My hand: ♠ A 8 5 ♥ T 8 7 ♦ A K 6 3 2 ♣ A 4
Partner opens 1 diamond with both opponents passing. I turned on inverted minors oh so long ago, so I hope 2 diamonds is a good start. Partner responds 2 no trump which gets alerted. I have no clue at all what that could mean. It's time to bid some things and go down a lot again! I try 3 clubs in the hopes it shows the A. Partner bids 3 diamonds. I hope that means his hand sucks. I bid 3 no trump which gets passed around. Now, what were all those alerts?
2 diamonds showed 10+ points and 4+ diamonds or 9 points and 5 diamonds and in all cases denied a 4 card major. 2 no trump was a minimum with no extra diamonds. 3 clubs showed a strong club suit and 14+ points. I only lied a little!
East leads the T of spades.
NORTH ♠ 6 3 ♥ A Q 9 5 ♦ J 7 5 4 ♣ K Q 8 | ||
EAST ♠ T | ||
| SOUTH ♠ A 8 5 ♥ T 8 7 ♦ A K 6 3 2 ♣ A 4 |
| West | North | East | South |
| Pass | 1♦ | Pass | 2♦1 |
| Pass | 2NT2 | Pass | 3♣3 |
| Pass | 3♦ | Pass | 3NT |
| Pass | Pass | Pass | |
| 1Inverted Minor | |||
| 2Minimum | |||
| 3Strong second suit | |||
I have 1 spade, 1 heart, 3 clubs, and 2 diamonds. I need 2 more tricks, which are pretty easy to eventually come by in either hearts or diamonds. Only problem is I have but 1 spade stopper so eventually isn't really good enough unless spades split 4-4.
The T is an odd lead. It means West should have KJ, QJ, or KQJ. I duck. T-5-K-3. West switches to the J of clubs so I get to make. I hope! 4-0 diamonds with East having the 4 and I need to work on hearts, but I get to cash the A to find that out. Might as well get on that. I win the club on dummy. J-8-2-A. I cash the A of diamonds. A-9-7-T. I cash another. K-8-4-Q. I now have 10 tricks and no losers pending, so I should play on hearts to go for more overtricks. 8-6-5-J.
East goes back to spades. I can't gain by ducking, so I win. I'll cash out everything but hearts and decide to finesse or not at the time. My carefully preserved 5 of diamonds on board is my entry back to the diamonds.
When we come down to 2 cards each I know the opponents have a spade, 2 hearts, and a club. I know West has the spade from the opening lead, so finessing can't work. He has the club, too, so East gets the heart K at the end. Making 4.
| NORTH ♠ 6 3 ♥ A Q 9 5 ♦ J 7 5 4 ♣ K Q 8 | ||
| WEST ♠ K J 4 2 ♥ 6 4 ♦ 9 8 ♣ J T 9 7 6 | EAST ♠ Q T 9 7 ♥ K J 3 2 ♦ Q T ♣ 5 3 2 | |
| SOUTH ♠ A 8 5 ♥ T 8 7 ♦ A K 6 3 2 ♣ A 4 |
On the replay they aren't playing inverted minors so they have a different auction that still ends up in 3NT. It's played from the other side, so West starts by leading the J of clubs. Declarer doesn't find any way to get any extra tricks or throw any way. Making 4.
Nick: 630
Jack: 630
IMPs: 0 (1 total)
I can't help but feel that you're throwing away opportunities here. What is wrong with cashing out clubs, diamonds and then proceeding to see what happens. You're forcing them down to 4 cards each, and will have a great deal of information on their hands.
ReplyDeleteThe danger of course is clubs splitting 3-5 and finessing into East. But that's very unlikely (assuming east also started off with 4 spades)
I'm not sure where the gain is by doing that. My play had the chance of getting another club back when the heart finesse loses and I'm not sure how they can go wrong pitching. East just needs to keep a low club and 3 hearts. West keeps a higher club and three spades.
ReplyDeleteI guess you gain not having to worry about the finesse working or not since you quickly learn it can't be working on the actual layout... I'm not sure that's worth the small risk of losing your overtrick on a bad club split or the small risk that I actually get a non-spade return after losing the heart finesse.