I have a bidding question on today’s hand. If South had passed and E-W play two over one, what should West do? Should he introduce that ratty spade suit? Is he allowed to just pass? If he does pass, what bid does North make?
It seems like in this case, South’s pre-empt made life easier for everyone!
Cheers,
Jeff
A V Ramana RaoOctober 21st, 2023 at 9:52 am
Hi Dear Mr Wolff
Perhaps I am missing something but the elaborate ruffing of clubs would have been necessary only if west held a small singleton heart but leads initial diamond. As the play went, once declarer leads heart to A and ten appears from west, declarer has a claim. He cashes diamond A, ruffs just one more club , ruffs third diamond and has ten tricks . He just loses two spades and a trump . He can play for OT by leading to spade K but makes contract anyway.
And pardon me but if west has a singleton small trump and leads it ( reference to last para) , declarer still makes the contract as he can read the lead as singleton once east follows. When declarer plays A of clubs and ruffs club with east showing out , east must have spade A for his vulnerable opening bid. Dummy cashes second high heart , south ruffs a club and throws in east with trump and the tenace position in both pointed suits assures the contract for south
Regards
bobbywolffOctober 21st, 2023 at 1:39 pm
Hi Jeff,
In the bidding question to which you ask, there are different opinions from excellent players.
Some may prefer going aggressive by the distortion of a one spade response, which, in fact, should be the only bid, if any, to be considered. However, while being vulnerable, especially against not, causes me to suggest that factor to just be too aggressive to even consider.
Finally, in answer to your further query is a simple double, planning to keep on bidding for, at the very least, a couple of rounds
bobbywolffOctober 21st, 2023 at 2:03 pm
Hi AVRR,
While I agree with you about, after West shows the heart 10 on the initial lead of a trump from declarer, that he was as good as home, as long as he continued as planned, after he won the first diamond in hand, preserving the ace for what turned out to be another key entry to dummy for the overall declarer plan.
At least to me, my reason for using this hand is to illustrate the proper planning at trick one, before leaping forward by quickly following suit. And then, of course, somewhat in distortion, leaving the ace in dummy for the proper reason. Yes, it then likely got a happy vibe from declarer when the troublesome 10 appeared on the first trump lead toward dummy, but until then, it appeared to be no cinch.
However thanks for your continual successful efforts to keep good bridge coming from its source, causing us to watch our p’s and q’s by having your wise counsel available.
jim2October 21st, 2023 at 5:14 pm
Sadly, I would have made this hand the Ms. Guggenheim way, well, until TOCM ™ switched some cards, that is.
I would have won on the Board, cashed the AH hoping to see a singleton honor appear, played KD and ruffed a diamond, the AC, ruff a club, and led out trumps.
The reasoning would have been that East was more likely to be short in hearts than West (oops!), meaning that the chance of trump elopement against East was remote.
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Hi Bobby,
I have a bidding question on today’s hand. If South had passed and E-W play two over one, what should West do? Should he introduce that ratty spade suit? Is he allowed to just pass? If he does pass, what bid does North make?
It seems like in this case, South’s pre-empt made life easier for everyone!
Cheers,
Jeff
Hi Dear Mr Wolff
Perhaps I am missing something but the elaborate ruffing of clubs would have been necessary only if west held a small singleton heart but leads initial diamond. As the play went, once declarer leads heart to A and ten appears from west, declarer has a claim. He cashes diamond A, ruffs just one more club , ruffs third diamond and has ten tricks . He just loses two spades and a trump . He can play for OT by leading to spade K but makes contract anyway.
And pardon me but if west has a singleton small trump and leads it ( reference to last para) , declarer still makes the contract as he can read the lead as singleton once east follows. When declarer plays A of clubs and ruffs club with east showing out , east must have spade A for his vulnerable opening bid. Dummy cashes second high heart , south ruffs a club and throws in east with trump and the tenace position in both pointed suits assures the contract for south
Regards
Hi Jeff,
In the bidding question to which you ask, there are different opinions from excellent players.
Some may prefer going aggressive by the distortion of a one spade response, which, in fact, should be the only bid, if any, to be considered. However, while being vulnerable, especially against not, causes me to suggest that factor to just be too aggressive to even consider.
Finally, in answer to your further query is a simple double, planning to keep on bidding for, at the very least, a couple of rounds
Hi AVRR,
While I agree with you about, after West shows the heart 10 on the initial lead of a trump from declarer, that he was as good as home, as long as he continued as planned, after he won the first diamond in hand, preserving the ace for what turned out to be another key entry to dummy for the overall declarer plan.
At least to me, my reason for using this hand is to illustrate the proper planning at trick one, before leaping forward by quickly following suit. And then, of course, somewhat in distortion, leaving the ace in dummy for the proper reason. Yes, it then likely got a happy vibe from declarer when the troublesome 10 appeared on the first trump lead toward dummy, but until then, it appeared to be no cinch.
However thanks for your continual successful efforts to keep good bridge coming from its source, causing us to watch our p’s and q’s by having your wise counsel available.
Sadly, I would have made this hand the Ms. Guggenheim way, well, until TOCM ™ switched some cards, that is.
I would have won on the Board, cashed the AH hoping to see a singleton honor appear, played KD and ruffed a diamond, the AC, ruff a club, and led out trumps.
The reasoning would have been that East was more likely to be short in hearts than West (oops!), meaning that the chance of trump elopement against East was remote.