[frank0]

MP

---

I sat N, the defense started with ♣7, my partner's 9 forced out the A. Declare led a small ♦ to dummy and knock out my A on the next round. I led back a ♦ declare cashed all ♦(partner pitch 2 small ♠, I pitch ♣). Now declare led a small♠ to K and my A, after won it I played back ♣K and ♣J. Declare crossed back to the hand and finessed ♠ to pick up that suit.

Declare now had 2♣3♦2♥3♠, 1NT+3, 28% for us.

There were many wrong plays in defense, but I cannot figure it out why it was wrong(i.e. why should I play/pitch this card instead of that) without looking at all 4 hands.

Can anyone help me analyzing the defense? Even a piece of comment is welcome.

[Cyberyeti]

1. returning the third diamond is wrong, just play ♣K and another. Establish your winner.

2. If you win the third diamond rather than the second, you get to see a discard from partner first so you know which suit he guards.

3. After 1, partner would then know to discard a club before making the fatal second spade discard. And may be able to work out what's going on (declarer playing on spades rather than hearts) when he ultimately has to make his discard on your winning club.

[JLOGIC]

You failed to appreciate your main advantage on the hand, having the tempo. You got to lead and set up your winners before declarer could set up his. By playing back the diamond, you gave up this advantage for no gain. In chess it is well known that losing a tempo is a bad idea, in bridge it is also often a bad idea, this hand being a good example of that. Before you make a play, ask yourself why you were making it. I think you wouldn't have had an answer to that question when you played the third diamond.

On the other hand, if you were going to play a club, and asked yourself why, you'd say "to establish my winners before my ace of spades is knocked out and/or before I'm squeezed and forced to make some nasty discards."

[billw55]

I am somewhat surprised that -180 got only 28%. I would think a common auction would be p-p-1♦-1NT-x, and NS are on the hook for -300 or more.

On the actual auction, perhaps west should pass the redouble, and NS are in trouble again.

[phil_20686]

suspect in that case you are overcalling too many strong NT's bill.

Best of all is to win the ace of diamonds on the second round and play a low club. This also sets up your winner, but now partner knows for sure that you have four clubs and that he can always afford a club discard or two. He knows you must have an entry out side the club suit so he can put off deciding between spades and hearts until he has seem more cards.

As north, by counting HCP you can place almost every single card. You can forsee that south will not know wests shape completely without a count of the club suit. by playing a low club you insure that south knows wests count is 3-4-4-2 on the bidding and play. Since you would have led from AK in an unbid suit he can infer that declarer holds the K of spades, and from there his defence is easy - decaler cannot hold the AK and Q of hearts if you are to have your bid. Holding it to 9 tricks will then be trivial.

Holding it to 8 tricks requires a bit more thought.

However, it is possible. In essence north needs to avoid cashing the club K and J until he has played on hearts, otherwise he risks squeezing his partner in the majors. You can forsee this, but its a much more difficult problem than holding it to 9 tricks. For example, suppose north, instead of playing a low club, cashed K club and played a low club, then declarer could try a low heart to the 9. If north cashes his final club now he exposes his partner to a squeeze. If you cannot see this, practice by drawing the hand diagram on some paper and crossing out cards. Eventually, with practice, you will be able to do this in your head.

[mfa1010]

As it is pointed out it is much better just to establish the long club in with ♦A.
Failing to do that it is important to keep counting and visualizing the shapes.
At the time declarer plays spade to the king, partner has now shown T-9-x, so it is clear how the distribution is.
Declarer is marked with 3-4-4-2. North should duck twice in spades, win the third, cash ♣K and exit hearts. It is then still possible to hold it to 8 tricks, if north unblocks ♥Q. If declarer plays club up himself after the first spade he will get 9, though.