[the hog]

I wish this were my problem; it's not it was posted on rec.games,bridge by David Burn - a top English player. I am posting it because this is one of the nicest defensive problems I have seen in a long time. I am assuming most don't read the newsgroup. I wish I could say I got this right; I did not, but it is a GREAT problem. See how you go.

Matchpoints, love all. You are South. If anyone gets this right, I will shout them a beer; now there is a challenge.

                    East
                    52
                    QJ73
                    QJ64
                    K102
      South
      J
      A10842
      K103
      AQ74

West   North   East   South
                                1H
1S     Pass    Pass   Dble
2S     2NT*    Pass   3C
3S     Pass    Pass   Pass

*minors

North leads the five of hearts, and the three is played from dummy.
Plan the defence.

I expect this will take some time, so I will post the answer in a few days.

[dreptak]

my risk, ace heart and then two heart I think partner have a single in heart
West
6S
3H
2D ( 1D) (3D)
2C (3C) (1C)

[pbleighton]

"my risk, ace heart and then two heart I think partner have a single in heart"

I think this is what I would do. However, from the tenor of the post, I doubt this is it. So in the spirit of seeking an unusual solution...

You need 5 tricks. Assume you get the A of H and the AQ of C. If partner has the A of D, you are home. If not, your K of D is done for if dummy has an entry. Play the 10 on the first trick, playing for West to have the Kx, or for partner to have the K. If West has the Kx, he must cover, eliminating his entry to dummy and not costing you a trick, since your A will still score.

[inquiry]

Hi guys,

First, partner does have a singleton HEART unless you are playing lead low from doubleton (very popular among some european countries). You know this because...

1) Partner didn't choose to raise hearts, but bid 2NT for minors... so he lacks 3 card (or 4 card) support.
2) The heart five is the lowest heart not in your hand or dummy. So partner has 1 heart. Since your partner isn't leading this from legnth it is a singleton.

You know a few other things with a good partner. One is that he will not be 6-4 in the minors. After your double, he would have simply bid his longer minor. You also know that he is probably not 5-5, simply because with that hand he would be 2-1-5-5, and would assume they have a 9 or 10 card fit and that you have a 9 card fit in clubs, and he would bid again over 3S. In fact, if partner has five clubs and four diamonds in a 3-1-4-5 hand, he is likely to have bid again based upon the theory of overbidding the Law of total tricks by one in competitive situations.

Finally you know he will not have a hand like
S-Kxx H-x D-Axxxx C-xxxx or he would have doubled 3S (with this hand, you will set 3S three with the add of a trump promotion if you are clever enough to cash one diamond before before playing a fourth round of hearts for a trump promotion).

The long and short of this is, 1) you sure partner can get 2 heart ruffs, 2) you are sure you have a club entry to your hand (for the second heart ruff).

There are two things to think about on this hand. The first is if you can make 3 or 4 clubs (which is very likely), can you have to beat this contract three tricks to get a great score. The most likely hand to beat it three, however is not really all that likely (you need a trump promotion in partners hand). Second, after your partner ruffs a couple of hearts, there will likely be a spade entry to dummy (if declearer has a very low spade among his 6 or maybe 7S) so dummy's "big" spade would be an entry for a loser discard on dummy's last heart.

Normally, you would try to beat the best score we could get if we played the hand. But since I think we can make 3 or 4 clubs for +110, and I believe that down 3 for them is somewhat unlikely given my partner's willness to sell out at 3 level, so perhaps you should just try to beat this contract 2 tricks.

The main concept is declearer will not hold something like...

S-AKQxxxx
H-Kxx
D-Ax
C-x

Because he bid this so timidly. So partner will have eithre the Diamond ACE or the Spade KING to justify his 2NT bid (with 5-4 in minors and junk, he could pass 2S and let you balance again).

So one strategy to maximize your tricks is to win heart ACE, and lead the Diamond King. On this card, your partner will clearly give count when declearer plays low. If partner shows an odd count, it must be 4 (for with 6Diamonds, declearer would be trumping). If partner shows an odd number, it must be five (I actually would play partner for 3-1-5-4 without cashing this diamond since with 5Clubs he would be bidding 4C over 3S I think).

When DK wins, I return a low heart (Lavinthal signal) for partner to ruff, asking for a club return. Partner will trump, and now he returns a low club. If partner had shown 4 diamonds, I will win the ACE if dummy plays low (if partner leads the CLUB JACK and dummy plays low I still win the ACE). Now I lead another heart for partner to ruff. He will now cash his diamond ACE. If partner showed odd number of diamonds, of course I win the club queen and return another low heart for another club lead.

This way you get your 2C or 2D (which ever is appropriate) as well as heart ACE and two heart ruffs. And should partner have the impossible hand (S-Kxx H-x D-Axxxx C-xxxx) you will beat it three, scoring 1D, 2C, 1H, 2H ruffs and when you lead the fourth heart, partner will get a trump promotion. Good thing too, because with that hand, you were making 4 Clubs, but again, with that hand, your partner should double 3S.

A second strategy is to simply return a low club at trick two, and win the club switch return the HEART TEN based upon the strategy that he will not have five clubs. But if he does have five clubs he is 3-1-4-5 or 2-1-5-5. On the second heart ruff (the heart ten), he will not return a second club if he had five of them. He will either lead the diamond ACE if he is out of trumps, of if he has the unlikely diamond ACE, and spade King left, he will underlead the diamond ACE due to your Diamond signal with the Heart Ten (if he has only 4 clubs, he rates to return a club anyway, despite your signal.

I would go with the line with HEART ACE, then DIAMOND KING with my regular partner, because with a hand like....
S-Qxx H-x D-xxxxx C-Jxxx he would pass 2C rather than bid 2NT freely. Then when I reopened again, he would bid 2NT for me to pick a minor. So I am fairly sure he has the diamond ace, and he doesn't have six of them.

[eyhung]

After much thought I think I see the "trick" to this hand.

First, here are the inferences we should draw (see inquiry's post for the reasons):

1) Partner has a singleton heart.
2) Partner has 3 spades.
3) Partner is 3145 or 3154 (although i disagree with inquiry in that partner is likely 3145 because with 3154 he might bid 3D as I will respond 3C with 33 in the minors)
4) Partner has spade king/diamond ace (maybe even spade ace), but not two critical cards.

Next, the goal.

I disagree that the goal is to beat a club partial. We need to set the contract three to do so, and that appears impossible on the above inferences. Also, people are unlikely to be playing in 3C when an opponent has a good 7-card spade suit. Furthermore, I disagree with inquiry that partner would have competed to the 4-level with a cruddy 3145. My 3C preference does not show 4 clubs, it merely shows equal or longer clubs than diamonds. For all partner knows, I could have soft heart values with 2533 shape, which will play terribly in 4C. And when 4C is making, 3S is almost certainly going down enough tricks to compensate (the LAW). If there are enough total trumps to make 4C a good bet with a 3145 hand, then I should be the one bidding 4C, not him.

So my goal is to beat the contract and take my +50 (+100), which will beat all the poor/average defenders in the room, or the bidders who think the 4-level is a nice place to be and are wrong. I may pay off to +100 vs. +130 (in 4C) when there are 17 total tricks, but it's important at matchpoints not to try to cater to every outcome -- just the most frequent outcomes.

Given that goal, if partner has an ace or is 3154, the defense is straightforward. Heart ace, heart ruff, club, heart ruff, minor suit winners, trump promo.

However, if partner has Kxx of spades (and not K43) and is 3145, then the straightforward defense of ace, ruff, club, ruff will run into problems. After this sequence, a club return is best, but declarer will ruff the return in hand with a middle spot, draw trump with the ace (dropping king and jack), cross to dummy with the 5 of spades (overtaking the 4 or 3), and take the diamond finesse to take 9 tricks (7 spades, 2 diamonds). Oops!

In order to deny declarer an entry to the board with the spade 5, the solution must be to duck heart ace. Then declarer cannot reach the board without letting the defense in to execute spade ruffs / trump promo. And declarer cannot draw trump or he gets stuck in his hand. (I'll leave the details for someone else.)

Of course, ducking heart ace is catastrophic if partner has the diamond ace, for then declarer will clear trump and score 7 spades and 2 hearts. But if partner has diamond ace, then declarer has a solid 7-card spade suit with a working heart king. I think he would have bid the hand differently. And I've already explained why I think partner is more likely to be 3145 than 3154. But you have to be confident in the bidding of both your partner and declarer to pull this off. If both can be trusted to have their bids, then ducking the heart ace is the right play.

Eugene

[inquiry]

Quote

3) Partner is 3145 or 3154 (although i disagree with inquiry in that partner is likely 3145 because with 3154 he might bid 3D as I will respond 3C with 33 in the minors)
Eugene

Hi Eugene,

A nice line. Yes I worried about the low SPADE entry to dummy after after two Heart ruffs (mentioned this in my post), and considered a similar line. But you have to know your partner's style. If your partner bids 2NT with the hand you are proposing (see below) it is a great line, and the only one that works...

S-Kxx
H-x
D-xxxx
C-Jxxxx

But if your partner has something like S-xxx H-x D-Axxx C-xxxxx, this line is not real successful. I think partner is more likely to hold the second than the first. Also, I think you may have misread or I miss-wrote if you thought I was adovacting trying to beat the 110 or 130 you would likely score in clubs... what I said was "you have to beat this contract three tricks to get a great score. The most likely hand to beat it three, however is not really all that likely." and "" believe that down 3 for them is somewhat unlikely given my partner's willness to sell out at 3 level, so perhaps you should just try to beat this contract 2 tricks."

But somehow, I suspect the winning solution on this hand is your to duck, playing partner for specifically SPADE Kxx and 4 little diamonds. Qxx will not be good enough, as south could just play three round of spades and then force entry to dummy for diamond hook else why would the_hog find it so interesting.

Ben

[eyhung]

I already addressed your concern in the last paragraph of my previous answer -- I stated that if partner has the diamond ace, my proposed defense is atrocious, as it lets declarer make an unmakeable contract. I also explained that partner is less likely to hold the diamond ace ... not because of partner's style, but because of the way declarer bid. If partner has the diamond ace, declarer has a solid 7-card suit with at least one trick on the side (heart king), that is :

AKQxxxx
Kxx
xx
x

With that hand, he might not rebid just 2S. Or he might not have chosen to overcall a mere 1S.

My point is that there are two mysteries of the hand that we must guess before we can make our decision at trick 1:

1) Whether partner holds the spade king or diamond ace. Declarer's bidding indicates he is more likely to be missing the spade king because solid suits tend to be bid more aggressively.

2) Whether partner has 3145 or 3154. Partner's bidding (using 2NT instead of just bidding 3D directly) implies 3145, not 3154.

Finally, if and only if partner has 3145 with the spade king, we must duck heart ace. So that is my answer, duck heart ace in a good (national-level) event, and take heart ace in any lower event. In such an event, I think the clues are strong enough to point to 3145 with the king being the "right" hand.

Well, Hog? What's the real answer?

Eugene

[the hog]

Sorry about the delay - Autumn Nationals were on.

Here is David Burn's answer.

"If partner as AD or 4 clubs there is no problem and if partner has AS there is no problem. The danger hand is Kxx x xxxx Jxxxx because if partner takes two ruffs declarer has an entry to dummy with the 5 of spades. If I win the AH declarer unblocks K and partner is powerless to stop declarer getting to dummy. If declarer doesn't unblock partner can handle the situation, don't ruff the K of hearts. To counter the unblock I have to duck the first heart and we then take club, diamond, heart, heart ruff and the KS.





Well, this was the full deal:

K83
5
9872
J9853
AQ109764 52
K96 QJ73
A5 QJ64
6 K102
J
A10842
K103
AQ74

You must duck the first heart even though partner has led a known singleton. In the fullness of time, you will come to SK, HA, a club, a heart ruff - and a
diamond, for declarer will not be able to take the finesse.

Should you play for this layout? Various comments have been made about the bidding, but the actual high-card distribution is more or less what you should expect. Declarer probably does not have seven spades to the AKQ or AKJ and HKxx - players with that sort of holding tend to bid rather more aggressively than this West has done. So partner has a high spade - in which case, he does not have DA and nine cards in the minors, for he would have doubled 1S.

However - if the layout is as above, then declarer has misplayed the hand; he can secure his contract by playing a heart honour from dummy at trick one. Should you take this into account and decide that the layout cannot be as above? You would need to have a pretty high opinion of West to do this, in my view; the play of a heart honour from dummy is not at all automatic.

I posted the hand more for its curiosity value than anything else - how often is it right to duck partner's singleton lead when you have at least one and perhaps two sure side entries? At the table? "

Excellent analysis, Eugene. I owe you a beer.Would you have found this line at the table?

[eyhung]

Hog --

No, I am certain I would not have gotten it at the table! I think world-class players might get it in a good event, though. As I said, the clues are there, but you need to be confident in both declarer and partner, and you need to be on top of every hand and treat each hand as a potential "problem hand".

Eugene

[Codo]

Hi all,

So, players with

AKQxxxx
Kxx
xx
x
bid what after I open 1 Heart?
Is this hand a crystalclear jump to 4 spades?
We do all agree, that the hand is much too strong for a weak jump to 2 or 3 spade or?

I really doubt, that AQxxxxx,Kxx,Ax,x
is a clear one spade bid and the hand given above is a clear 4 Spade bid.
Sure, the defence in the second hand is one trick better. But this should not be such a big difference. After all, even with the first hand, 3 NT could be a much better contract in matchpoints then 4 Spades.

So I am not too certain about the given solution. This way wins only, if declarer has a singelton club, doubleton ace of diamond and AQxxxxx in spades and "misplayed" the first trick.

It looses if the minors are 1,2 or if pd has the ace of Diamond.
Well David is famous, I am not, but still...

Kind Regards

Roland

[rtewari]

On the given hand, the declarer has to be careful to unblock hearts from both hands. Otherwise, the contract can be beaten on correct defense.

Let us say, declarer plays heart honor from dummy and you win the ace and declarer does not throw heart king under your ace (thus creating an extra heart loser). Continue with a heart. If declarer plays a small heart, partner should ruff and back a club and you can exit a spade. Heart king is blocked in declarer's hand. If declarer play the heart king, your partner should refuse to ruff thereby getting to the same situation as declarer playing low on the opening lead and you also playing low.

By playing high hearts from both dummy and hand, declarer assures himself of an entry to take diamond finesse - a little tricky to find on the table.