Hi Dear Mr Wolff
But perhaps declarer at the third table was wrong in theory and practice. If he expected the suit to get blocked, he might have as well followed with J at T1. East would continue diamonds, south wins and leads clubs. East can win and but his return doesn’t matter. South lays down A of spades . Today, he makes ten tricks but even if K doesn’t appear, he can continue spades making four spades, two hearts, one diamond and two clubs as east wins spade and he can’t return diamond . If west has guarded K of spades, south doesn’t have any chance
Ironically, if diamonds are 4-3, declarer needs to pick up spade K and the percentage play of spade finesse would
lose .
Regards
Iain ClimieJuly 15th, 2024 at 1:04 pm
Hi AVRR, Bobby,
Kudos to Tom Townsend but I have some sympathy with the declarer. What if East held K9 or K10 alone (quite possible after the opening lead when the 10 (or 9) from Q109x(x) would seem obvious. Then imagine West has the CA. Now taking T1 blocks the diamonds and the CA is forced out safely; the spade safety play is still available if D are 5-2 or (as AVRR rightly says) the S finesse is there if D are 5-3. Another point is that if East had DK10x or K9x (again possible although perhaps not on the D4 as an attitude lead), playing the middle card back sets up the 8 but the small card blocks the suit.
Interesting to see attitude (Busso) leads coming back at least vs NT. I played them in the late 1970s with reasonable success. I am now feeling my age…
Regards,
Iain
Iain ClimieJuly 15th, 2024 at 1:08 pm
PS If I’d tried a small D from that holding, declarer would have had DJxx in dummy opposite A8x in hand and viewed to play small at T1 rather than the J. Still, as the cards lie, declarer can always get home even playing the J at T1 from such a holding. .
Iain ClimieJuly 16th, 2024 at 8:35 am
Tuesday is a change from Monday for the Gremlin – I’ll contact Sally when I get the chance.
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Bridge-related
Hi Dear Mr Wolff
But perhaps declarer at the third table was wrong in theory and practice. If he expected the suit to get blocked, he might have as well followed with J at T1. East would continue diamonds, south wins and leads clubs. East can win and but his return doesn’t matter. South lays down A of spades . Today, he makes ten tricks but even if K doesn’t appear, he can continue spades making four spades, two hearts, one diamond and two clubs as east wins spade and he can’t return diamond . If west has guarded K of spades, south doesn’t have any chance
Ironically, if diamonds are 4-3, declarer needs to pick up spade K and the percentage play of spade finesse would
lose .
Regards
Hi AVRR, Bobby,
Kudos to Tom Townsend but I have some sympathy with the declarer. What if East held K9 or K10 alone (quite possible after the opening lead when the 10 (or 9) from Q109x(x) would seem obvious. Then imagine West has the CA. Now taking T1 blocks the diamonds and the CA is forced out safely; the spade safety play is still available if D are 5-2 or (as AVRR rightly says) the S finesse is there if D are 5-3. Another point is that if East had DK10x or K9x (again possible although perhaps not on the D4 as an attitude lead), playing the middle card back sets up the 8 but the small card blocks the suit.
Interesting to see attitude (Busso) leads coming back at least vs NT. I played them in the late 1970s with reasonable success. I am now feeling my age…
Regards,
Iain
PS If I’d tried a small D from that holding, declarer would have had DJxx in dummy opposite A8x in hand and viewed to play small at T1 rather than the J. Still, as the cards lie, declarer can always get home even playing the J at T1 from such a holding. .
Tuesday is a change from Monday for the Gremlin – I’ll contact Sally when I get the chance.