My hand: ♠ Q 7 6 ♥ 9 5 3 ♦ K Q J 6 4 ♣ 7 4
West opens 1 club, partner passes and East bids 1 diamond. I pass and they finish off the 1 level with 1 heart, 1 spade, and 1 no trump. East then bids 3 no which finishes the auction. Partner leads the 2 of clubs.
North ♣ 2 | ||
East ♠ A J T 9 ♥ J 4 2 ♦ A 7 5 2 ♣ T 9 | ||
| SOUTH ♠ Q 7 6 ♥ 9 5 3 ♦ K Q J 6 4 ♣ 7 4 |
| West | North | East | South |
| 1♣ | Pass | 1♦ | Pass |
| 1♥ | Pass | 1♠ | pass |
| 1NT | Pass | 3NT | All Pass |
Partner lead the 2 so he should only have 4 clubs. West has 5 and we've given him a good head start on setting them up since I can't beat dummy's 9. I think I'm supposed to signal attitude here, but if I can't beat the 9 my attitude should be pretty clear. So, I signal count, and play the 7. 2-9-7-6. Delcarer likes partner's suit so he continues it. T-4-8-A. Partner is stubborn and returns the 5. Dummy pitches the 2 of diamonds and I pitch the 3 of hearts. Declarer wins, but with the Q.
Declarer now switches gears and leads the T of hearts. I don't know if he's trying to be funny or what, but it holds. T-6-2-5.
Having swindled a heart trick he goes back to clubs. J-3-5 of diamonds-9 of hearts. He then cashes the K of clubs. K-3 of spades-9 of spades-6 of diamonds.
Back to hearts, where declarer's Q holds. Q-8-4-4 of diamonds.
Declarer now leads a spade and finesses into my hand. 2-4-T-Q. I win and play diamonds. K-9-8-A. Declarer plays another diamond, endplaying me into leading into his AJ of spades. Making 3 somehow.
| NORTH ♠ K 8 4 3 ♥ A 8 6 ♦ T 8 ♣ A 5 3 2 | ||
| WEST ♠ 5 2 ♥ K Q T 7 ♦ 9 3 ♣ K Q J 8 6 | EAST ♠ A J T 9 ♥ J 4 2 ♦ A 7 5 2 ♣ T 9 | |
| SOUTH ♠ Q 7 6 ♥ 9 5 3 ♦ K Q J 6 4 ♣ 7 4 |
He then disagrees with my 5 of hearts. He wants me to signal high here to show an even number. I started with an odd number but I have an even number left. I guess he wants me to signal present count?
Finally he disagrees with my second diamond pitch, since it lets the contract make. Turns out that since partner had the K of spades that is true. Maybe I should have been able to work that out, but I didn't even try to. Definitely a mistake here.
On the replay the auction is the same. The play goes off in a bizarre direction and South gets in with the Q of spades before his partner has taken either of his aces. All he has to do is play a diamond and setting the contract is easy. So, he returns a heart. With spades solved declarer comes to 9 tricks without ever having to touch diamonds. He had a play for an overtrick if he could see all 4 hands but chose to guarantee just in.
I almost bid 2 diamonds on my second turn as lead directional which would have meant we set 3NT easily. I decide to play again to see if that helps. Turns out it just gets doubled. I held it to down 1 (I knew all 4 hands so that's almost like cheating, but my tricks were 2 aces, 4 trumps, and one of the KQ of spades so I think I could have gotten them anyway.) Better than letting 3NT make, worse than setting it.
Nick: -400
Jack: -400
IMPs: 0 (-2 total)
7 comments:
I also disagree with your 7C. I think there are situations where you might signal like that, (outside entry, J7x). Ducking the first round allows you to put in a finesse in clubs. That being said, he never played for it, so meh to him.
I also think you should have pitched a spade at the end. If he had the king, he didn't need the extra trick, so you got yourself endplayed.
It lets me finesse in clubs but doesn't it give up a trick in the first place to let the 9 win? On what layout can it gain to duck with J7x?
I accept that it was wrong though in general just because it was confusing. The pitch at the end was definitely a mistake and I know it's one I've made before in tournaments with Andrew. I need to get better at working out how we can win as a team and then playing for that instead of just keeping my own guaranteed tricks.
It only gives up a trick if the 9 was useless. Often though, the 9 can force out another winner. Say the lead is A8xx, T9, J7x, KQxx. they have 2 tricks regardless of play, since they have 4 of the top 6. However, if you need both tricks, its much faster to set up if you duck the first trick and lead the jack through uses up less entries.
I'm still not seeing the advantage. If I duck declarer wins trick 1 and is on board. He still has KQ in his hand, so he's going to win either trick 2 or trick 3 whenever we get around to playing it. We win, at best, tricks 2 and 4. If I never get in and partner has to lead it again we only get trick 2.
If I cover then declarer wins trick 1 in his hand and is left with Kxx. Now whenever either of us gets in we can cash the A and still get the 4th trick. At best we still get tricks 2 and 4, but at worst we get them too regardless of who gets the lead next.
Lets say you cover, and it gets overtaken. They attack X suit, you get in. Now you have 7x, and dummy has 9. If you lead small, your partner is forced up with the Ace. Now your partner has 8x opposite 7... which means that if you attack the suit, declarer can either:
1) Endplay you in your hand.
2) Endplay partner in his hand. Giving up that kind of control can be awful.
If you just duck the 10 and get in later, you can fire the J around. If he ducks, you continue with the 7, otherwise, you follow up with your small one. Since you signaled with the 7, you've also conveniently unblocked the suit... although I guess the 6 could be with the declarer.
The question isn't if you can get two tricks, its the cost to you in entries. If you cover the first trick, you could end up in the position where you need to shift back to partner to cash the last club trick. That means you need a greater level of control on the hand.
What if he doesn't duck? What if he covers? Then you're left with 8x opposite x on our side and Qx on his side. Partner still can't play the suit if we want another trick unless his x is bigger than declarer's x. So under this plan I need to gain the lead twice before partner does if we want to take two tricks. This really doesn't seem easier on the entries than just making partner lead the 4th one.
Fair enough, but give him the 6 and the situation resolves itself. The question is how often is count going to be of any benefit in this situation?
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