I couldn't find any site listing the possible rewards from the new World of Warcraft profession, Archaeology with the information I wanted. So, I decided to build my own. Personally I'm looking for entry level raid gear (hello Zin'rokh!) and wanted to know if there was anything else I wanted and what races to focus on. Note for Zin'rokh (and I assume all the other 85 epics) you need at least 450 Archaeology skill to find them.
Level 85 Epics
Staff of Sorcerer-Thane Thaurissian - Dwarf
Tyrande's Favorite Doll - Night Elf
Ring of the Boy Emperor - Tol'Vir
Scimitar of the Sirocco - Tol'Vir
Staff of Ammunae - Tol'Vir
Zin'rokh, Destroyer of Worlds - Troll
Other Bind on Account Gear
Queen Azshara's Dressing Gown - Night Elf
Headdress of the First Shaman - Orc
Nifflevar Bearded Axe - Vrykul
Mounts
Fossilized Raptor - Fossil
Scepter of Azj'Aqir - Tol'Vir
Pets
Clockwork Gnome - Dwarf
Fossilized Hatchling - Fossil
Crawling Crab - Tol'Vir
Miscellaneous Vanity Things
Arrival of the Naaru - Draenei
The Last Relic of Argus - Draenei
Chalice of the Mountain Kings - Dwarf
The Innkeeper's Daughter - Dwarf
Blessing of the Old God - Nerubian
Puzzle Box of Yogg-Saron - Nerubian
Bones of Transformation - Night Elf
Druid and Priest Statue Set - Night Elf
Highborne Soul Mirror - Night Elf
Kaldorei Wind Chimes - Night Elf
Wisp Amulet - Night Elf
Pendant of the Scarab Storm - Tol'Vir
Thursday, December 09, 2010
Wednesday, December 08, 2010
Realm First! Illustrious Cooking
The log-in servers died so this was more a matter of getting lucky and being the first competitor to log in than it was skill, but I got it done anyway! Woo!
Tuesday, December 07, 2010
Bridge Match 1 - Board 84
Board 84 – Dealer West – All Vul
My hand: ♠ T 7 4 2 ♥ 6 4 3 ♦ A K Q 8 ♣ A 6
East opens 1 spade in 3rd chair. I don't see a good bid so I pass. West responds 1NT and East bids 2 hearts. With no club support I don't have a bid so I pass again. West retreats to 2 spades which gets passed to me. I think they're going down but I'm not willing to double them into game, so I pass. I lead the A of diamonds.
I wonder why he gave a preference to spades when he had more hearts than spades. Oh well. A-3-2-T. Declarer has at most 4 cards in the minors and I want to find out what they are, so I'm going to continue diamonds. Q-4-5-5 of spades. So declarer is probably 5-4-1-3 with partner 2-3-5-3.
Declarer shifts to the J of clubs. If my count is right then partner probably has Qxx and will win this trick if I duck. But if my count is right he gets his Q later anyway and I want to tap declarer now, so I pop the A. J-A-3-2. I play another diamond. 8-6-7-8 of spades. Declarer plays another club. 5-6-K-4.
Now declarer plays on hearts. 9-8-A-3. 2-4-K-T. 7-J-Q-6. And back to clubs, but he plays the 8 and not the Q so either partner can win this trick or can ruff it. I pitch my diamond. 8-K of diamonds-7-Q.
Partner draws trump. 3-J-2-6. K-4-9-Q. A-7-9 of clubs-9 of diamonds. I win the last trick with the last trump. Making 3.
Professor Jack agrees with me all the way! It's been an awfully long time since that happened.
On the replay declarer takes a different line. He draws a round of trump when he ruffs in and then cashes hearts. He then plays the 13th heart, pitching the diamond from board as North ruffs with his now stiff Q. (South pitching a club.) Declarer then ends up letting his K of clubs get ruffed and still loses the Q of clubs. Making 2.
Nick: -140
Jack: -110
IMPs: -1 (+38 total)
My hand: ♠ T 7 4 2 ♥ 6 4 3 ♦ A K Q 8 ♣ A 6
East opens 1 spade in 3rd chair. I don't see a good bid so I pass. West responds 1NT and East bids 2 hearts. With no club support I don't have a bid so I pass again. West retreats to 2 spades which gets passed to me. I think they're going down but I'm not willing to double them into game, so I pass. I lead the A of diamonds.
WEST ♠ 9 6 ♥ K 9 7 ♦ 6 4 3 ♣ K T 9 7 3 | ||
| SOUTH ♠ T 7 4 2 ♥ 6 4 3 ♦ A K Q 8 ♣ A 6 |
| West | North | East | South |
| Pass | Pass | 1♠ | Pass |
| 1NT | Pass | 2♥ | Pass |
| 2♠ | Pass | Pass | Pass |
I wonder why he gave a preference to spades when he had more hearts than spades. Oh well. A-3-2-T. Declarer has at most 4 cards in the minors and I want to find out what they are, so I'm going to continue diamonds. Q-4-5-5 of spades. So declarer is probably 5-4-1-3 with partner 2-3-5-3.
Declarer shifts to the J of clubs. If my count is right then partner probably has Qxx and will win this trick if I duck. But if my count is right he gets his Q later anyway and I want to tap declarer now, so I pop the A. J-A-3-2. I play another diamond. 8-6-7-8 of spades. Declarer plays another club. 5-6-K-4.
Now declarer plays on hearts. 9-8-A-3. 2-4-K-T. 7-J-Q-6. And back to clubs, but he plays the 8 and not the Q so either partner can win this trick or can ruff it. I pitch my diamond. 8-K of diamonds-7-Q.
Partner draws trump. 3-J-2-6. K-4-9-Q. A-7-9 of clubs-9 of diamonds. I win the last trick with the last trump. Making 3.
| NORTH ♠ Q 3 ♥ J T 8 ♦ J 9 7 5 2 ♣ Q 4 2 | ||
| WEST ♠ 9 6 ♥ K 9 7 ♦ 6 4 3 ♣ K T 9 7 3 | EAST ♠ A K J 8 5 ♥ A Q 5 2 ♦ T ♣ J 8 5 | |
| SOUTH ♠ T 7 4 2 ♥ 6 4 3 ♦ A K Q 8 ♣ A 6 |
Professor Jack agrees with me all the way! It's been an awfully long time since that happened.
On the replay declarer takes a different line. He draws a round of trump when he ruffs in and then cashes hearts. He then plays the 13th heart, pitching the diamond from board as North ruffs with his now stiff Q. (South pitching a club.) Declarer then ends up letting his K of clubs get ruffed and still loses the Q of clubs. Making 2.
Nick: -140
Jack: -110
IMPs: -1 (+38 total)
Monday, December 06, 2010
Bridge Match 1 - Board 83
Board 83 – Dealer South – EW Vul
My hand: ♠ T ♥ A Q J T 6 5 ♦ Q T 5 ♣ J 4 2
I open 2 hearts. Partner bids 2NT which should ask me for a feature for 3NT. A 10 count with a really solid suit should be feature enough, so I just bid 3NT. Partner pulls to 4 hearts which gets passed out. West leads the 3 of spades.
I have 6 hearts, 2 clubs, and a diamond off the top. I can't get a ruff in dummy but I have a chance to build an extra trick in either clubs (East has the Q or 3-3 split) or in diamonds (East has the K or J or 3-3 split). Loserwise I have one spade loser and whatever goes wrong in the minors which could be as many as 2 diamonds and a club.
If hearts split 2-2 I can endplay West by ruffing out the spades and leading anything into him. Probably the anything should be a diamond to the T, since if he wins the J he has to lead a diamond or a club which I will duck to hand, setting up a trick no matter what. That seems like a reasonable preliminary plan and I'll fall back in finesses and 3-3 splits if I can't make that happen.
At any rate, a spade. 3-8-Q-T. East could have lead a diamond to break up my endplay plan but instead cashes the A of spades. Or tries too, anyway. A-Q of hearts-2-7. I draw trump. A-4-3-8. 5-4 of spades-K-2. East still has the 9 of hearts but that doesn't hurt me. I can endplay West, so I lead a diamond. 2-8-T-J. West returns a diamond. 7-4-3-Q. I draw trump and test to see if diamonds are 3-3. They aren't, so I check if the Q of clubs is doubleton. It's not, so I lose a club. Making 4.
Professor Jack disagrees with my opening bid. Apparently it isnt suitable for a weak two opening bid and instead should have been opened 3 hearts. Now, I actually thought this when I was bidding. I really wish someone would explain to me why he thinks this isn't a weak two though, since it's pretty much THE definition of a weak two bid that I was taught.
He then disagrees with my 3NT bid. Apparently QT5 is good enough to show as a feature and he wants me to bid 3 diamonds. I think of a feature as an A or K. Am I wrong here?
On the replay my hand opens 2 hearts as a weak two bid. Maybe something I changed on my convention card makes him think my weak twos need to be really weak? He does show the diamond feature and North goes straight to 4 hearts.
The play starts the same, with a spade and then a spade ruff. Declarer draws two rounds of trump, ending in his hand, and plays a club to the K. A diamond is finesses to the T and J, endplaying West the same as I did. West returns a diamond which is ducked to the Q. Also making 4.
Nick: 420
Jack: 420
IMPs: +0 (+39 total)
My hand: ♠ T ♥ A Q J T 6 5 ♦ Q T 5 ♣ J 4 2
I open 2 hearts. Partner bids 2NT which should ask me for a feature for 3NT. A 10 count with a really solid suit should be feature enough, so I just bid 3NT. Partner pulls to 4 hearts which gets passed out. West leads the 3 of spades.
NORTH ♠ 8 7 ♥ K 7 3 ♦ A 6 4 2 ♣ A K 7 6 | ||
| WEST ♠ 3 | ||
| SOUTH ♠ T ♥ A Q J T 6 5 ♦ Q T 5 ♣ J 4 2 |
| West | North | East | South |
| 2♥1 | |||
| Pass | 2NT2 | Pass | 3NT3 |
| Pass | 4♥ | All Pass | |
| 1Weak Two | |||
| 2Relay | |||
| 2Max w/ no feature | |||
I have 6 hearts, 2 clubs, and a diamond off the top. I can't get a ruff in dummy but I have a chance to build an extra trick in either clubs (East has the Q or 3-3 split) or in diamonds (East has the K or J or 3-3 split). Loserwise I have one spade loser and whatever goes wrong in the minors which could be as many as 2 diamonds and a club.
If hearts split 2-2 I can endplay West by ruffing out the spades and leading anything into him. Probably the anything should be a diamond to the T, since if he wins the J he has to lead a diamond or a club which I will duck to hand, setting up a trick no matter what. That seems like a reasonable preliminary plan and I'll fall back in finesses and 3-3 splits if I can't make that happen.
At any rate, a spade. 3-8-Q-T. East could have lead a diamond to break up my endplay plan but instead cashes the A of spades. Or tries too, anyway. A-Q of hearts-2-7. I draw trump. A-4-3-8. 5-4 of spades-K-2. East still has the 9 of hearts but that doesn't hurt me. I can endplay West, so I lead a diamond. 2-8-T-J. West returns a diamond. 7-4-3-Q. I draw trump and test to see if diamonds are 3-3. They aren't, so I check if the Q of clubs is doubleton. It's not, so I lose a club. Making 4.
| NORTH ♠ 8 7 ♥ K 7 3 ♦ A 6 4 2 ♣ A K 7 6 | ||
| WEST ♠ J 5 4 3 2 ♥ 4 ♦ K J 9 7 ♣ Q T 5 | EAST ♠ A K Q 9 6 ♥ 9 8 2 ♦ 8 3 ♣ 9 8 3 | |
| SOUTH ♠ T ♥ A Q J T 6 5 ♦ Q T 5 ♣ J 4 2 |
Professor Jack disagrees with my opening bid. Apparently it isnt suitable for a weak two opening bid and instead should have been opened 3 hearts. Now, I actually thought this when I was bidding. I really wish someone would explain to me why he thinks this isn't a weak two though, since it's pretty much THE definition of a weak two bid that I was taught.
He then disagrees with my 3NT bid. Apparently QT5 is good enough to show as a feature and he wants me to bid 3 diamonds. I think of a feature as an A or K. Am I wrong here?
On the replay my hand opens 2 hearts as a weak two bid. Maybe something I changed on my convention card makes him think my weak twos need to be really weak? He does show the diamond feature and North goes straight to 4 hearts.
The play starts the same, with a spade and then a spade ruff. Declarer draws two rounds of trump, ending in his hand, and plays a club to the K. A diamond is finesses to the T and J, endplaying West the same as I did. West returns a diamond which is ducked to the Q. Also making 4.
Nick: 420
Jack: 420
IMPs: +0 (+39 total)
Sunday, December 05, 2010
Profession Skill Up Chance
I've acquired 50+ of each of my chosen meats for the upcoming push for realm first: illustrious cooking. Do I need more? Do I want more? How safe am I, really?
Those are the questions I was asking today and turned to google to see if anyone actually knew the answer. I couldn't find any links to data from any actual studies but I did find in a few spots the same formula which makes some intuitive sense. If the formula is right then it also explains the weirdness in terms of when the different cooking recipes turned green according to tier.
Orange is always 100% to skill-up (other than skinning which Blizzard intentionally changed a long time ago). Each recipe now has two relevant numbers. The last skill level which is 100% to skill-up and the first skill level with is 0% to skill-up. Every level between those two has a chance of providing a skill-up which is linearly related to those two numbers. The formula is (grey skill - current skill) / (grey skill - yellow skill + 1). The green level is artificial and represents a less than 50% chance to skill-up, and hence lies halfway between the grey skill and the yellow skill. (This is why I can get 10 yellow ticks out of a tier 1 food and only 5 from a tier 3 food. They have a wider range before they go grey.)
Anyone who bothered to read my two part series on Markov chains should see where I'm headed here. Skilling up is strictly increasing and I now have quantified probabilities for advancing from state to state. How much food do I need? I can build a matrix and find out! (Well, I can build 3 matrices and find out since they all have different ranges between yellow and grey.) Each of the three tiers has 15 points in orange, so for each tier I need 15 meat plus 10 skill-ups.
Building up my matrix and running it on the online tool I found shows that for tier 1 I expect to need 12.941 meat to get those final 10 points, for a total of 28 meat. The 64 snake eyes I have should be more than sufficient. In fact, it's a practical guarantee. The odds of not getting 25 skill points with 64 meat is 0. Experimenting a bit, the 95% threshold is 32 pieces of meat.
For tier 2 we're looking at needing 16.5583 extra pieces of meat. The 95% threshold (including the orange 15) is 38. I have 57 blood shrimp which is 99.9988% likely to get me to 500.
For tier 3 we're looking at needing 32.2187 extra pieces of meat. The 95% threshold (again including the orange 15) is 71. I have 59 crocolisk tails which is 85.55% likely to get me to 525.
I'm happy with my practical guarantee to get through tier 1. Missing 1 of every 100000 tries at passing tier 2 is acceptable. But failing 1 in 7 at getting through tier 3 is not something I'm happy with. Fortunately for me I have an easy out. Vek has had enough double token days that I can afford to buy a 4th recipe. I was hoping I wouldn't need to but if I do then I have 114 combined tier 3 meats which would give me a 99.92% to make it. I was thinking I should save the tokens in case I needed to buy a tier 2 recipe but this shows me that's wrong. Even with 2 recipes I'm still more likely to fail at tier 3 than at tier 2. I should be good and I will absolutely make sure to have that bonus skill from a daily sitting around in case disaster strikes. (And beg for more food!)
On the plus side, I doubt other people are thinking they need to stock up hundreds of the tier 3 meat so if I need to make that run other people might have to as well. Better make sure to log out in frost spec for the extra mounted run speed!
Those are the questions I was asking today and turned to google to see if anyone actually knew the answer. I couldn't find any links to data from any actual studies but I did find in a few spots the same formula which makes some intuitive sense. If the formula is right then it also explains the weirdness in terms of when the different cooking recipes turned green according to tier.
Orange is always 100% to skill-up (other than skinning which Blizzard intentionally changed a long time ago). Each recipe now has two relevant numbers. The last skill level which is 100% to skill-up and the first skill level with is 0% to skill-up. Every level between those two has a chance of providing a skill-up which is linearly related to those two numbers. The formula is (grey skill - current skill) / (grey skill - yellow skill + 1). The green level is artificial and represents a less than 50% chance to skill-up, and hence lies halfway between the grey skill and the yellow skill. (This is why I can get 10 yellow ticks out of a tier 1 food and only 5 from a tier 3 food. They have a wider range before they go grey.)
Anyone who bothered to read my two part series on Markov chains should see where I'm headed here. Skilling up is strictly increasing and I now have quantified probabilities for advancing from state to state. How much food do I need? I can build a matrix and find out! (Well, I can build 3 matrices and find out since they all have different ranges between yellow and grey.) Each of the three tiers has 15 points in orange, so for each tier I need 15 meat plus 10 skill-ups.
Building up my matrix and running it on the online tool I found shows that for tier 1 I expect to need 12.941 meat to get those final 10 points, for a total of 28 meat. The 64 snake eyes I have should be more than sufficient. In fact, it's a practical guarantee. The odds of not getting 25 skill points with 64 meat is 0. Experimenting a bit, the 95% threshold is 32 pieces of meat.
For tier 2 we're looking at needing 16.5583 extra pieces of meat. The 95% threshold (including the orange 15) is 38. I have 57 blood shrimp which is 99.9988% likely to get me to 500.
For tier 3 we're looking at needing 32.2187 extra pieces of meat. The 95% threshold (again including the orange 15) is 71. I have 59 crocolisk tails which is 85.55% likely to get me to 525.
I'm happy with my practical guarantee to get through tier 1. Missing 1 of every 100000 tries at passing tier 2 is acceptable. But failing 1 in 7 at getting through tier 3 is not something I'm happy with. Fortunately for me I have an easy out. Vek has had enough double token days that I can afford to buy a 4th recipe. I was hoping I wouldn't need to but if I do then I have 114 combined tier 3 meats which would give me a 99.92% to make it. I was thinking I should save the tokens in case I needed to buy a tier 2 recipe but this shows me that's wrong. Even with 2 recipes I'm still more likely to fail at tier 3 than at tier 2. I should be good and I will absolutely make sure to have that bonus skill from a daily sitting around in case disaster strikes. (And beg for more food!)
On the plus side, I doubt other people are thinking they need to stock up hundreds of the tier 3 meat so if I need to make that run other people might have to as well. Better make sure to log out in frost spec for the extra mounted run speed!
Saturday, December 04, 2010
Bridge Match 1 - Board 82
Board 82 – Dealer East – NS Vul
My hand: ♥ K 8 7 5 4 3 2 ♦ Q J ♣ A 6 5 4
East passes so I get to open. My options are pass, 1 heart, or 3 hearts. Pass is right out and I'd definitely open 1 heart if all 10 of my points were working. But with QJ doubleton I think I'll go with a preempt. It gets passed out. West leads the 5 of spades.
Well, I have a diamond loser, 3 club losers, and anywhere from 1 to 4 heart losers. Probably 2. I can deal with one loser by pitching on the A of spades and another by pitching on the A of diamonds, assuming I somehow had an entry to the two A after dealing with my QJ of diamonds. Realistically this entry would be in clubs, but at that point I need the K onside. At any rate, I can't imagine setting up a ruff so I should deal with trump first. I'll save the pitch for later. 5-3-K-2 of hearts.
I lead a heart to the Q. 3-T-Q-6. Ok, didn't think far enough ahead, apparently. I now want to play a club to hand and draw more trump, but I might just lose 3 more clubs off the top if I do that. So, I will cash the A of spades now. A-4-4 of clubs-6. Club to hand. 2-8-A-3.
Now more trump. 4-J-2 of diamonds-9. West now cashes the A of hearts. A-3 of diamonds-2 of spades-5.
West shifts to the 5 of diamonds. I can't see any reason to not finesse. 5-6-T-Q. Maybe East is trying to prank me? I don't care to find out. I play a diamond. J-8-A-4. I ruff a diamond back to my hand, West having the K. I cash a round of trump just in case, and then finesse a club. 6-J-Q-9. I give up a club at the end. Making 4.
Professor Jack disagrees with my opening and would have chosen 1 heart himself. I can respect that, but not for his reasoning which is that my suit was too bad for a preempt.
At the other table my hand chooses the third option and passes. North ends up opening 1 diamond in 3rd seat and after a lot of bidding by all 4 players South ends up declarer in 4 hearts. Declarer ends up breaking clubs from the South hand by leading low. This causes West to play low and South guesses wrong by inserting the Q. Defense end up taking 2 clubs and 2 hearts for down 1.
Nick: 170
Jack: -100
IMPs: +7 (+39 total)
My hand: ♥ K 8 7 5 4 3 2 ♦ Q J ♣ A 6 5 4
East passes so I get to open. My options are pass, 1 heart, or 3 hearts. Pass is right out and I'd definitely open 1 heart if all 10 of my points were working. But with QJ doubleton I think I'll go with a preempt. It gets passed out. West leads the 5 of spades.
NORTH ♠ A T 7 3 ♥ Q ♦ A 9 6 3 2 ♣ Q T 2 | ||
| WEST ♠ 5 | ||
| SOUTH ♠ ♥ K 8 7 5 4 3 2 ♦ Q J ♣ A 6 5 4 |
| West | North | East | South |
| Pass | 3♥ | ||
| Pass | Pass | Pass |
Well, I have a diamond loser, 3 club losers, and anywhere from 1 to 4 heart losers. Probably 2. I can deal with one loser by pitching on the A of spades and another by pitching on the A of diamonds, assuming I somehow had an entry to the two A after dealing with my QJ of diamonds. Realistically this entry would be in clubs, but at that point I need the K onside. At any rate, I can't imagine setting up a ruff so I should deal with trump first. I'll save the pitch for later. 5-3-K-2 of hearts.
I lead a heart to the Q. 3-T-Q-6. Ok, didn't think far enough ahead, apparently. I now want to play a club to hand and draw more trump, but I might just lose 3 more clubs off the top if I do that. So, I will cash the A of spades now. A-4-4 of clubs-6. Club to hand. 2-8-A-3.
Now more trump. 4-J-2 of diamonds-9. West now cashes the A of hearts. A-3 of diamonds-2 of spades-5.
West shifts to the 5 of diamonds. I can't see any reason to not finesse. 5-6-T-Q. Maybe East is trying to prank me? I don't care to find out. I play a diamond. J-8-A-4. I ruff a diamond back to my hand, West having the K. I cash a round of trump just in case, and then finesse a club. 6-J-Q-9. I give up a club at the end. Making 4.
| NORTH ♠ A T 7 3 ♥ Q ♦ A 9 6 3 2 ♣ Q T 2 | ||
| WEST ♠ Q 9 6 5 ♥ A J T ♦ K 8 5 ♣ J 7 3 | EAST ♠ K J 8 4 2 ♥ 9 6 ♦ T 7 4 ♣ K 9 8 | |
| SOUTH ♠ ♥ K 8 7 5 4 3 2 ♦ Q J ♣ A 6 5 4 |
At the other table my hand chooses the third option and passes. North ends up opening 1 diamond in 3rd seat and after a lot of bidding by all 4 players South ends up declarer in 4 hearts. Declarer ends up breaking clubs from the South hand by leading low. This causes West to play low and South guesses wrong by inserting the Q. Defense end up taking 2 clubs and 2 hearts for down 1.
Nick: 170
Jack: -100
IMPs: +7 (+39 total)
Friday, December 03, 2010
Singing Sunflower
That's the music video for a flash game that I've yet to play (maybe I'll play it sometime this weekend) that has quite a catchy tune. In the latest patch to World of Warcraft they added a series of quests where you basically play Plants vs Zombies in game (Peacebloom vs Ghouls!) and at the end of the quest chain you get a non-combat pet which is basically the sunflower from the video. What's especially cool about the pet is they went and got the singer from the video (Laura Shigahara) and had her do the voice for the pet and it sings little ditties from the song from time to time.
It's so awesome I've started playing WoW with the sound on again, and have the pet out constantly when I'm playing. The only question now is... How long until it gets banned from raids?
Thursday, December 02, 2010
Bridge Match 1 - Board 81
Board 81 – Dealer North – No Vul
My hand: ♠ 9 ♥ Q 8 4 2 ♦ K 4 ♣ A K J 7 3 2
East opens 1 spade in 2nd seat. I bid 2 clubs. Partner raises to 3 and I pass. West decides to stick his neck out with 3 hearts and East raises to 4. Partner leads the 5 of clubs.
5-4-K-6. Do I want to set up a spade ruff? I think we get a second club trick, so along with my K of diamonds and a ruff we set them. I might get a natural heart trick from Qxxx anyway, but I think he can finesse me out of it if he wants. So yes, a ruff seems wise. I shift to a spade. 9-2-6-J.
Declarer draws trump. 3-2-K-2 of diamonds. Guess I get my Q after all. Back to spades? 8-T-K-4 of hearts. If they were doubled I might try underleading in clubs to get another spade ruff for another undertrick but it's not worth the risk here I don't think. I just cash a club. A-8-T-9. Huh, now I have to give away a trick by leading into a ruff and sluff or underleading my heart or diamond. Ruff and sluff it is. 2-8 of diamonds-Q-6 of hearts. Declarer draws a round of trump. A-8-5-9 of diamonds.
And now a low spade. 5-3 of clubs-7 of hearts-3. A diamond to the A and the A of spades which I ruff. Declarer has all trump left. Down 1.
Professor Jack disagrees with my final pass. He wants me to double 4 hearts. Doubling on the hopes of down 1 seems a little brave. There's no reason clubs aren't 3-1 or even 2-1 or 3-0 and we only really have good odds of setting them if they're 2-2 and he doesn't try to pick up my Qxxx which he can do if I double.
Jack disagrees with my spade switch. He wants me to just cash the A of clubs.
Finally when I do get in again he wants me to underlead my A of clubs.
On the replay the auction is the same up until 4 hearts. My seat doesn't pass or double. He pulls to 5 clubs which East doubles. West starts by leading a spade which East wins. East switches to trump so declarer can only ruff 2 hearts on board. As such declarer loses 2 hearts, a spade, and a diamond for down 2 doubled.
Nick: 50
Jack: -300
IMPs: +8 (+32 total)
My hand: ♠ 9 ♥ Q 8 4 2 ♦ K 4 ♣ A K J 7 3 2
East opens 1 spade in 2nd seat. I bid 2 clubs. Partner raises to 3 and I pass. West decides to stick his neck out with 3 hearts and East raises to 4. Partner leads the 5 of clubs.
NORTH ♣ 5 | ||
| EAST ♠ A K J 7 5 ♥ A 6 3 ♦ A Q 7 ♣ 9 4 | ||
| SOUTH ♠ 9 ♥ Q 8 4 2 ♦ K 4 ♣ A K J 7 3 2 |
| West | North | East | South |
| Pass | 1♠ | 2♣ | |
| Pass | 3♣ | Pass | Pass |
| 3♥ | Pass | 4♥ | All Pass |
5-4-K-6. Do I want to set up a spade ruff? I think we get a second club trick, so along with my K of diamonds and a ruff we set them. I might get a natural heart trick from Qxxx anyway, but I think he can finesse me out of it if he wants. So yes, a ruff seems wise. I shift to a spade. 9-2-6-J.
Declarer draws trump. 3-2-K-2 of diamonds. Guess I get my Q after all. Back to spades? 8-T-K-4 of hearts. If they were doubled I might try underleading in clubs to get another spade ruff for another undertrick but it's not worth the risk here I don't think. I just cash a club. A-8-T-9. Huh, now I have to give away a trick by leading into a ruff and sluff or underleading my heart or diamond. Ruff and sluff it is. 2-8 of diamonds-Q-6 of hearts. Declarer draws a round of trump. A-8-5-9 of diamonds.
And now a low spade. 5-3 of clubs-7 of hearts-3. A diamond to the A and the A of spades which I ruff. Declarer has all trump left. Down 1.
| NORTH ♠ Q T 6 4 3 ♥ ♦ T 9 6 5 2 ♣ Q T 5 | ||
| WEST ♠ 8 2 ♥ K J T 9 7 5 ♦ J 8 3 ♣ 8 6 | EAST ♠ A K J 7 5 ♥ A 6 3 ♦ A Q 7 ♣ 9 4 | |
| SOUTH ♠ 9 ♥ Q 8 4 2 ♦ K 4 ♣ A K J 7 3 2 |
Professor Jack disagrees with my final pass. He wants me to double 4 hearts. Doubling on the hopes of down 1 seems a little brave. There's no reason clubs aren't 3-1 or even 2-1 or 3-0 and we only really have good odds of setting them if they're 2-2 and he doesn't try to pick up my Qxxx which he can do if I double.
Jack disagrees with my spade switch. He wants me to just cash the A of clubs.
Finally when I do get in again he wants me to underlead my A of clubs.
On the replay the auction is the same up until 4 hearts. My seat doesn't pass or double. He pulls to 5 clubs which East doubles. West starts by leading a spade which East wins. East switches to trump so declarer can only ruff 2 hearts on board. As such declarer loses 2 hearts, a spade, and a diamond for down 2 doubled.
Nick: 50
Jack: -300
IMPs: +8 (+32 total)
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