[Phil]

Would appreciate a quick opinion on this one:

---

North plays in 3N

1. ♥5, K, 4, 6
2. ♦3, J, A, Q
3....

At this point declarer lays his hand down and claim saying - I have the rest. EW say, how?

He says, I'll ruff whatever....

Declarer thought the contract was diamonds, not notrump.

(Help!)

How would you rule?

[kenrexford]

Well, I'd force North to play the reasonable line of clearing the second top hearts, then top spade, top spade, spade ruff, losing. This would have clued him in. At this point, the defense will have three spade tricks in the bag. A club switch will then create a fourth trick easily. I would have East win the third spade to lead the club, which forces Declarer to duck to avoid two club losers. Then, I'd have West lead a heart after winning his last spade.

This reduces North to seven tricks before setting up diamond tricks by losing a diamond. So, E-W take three spades, a club, a diamond, and a heart. Down two.

[blackshoe]

Well, he clearly doesn't have the rest. How did the bidding go?

[Phil]

blackshoe, on May 7 2010, 03:24 PM, said:

Well, he clearly doesn't have the rest. How did the bidding go?

East was dealer and EW were silent



Edited:

1♦ - 2♦ - 3♦ - 3N

Couldn't believe it myself, considering North has about 8,000 MPs.

This post has been edited by Phil: 2010-May-07, 14:39

[blackshoe]

kenrexford, on May 7 2010, 04:19 PM, said:

Well, I'd force North to play…

That's not how it works. TD, in adjudicating the claim, must adhere, as much as possible, to the stated line of play. That said, down two on the line stated is certainly reasonable.

The reason I asked about the bidding is that it may (or may not) provide some clues as to how the defense should go, which may (or may not) affect how many tricks the defense get.

[Phil]

kenrexford, on May 7 2010, 03:19 PM, said:

Well, I'd force North to play the reasonable line of clearing the second top hearts, then top spade, top spade, spade ruff, losing. This would have clued him in. At this point, the defense will have three spade tricks in the bag. A club switch will then create a fourth trick easily. I would have East win the third spade to lead the club, which forces Declarer to duck to avoid two club losers. Then, I'd have West lead a heart after winning his last spade.

This reduces North to seven tricks before setting up diamond tricks by losing a diamond. So, E-W take three spades, a club, a diamond, and a heart. Down two.

Are you allowing EW to unblock the spades? Apparently so.

This appears DD to me.

[jdonn]

Phil, on May 7 2010, 03:29 PM, said:

kenrexford, on May 7 2010, 03:19 PM, said:

Well, I'd force North to play the reasonable line of clearing the second top hearts, then top spade, top spade, spade ruff, losing.  This would have clued him in.  At this point, the defense will have three spade tricks in the bag.  A club switch will then create a fourth trick easily.  I would have East win the third spade to lead the club, which forces Declarer to duck to avoid two club losers.  Then, I'd have West lead a heart after winning his last spade.

This reduces North to seven tricks before setting up diamond tricks by losing a diamond.  So, E-W take three spades, a club, a diamond, and a heart.  Down two.

Are you allowing EW to unblock the spades? Apparently so.

This appears DD to me.

No he isn't?

Phil pleeeeeeeeeeease make south declarer ty.

[Phil]

How can EW take three spade tricks if E doesn't unblock from QJ9? Sorry, went off the hand record and should have switched South to declarer.

I'm inclined to say, after East wins the diamond and plays a 2nd heart:

A♠, ♠K to hand, ♥Q, "ruff" the spade.

East cashes one spade and two hearts along with the ♦ already taken - making 3

[jdonn]

Oh his analysis might be wrong I don't even want to try to figure it out, I'm just saying it didn't include anyone unblocking the spades.

[barmar]

Why do they need to unblock spades? West has a club entry.

[kenrexford]

This is the brain teaser? The spades blocking?!?!?

What precisely is Declarer supposed to do when East wins the third spade and plays a club?

In fact, this is the superior line, anyway. If East unblocks, WEST has to break clubs, and 3NT is only down one. When EAST wins the third spade, the club switch forces Declarer to duck and pray that a heart does not come back.

For those paying attention, however, the real problem with my analysis is that WEST lacks a third heart to return. Hence, DOWN ONE is the best result. A club, a diamond, and three spades.

I mean, technically North could clear the hearts and the spades and THEN trump a spade, at which point EAST could cash the heart Jack and another heart and then clead a club, which royally screws North, who ends up with one diamond, three hearts, two spades, and a club, for seven tricks that way. But, that may be asking too much.

[Phil]

barmar, on May 7 2010, 05:38 PM, said:

Why do they need to unblock spades? West has a club entry.

A slow club entry. After East cashes two hearts and a spade, declarer is down to winners. I think its a bit much to make declarer releases the AC, the AK of spades and the AKQ of hearts.

[jdonn]

Phil, on May 7 2010, 06:40 PM, said:

barmar, on May 7 2010, 05:38 PM, said:

Why do they need to unblock spades? West has a club entry.

A slow club entry. After East cashes two hearts and a spade, declarer is down to winners. I think its a bit much to make declarer releases the AC, the AK of spades and the AKQ of hearts.

I don't think it's a bit much at all. Of course he might play off all the high cards before starting to crossruff if the contract is diamonds. What's so harsh about that?

[nige1]

Phil, on May 7 2010, 02:57 PM, said:

Would appreciate a quick opinion on this one:

North plays in 3N
1. ♥5, K, 4, 6
2. ♦3, J, A, Q
3....
At this point declarer lays his hand down and claim saying - I have the rest. EW say, how?
He says, I'll ruff whatever.... Declarer thought the contract was diamonds, not notrump.
(Help!) How would you rule?

---

With ♦ trump. declarer's claim still seems invalid. In 3N, if declarer cashes ♥K, ♦A, ♥A, ♣A, ♠AK, ♥Q, ♠ "ruff"... Opponents make the last six tricks easily.

[bixby]

I agree. Declarer is completely out to lunch -- even if the contract were in diamonds, he doesn't have the rest because he has to lose the ♦K.

So declarer doesn't know what the contract is and doesn't know what the result would be even if the contract were what he thought. Obviously he has had a major lapse of attention and is not in a good position to complain about what line of play he might adopt.

Cashing the high winners and then cross-ruffing is reasonable and leads to down two, as others have stated. Declarer is lucky to have the ♣JT, otherwise I think there's a case for down three (if declarer cashes the ♣A and tries to "ruff" a club in hand after clearing the spades but before cashing the ♥Q).

Not knowing what the contract is always works out for the Rueful Rabbit, but in real life, if you don't know what the contract is, you should expect to suffer the consequences

[Phil]

Sorry, its clear that I didn't mention one thing. As declarer was claiming, he placed a diamond on the table which indicated conceding a trick to the KD.

[RMB1]

Now at least we understand the claim.

A normal line appears to be 3. DK, 4. HA, 5. SA, 6. SK, 7. HQ (throwing C8), 8. CA, 9. CJ intending to cross-ruff the rest. The defence now have only winners, together with DK. 3NT -2.