If West plays a diamond at T2 instead of setting up the H winner in dummy, what happens then? I suspect South will struggle even double dummy. Presumably South leads the HQ at T3 and ruffs out East’s King, cashes CAK but a diamond now is just ruffed and West exits with a round suit. The CQ and H10 can be taken now, and a spade ducked but are we reverting tom the column line now? I’m not 100% convinced.
Regards,
Iain
Iain ClimieJune 27th, 2024 at 10:01 am
Or West could be clever enough to lead a small H at T1 and then East returns a heart so declarer never gets the heart trick. Terence Reese made a fair point in “Practical Bidding and Practical Play” when discussing doubles, saying something on the followign lines:
The fortunes of my team have been jeopardised on numerous occasions by ill-judged doubles, sometimes with the excuse “The double was OK; if I’d led a heart and partner had then returned a diamond away from his Ace….”. Idiotic remark. If the double needed a difficult defence then it was not OK.
Skid Simon’s comment on mathematical ignorance also applies, although that was doubling a suit slam with 2 Aces at rubber bridge (or IMPs tbf). Here the possible extra penalty was outweighed by handing declarer a blueprint of the trump layout.
Iain
bobbywolffJune 27th, 2024 at 2:41 pm
Hi Iain,
You’ve proven your worth to technical bridge play, therefore your singing forth needs to glean, along with ,several cherished others, who only add their numerical talents and, then, of course, the high level bridge talk worth both listening to and/or reporting on.
As with the sport of baseball, predominate in the USA, (together with Asia) when the term,
“Intentional talk” has become a word phrase, often used to mimic the selling game, together
with reminding all interested parties that sports popularity everywhere is growing by bounds
and leaps, signifying the glamour of various terms and platforms which could, should, be a
rallying point with the world, about our spectacular game, but sometimes goes relatively unnoticed.
There I said it, but it is high time, more of us do, otherwise, in the many years to come, we
all would love to see our near perfect enterprise get the plaudits it so richly deserves.
David SnookJune 27th, 2024 at 11:02 pm
What a fascinating hand!
Here’s what I think might work.
After West takes the first trick with the heart ace and plays a second heart, which I trump in hand, I now have the remaining high heart which will be good for a trick once I’m in dummy.
I then play my club honors for two more tricks and lead up to dummy’s diamond ace for my fourth trick, play dummy’s club queen for my fifth trick, shedding a diamond from my hand.
Dummy’s third (now high) heart is good for my sixth trick, on which I toss another diamond. At this point, I play dummy’s second diamond honor, which West trumps.
To get off the lead, West plays their last heart, which I trump in dummy, tossing another diamond. for my 7th trick. I can now play a trump from dummy, forcing West to take it and with my three remaining trump including the ace and king in hand, West is end played.
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Hi Bobby,
If West plays a diamond at T2 instead of setting up the H winner in dummy, what happens then? I suspect South will struggle even double dummy. Presumably South leads the HQ at T3 and ruffs out East’s King, cashes CAK but a diamond now is just ruffed and West exits with a round suit. The CQ and H10 can be taken now, and a spade ducked but are we reverting tom the column line now? I’m not 100% convinced.
Regards,
Iain
Or West could be clever enough to lead a small H at T1 and then East returns a heart so declarer never gets the heart trick. Terence Reese made a fair point in “Practical Bidding and Practical Play” when discussing doubles, saying something on the followign lines:
The fortunes of my team have been jeopardised on numerous occasions by ill-judged doubles, sometimes with the excuse “The double was OK; if I’d led a heart and partner had then returned a diamond away from his Ace….”. Idiotic remark. If the double needed a difficult defence then it was not OK.
Skid Simon’s comment on mathematical ignorance also applies, although that was doubling a suit slam with 2 Aces at rubber bridge (or IMPs tbf). Here the possible extra penalty was outweighed by handing declarer a blueprint of the trump layout.
Iain
Hi Iain,
You’ve proven your worth to technical bridge play, therefore your singing forth needs to glean, along with ,several cherished others, who only add their numerical talents and, then, of course, the high level bridge talk worth both listening to and/or reporting on.
As with the sport of baseball, predominate in the USA, (together with Asia) when the term,
“Intentional talk” has become a word phrase, often used to mimic the selling game, together
with reminding all interested parties that sports popularity everywhere is growing by bounds
and leaps, signifying the glamour of various terms and platforms which could, should, be a
rallying point with the world, about our spectacular game, but sometimes goes relatively unnoticed.
There I said it, but it is high time, more of us do, otherwise, in the many years to come, we
all would love to see our near perfect enterprise get the plaudits it so richly deserves.
What a fascinating hand!
Here’s what I think might work.
After West takes the first trick with the heart ace and plays a second heart, which I trump in hand, I now have the remaining high heart which will be good for a trick once I’m in dummy.
I then play my club honors for two more tricks and lead up to dummy’s diamond ace for my fourth trick, play dummy’s club queen for my fifth trick, shedding a diamond from my hand.
Dummy’s third (now high) heart is good for my sixth trick, on which I toss another diamond. At this point, I play dummy’s second diamond honor, which West trumps.
To get off the lead, West plays their last heart, which I trump in dummy, tossing another diamond. for my 7th trick. I can now play a trump from dummy, forcing West to take it and with my three remaining trump including the ace and king in hand, West is end played.
That works, does it not?