Dealer: S Vul: Both | North ♠ AKQx ♥ xx ♦ Q8xx ♣ ATx | |
South ♠ x ♥ AQJx ♦ AJx ♣ J9xxx |
South | West | North | East |
1♣ | Pass | 1♠ | Pass |
1NT | Pass | 3NT | Pass |
Pass | Pass | ||
First off, this is an interesting bidding problem. There are major flaws with any way you choose to bid the south hand. I think opening 1♣ and rebidding 1NT is best lie, but I really wanted to open 1♥. I wish I was playing canape as this hand would be great for a 1♥ opening. In 3NT, west led his 4th best heart (which was the 6 and the 5 was still unseen) to east's 10 and my Q. How would you play from here?
Not wanting another heart lead through my tenace so soon, I opted to cross to the ♠A and take a losing diamond finesse. In retrospect I think leading a club to the 10 is right because that's the suit is reasonably likely to produce 4 tricks via a double finesse and even if both club honors are off, east may not have a third heart. West thought for awhile after winning the ♦K, guessed well not to play his partner for the ♥J and led a low spade. I won this, crossed to my ♦A, and now played a club to the 10. This lost to the Q and east led a heart to the T and dummy's Q.
The fact that east did not return a heart implies that he has a 4th spade and another entry, presumably the ♣K. I cashed the ♦Q with everyone following. I cash the long diamond, seeing 2 heart discards from the opponents (both higher than the opening 6 so it is still not clear whether the opening lead was from 4 or 5) Now I have 9 tricks - 3 spades, 2 hearts, 3 diamonds, and 1 club. How might get a 10th? Or better yet how can I turn that into 8 tricks?
With 7 tricks in the bag, I am left with ♠x ♥3 ♦- ♣AT in dummy and ♠- ♥AJ2 ♦- ♣x in my hand. At this point I am convinced that east has the protected ♣K left so finessing the club again or trying to drop the club K is out. If clubs are coming in for one loser, I've already lost ground to the field by not attacking clubs earlier so I kind of have to play for both clubs to be offside now.
If west started with ♠Jxxx ♥Kxxx ♦Kxx ♣xx, I can endplay him by cashing the club and playing the last spade.
If west started with ♠xxx ♥Kxxxx ♦Kxx ♣xx, I can endplay him by cashing the club and ducking a heart.
If west started with ♠Jxxx ♥Kxxxx ♦Kxx ♣x, I can endplay him by throwing him in with a spade, and whether or not I cash the club first doesn't matter.
If west's original hand was something else (3 or more clubs), which I've decided is highly unlikely, I can surely make 4 by either finessing or dropping KQ tight with east.
I opted for the first line, playing west for 4-4-3-2 distribution. When I led the spade, east claimed the last 3 tricks with 2 spades and the ♣K for down 1. West actually had hand #2 so cashing the ace and ducking a heart would have gotten me most of the matchpoints for making 4.
Note that only line #3 is safe - no possible distribution can result in being set. The worst case scenario for exiting dummy with a spade before cashing the club is that east takes 2 spades and then you have 2 aces for the last 2 tricks. Line 2 risks going down when east has a heart high enough to hold the trick and 2 more spades.
I kibitzed this hand, and it occurred to me at the moment that Andre could have played the hand better. Frankly, it would never have occurred to me to go after diamonds. I started with 2 diamond tricks, and finessing the jack doesn't make the 2 any bigger. So really am looking at the odds of 3-3 v.s 1 club honor onside. I think the latter is better odds, so I'd have finessed the club ten at trick 2.
ReplyDeleteAssuming opponent returns heart (most normal people do), declarer (Andre) can take the Ace, repeat the club finesse losing...by now Andre's lost 2 tricks, but the clubs are up. Defender does best to switch to diamond. Since the clubs are blocked, it doesn't gain to go up, so finesse and then lose KH...making 3 NT=seems normal to me. So I get Ave- (Drop 0.5 MP because someone didn't take the above 4 tricks) while Andre got a 0. Am not convinced that finessing diamond is a more reasonable line than mine, even if one were playing long odds.
All the same, 1st place with a Miami Endplay thrown in the mix isn't all that bad.
yeah. going after clubs earlier is definitely better, unless you think lho might play his partner for the jack of hearts which for some reason I thought he would. But once I took this anti-field line, I felt compelled to go for an endplay and a top (or an average, if Hx or Hxx of clubs was onside). There was no right endplay but this was the wrong one.
ReplyDeleteIn principle, I agree with the idea of trying for an endplay to catch up with the field on the lost opportunity in clubs. In these situations, I tend to make a judgment call on how likely it is that West erred....Jxxx (the hand you played West for) also requires West to have erred....West was astute enough to not continue heart, West ought to be capable enough to take one of THREE opportunities to unblock...so you're looking at JT98 (unblockable) with West OR an error...based on available evidence, West isn't prone to this kind of error, so maybe that's reason to play for hand 2 and duck a heart. That would have been glorious (certainly would have impressed me, because once I saw you NOT attack club first, I thought you had lost your way on the hand).
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