[phil_20686]

So here is one deal that I got wrong vs Jon Cooke and J Allerton,

---

(Irrelevant) spots are approximate.

The five of diamonds (third and fifth) was led to the diamond ace, a low hear was returned, I rose witht he K and played the heart 9 back to the Q with RHO. Now the ten of spades covered with the J and Q, so you win with the ace, ruff a heart high and play three rounds of trumps ending in dummy. Lho discards the two lowest spade pips.

The position now is

---

How will you play?

[dkham]

I've lost two tricks so far. Could finesse diamonds or spades now, or play for spade nine to drop.

They way they're bidding with only eight diamonds and not many points must have some shape. Think LHO is 5-4-3-1, RHO 1-4-5-3.

If so LHO could now be down to

♠ 9xx
♥
♦ Kx
♣

in which case he's in trouble if I play trumps, either he gives up spade guard or goes down to bare diamond King and can be endplayed.

Even if that's not quite right makes sense to play more trumps before playing spades.

[hrothgar]

Somewhat curious why you bid 4♣

Seems a bit aggressive, especially if partner turns out to have hearts

[phil_20686]

hrothgar, on 2012-May-09, 05:17, said:

Somewhat curious why you bid 4♣

Seems a bit aggressive, especially if partner turns out to have hearts

We were behind?

I was reasonably happy to play in 4H if partner has an invitational hand with hearts, but that seems difficult to square with the bidding. I thought the opponents were clear to have nine diamonds, and with 3514 or similar partner can also double and then bid 3H (which is invitational in our style). It just seemed extremely likely partner had long clubs. A risk worth taking for a partscore swing when behind imo.

EDIT: When partner was planning to show an invitational hand with hearts, then he will be expecting some diamond wastage given he (probably) has one diamond and so will have a little extra in HCP probably. Feels like I have a nice hand to play in hearts opposite that, with tenaces over opener. At least that was how I was thinking at the table.

[gnasher]

I'd play for the strip squeeze against LHO, which means playing for them to be 5431-1453. Before committing to this, I'd ask RHO how many diamonds he expects his partner to have for the 2♦ bid.

[c_corgi]

There is something a bit peculiar about RHO's sequence of plays. He has not switched to his (presumed) singleton spade at trick 2, but has done so later in preference to playing a diamond through. The former suggests that he has enough high cards to believe partner hasn't got a trump entry and the latter that he doesnt think declarer has a finessable diamond holding. It also seems easier to construct 3D rebids with the AK of diamonds. I suspect RHO has played a sneaky Ace from AK on the first round. I will go with a diamond towards the queen, but would expect the strip-squeeze to turn out better a fair proportion of the time.

[MrAce]

phil_20686, on 2012-May-09, 04:44, said:

The position now is

---

How will you play?

I would cash ♣, discard a ♠, cash last ♣ discard a ♦, last 3 cards

if LHO holds 2♠+♦K i play ♦
if LHO holds 2♦+1♠, i cash my spades from top.

I don't know their system but i think LHO supported diamonds knowing that 1♦ opening promised 4+ perhaps ?

[the_clown]

I also agree with the strip squeze, dont think they can raise on Qxxxx, Jxxx, xxx, x, which means that LHO has the ♦K. Since we know that he has the long ♠, the suggested play should work.

[Fluffy]

Since ♥A didn't appear yet hearts must be 4-4

The 3451 on LHO makes RHO 3433 wich surelly doesn't raise to 3♦ even if he wanted to open with 1♦ instead of 1♣.

LHO wouldn't discard 2 spades so fast if he as 4441 since he doesn't know where is ♦Q just yet and avoiding a strip squeeze on first discards seems a bit premature. If he did so congrats to him, and congrats to you for him to believe in your skills that much as well.

What is left is that LHO is 5431 and strip squeeze is the solution.

[phil_20686]

Fluffy, on 2012-May-09, 16:06, said:

What is left is that LHO is 5431 and strip squeeze is the solution.

So I considered this line at the table, but there is a problem with it, in that you are essentially playing for a defensive error. If rho is x AQxx Ajxxx xxx, why would he underlead the heart ace at trick two, rather than switch to his singleton spade, and secondly, why would he avoid breaking up the squeeze by playing a second round of diamonds at some point.

[dwar0123]

phil_20686, on 2012-May-09, 17:22, said:

So I considered this line at the table, but there is a problem with it, in that you are essentially playing for a defensive error. If rho is x AQxx Ajxxx xxx, why would he underlead the heart ace at trick two, rather than switch to his singleton spade, and secondly, why would he avoid breaking up the squeeze by playing a second round of diamonds at some point.

Maybe he was trying to do a grosvenor coup so intricate that it would be a great compliment to you if it worked, a mere expert would do the strip squeeze and be done with it

[gnasher]

phil_20686, on 2012-May-09, 17:22, said:

So I considered this line at the table, but there is a problem with it, in that you are essentially playing for a defensive error. If rho is x AQxx Ajxxx xxx, why would he underlead the heart ace at trick two, rather than switch to his singleton spade, and secondly, why would he avoid breaking up the squeeze by playing a second round of diamonds at some point.

Maybe he didn't know who had ♦10. At trick two, if your hand was KQx Kxx Q10x AKxx, a heart switch was essential. At trick four he might have thought you had Kxxxx Kx Q10x AKx.

Or maybe he just didn't think deeply enough about the position. RHO's last chance to break up the ending was at trick four. You were playing against two very good players, but nobody plays perfectly all the time, especially not when they're playing 64 boards a day four-handed.

If you think they might have intentionally left you with ♦Q in order to trick you into playing for an illusory strip squeeze, think again. Nobody's that good.

[wanoff]

They've just presented you with a losing option which isn't there if they don't make this ridiculous spade switch. I think I'd have played a diamond.

[phil_20686]

gnasher, on 2012-May-10, 04:31, said:

If you think they might have intentionally left you with ♦Q in order to trick you into playing for an illusory strip squeeze, think again. Nobody's that good.

I was more concerned that they might have played AD from AK. That seems like good defence, east knows I have no where to pitch my diamond, and wants me to avoid taking the diamond finesse and pitching a spade. Then he looked for two heart tricks to go with his two diamonds, and then a spade and a heart to go with his two diamonds. A spade switch makes complete sense away from the AK of diamonds, as you suspect declarer can lead up to the Q and pitch dummies spade if you don't play on the suit, and will certainly do so before playing on spades if he has a choice.

OTOH, playing a spade when you are sure declarer cannot establish a diamond trick seems like a poor option. At least that was what I thought at the table. In retrospect I think that playing for jeffrey to false card at trick one was a mistake. The layout was Q9xxx Jxxx kxx x opposite T AQxx AJTxx xxx, so the strip squeeze is the winning option. I was playing for RHO to have the diamond AK, or the spades to come in.

Still, it was an interesting hand I thought. We talked it round and round in the PM and eventually shrugged. You can't win them all.

[Fluffy]

RHO would had better hide his 4th heart by playing the ace at trick 3.


On the other hand I'd like to understand the heart underlead. I never underlead AQxx or AJxx, don't see the gain, do others posters do this often?

[gnasher]

Fluffy, on 2012-May-10, 07:57, said:

On the other hand I'd like to understand the heart underlead. I never underlead AQxx or AJxx, don't see the gain, do others posters do this often?

With a 1NT opening on your left it's completely safe. On this deal, it would have been necessary if declarer had held ♥Jxxx ♦KQx, and it would give him a guess if he had ♥Kxxx ♦KQx.

It might be right to switch to ♥Q too - declarer might have ♥Kxx ♦KQx.

[JLOGIC]

Fluffy, on 2012-May-10, 07:57, said:

RHO would had better hide his 4th heart by playing the ace at trick 3.


On the other hand I'd like to understand the heart underlead. I never underlead AQxx or AJxx, don't see the gain, do others posters do this often?

Is this a serious question? Yes, sometimes you underlead AQxx if you think it will set up a trick (partner having the jack!) or you think you need to cash 3 tricks in the suit (partner might have Kx!). Sometimes they have to guess whether to pop king, sometimes partner has a doubleton and you want to retain control of the suit+entry (much the same as underleading any ace holding when you think partner might have a doubleton). I am surprised you've never seen this bridge play.

Underleading AJ is less common I guess because of surrounding play possibilities but yeah if you had no spot and/or you thought your partner had a doubleton it seems possible to lead low instead of the jack. If the ten wasn't in dummy then obv...sometimes you're trying to set up/take tricks in your good suit, what a revolutionary concept

[jallerton]

phil_20686, on 2012-May-09, 04:44, said:

So here is one deal that I got wrong vs Jon Cooke and J Allerton,

---

(Irrelevant) spots are approximate.

The five of diamonds (third and fifth) was led to the diamond ace, a low hear was returned, I rose witht he K and played the heart 9 back to the Q with RHO. Now the ten of spades covered with the J and Q, so you win with the ace, ruff a heart high and play three rounds of trumps ending in dummy. Lho discards the two lowest spade pips.

In fact RHO won the second round of hearts with the ace and then contributed another low heart when you ruffed the 3rd round of hearts in hand.