at 2:11 pm
Message from the Lottery to Jim2,
Come right on over. We will definitely take care of you.
Jeff SerandosJuly 28th, 2023 at 3:07 pm
Hi Bobby,
I thought a promising line was to immediately play on diamonds, AK and a third. East discards a club, South makes a loser-on-loser play discarding his last spade. West does not seem to have an effective return.
A diamond allows East to discard his last club, but South trumps in and leads a heart to the Q. East takes his ace and leads back a spade trumped by South. Now, the KH and another forces East to lead another spade and South can access the fifth diamond via clubs.
On a spade, South trumps in and leads to the QH again. East can take it, but now what? A spade is trumped on the board and the heart finesse taken (by now, we have a very good idea that West only has one heart). A club is also taken on the board and the second trump trick again goes away.
A low club return should see the 10C inserted. And a high club should be taken in hand. Either way the club loser goes away.
Am I missing anything?
Best,
Jeff
bobbywolffJuly 28th, 2023 at 4:15 pm
Hi Jeff,
My initial run through tends to prove your giant effort. It appears I overlooked your initial
clear thought of establishing the winning trick with the 5th diamond in dummy. However
the column did mention a possible winning defense by switching to clubs, but against a slightly different earlier start.
Much obliged for your winning thoughts about what slightly different defense might have
accomplished, but still to no avail.
Yes, high-level bridge will offer much in the way of variety with both declarer play and best defense. Thank you for just showing us a perfect example of what would occur if a different beginning had begun.
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If I had been a defender, declarer would have won the spade in hand and led a small trump.
Hi Jim2,
When I was young, (yes, I once was), there was a rumor that there was a bridge player, still alive, whose opponents had never miss guessed a card while playing against him. Could that be true and if so, did that player give you an identifying last name which rhymed with glad? Sorry if that is true since that name became Jim2 bad.
At least those players showed some passion.
Hi Dear Mr Wolff
Also another subtle point. When declarer ruffs a diamond, east must let a spade go and carelessly must not discard a club when defense collapses.
But perhaps , coming to initial part of play , while the inference by declarer that east holds heart A is perfect, playing heart from dummy would help only if east held singleton A. If east held A doubleton, it doesn’t matter from where heart is led.
Regards
Hi Jim2,
To worsen matters further, declarer would not only take that line but decide that the rule of restricted choice was relevant even though consideration of vacant spaces might suggest West probably has H length. Having said that, if you were West with J10 alone, declarer would have a Rueful Rabbit moment – even having decided to finesse, he’d have pulled the wrong card and dropped your holding!
Have a good weekend. Ever considered the lottery though? All that bad luck at bridge may be outweighed elsewhere.
Regards,
Iain
Message from the Lottery to Jim2,
Come right on over. We will definitely take care of you.
Hi Bobby,
I thought a promising line was to immediately play on diamonds, AK and a third. East discards a club, South makes a loser-on-loser play discarding his last spade. West does not seem to have an effective return.
A diamond allows East to discard his last club, but South trumps in and leads a heart to the Q. East takes his ace and leads back a spade trumped by South. Now, the KH and another forces East to lead another spade and South can access the fifth diamond via clubs.
On a spade, South trumps in and leads to the QH again. East can take it, but now what? A spade is trumped on the board and the heart finesse taken (by now, we have a very good idea that West only has one heart). A club is also taken on the board and the second trump trick again goes away.
A low club return should see the 10C inserted. And a high club should be taken in hand. Either way the club loser goes away.
Am I missing anything?
Best,
Jeff
Hi Jeff,
My initial run through tends to prove your giant effort. It appears I overlooked your initial
clear thought of establishing the winning trick with the 5th diamond in dummy. However
the column did mention a possible winning defense by switching to clubs, but against a slightly different earlier start.
Much obliged for your winning thoughts about what slightly different defense might have
accomplished, but still to no avail.
Yes, high-level bridge will offer much in the way of variety with both declarer play and best defense. Thank you for just showing us a perfect example of what would occur if a different beginning had begun.