[thepossum]

Hi

Not sure if this is one of those inadequate number of hands to simulate situations or Gib was looking for more than 1 trick
Declarer (not me) has been made anonymous to protect the innocent - I cant see anything wrong with the bidding although most were in Clubs North (or NT) not South, and its an ambitious Grand

Any reason why East doesn't play its Ace on trick 1

I appreciate there may be intent to make two tricks but do you not need to make one trick first

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[johnu]

Looks clear to duck to me. When West gets in and returns a heart, that's down 3 . Down 3 is better than down 2.

[helene_t]

The 2♠ bid shows 11-16 total points so there is no way declarer can have ♦AQ and ♠A. So it seems reasonable to aim for several downtricks.

One of GIB's weaknesses is that it trusts its partner.

[pescetom]

helene_t, on 2022-July-04, 03:07, said:

The 2♠ bid shows 11-16 total points so there is no way declarer can have ♦AQ and ♠A. So it seems reasonable to aim for several downtricks.

So why did E not double?

[helene_t]

pescetom, on 2022-July-04, 06:37, said:

So why did E not double?

Maybe it only trusts partner's bidding after the auction

[LBengtsson]

Until such time as GIB learns defense, and taking tricks that need to be taken, and to discard correctly, then it is hopeless. As for the bidding on the hand, very unusual that South bid 2♣ instead of 1♠. Is that why East allowed the contract to be made, discarding ♠ and allowing the small ♠3 to take the final trick?

I mean, let us face facts, except if you have a partner who makes a unusual lead like Rusinow, South will have 100% have the♥Q so taking the ace puts the contract down at trick 1. Usually putting down a grand slam at trick one is a result! That is so not complicated as it gets. Beginner bridge. For the robot to duck is nonsense.

[EarlPurple]

As the cards lie you get away with ducking as you need at least one spade ruff so you can't draw all the trumps and get back to dummy to enjoy the diamonds.

If however declarer had one diamond more and one heart or spade fewer then 7♣ makes easily with the duck - win the ♥Q, ace of spades, ruff a spade, draw trumps, cash the other top spade then play the diamonds.

Unless East can see all the cards then obviously against 7 you go up with the ace.

[helene_t]

EarlPurple, on 2022-July-11, 03:36, said:

As the cards lie you get away with ducking as you need at least one spade ruff so you can't draw all the trumps and get back to dummy to enjoy the diamonds.

If however declarer had one diamond more and one heart or spade fewer then 7♣ makes easily with the duck - win the ♥Q, ace of spades, ruff a spade, draw trumps, cash the other top spade then play the diamonds.

Unless East can see all the cards then obviously against 7 you go up with the ace.

Maybe all the sims gave hands on which it would go down DD, and then East doesn't take into account that partner doesn't defend DD.

[EarlPurple]

helene_t, on 2022-July-11, 09:41, said:

Maybe all the sims gave hands on which it would go down DD, and then East doesn't take into account that partner doesn't defend DD.

If declarer had a diamond more, then if he had a spade less, his partner would have 7 of them, and if a heart less, his partner would have 4 of them. Partner made a weak butt-in - he'd never do that with 7 spades (would bid 3 instead of 2) or with a 4-card major, or maybe just wouldn't lead J from JTxx?

So partner has exactly 6 spades and no more than 2 hearts, and it's safe to duck?

[johnu]

All in all, pretty good defense against a grand with no overtricks given away.