rainbow@ihlts.UUCP (Robert) (01/04/86)
I had a most interesting hand come up. We bid an aggressive 6NT with the QD lead, east pitching the 8S. How did I make my contract? There was no defensive lapse and the opponents were good players. AKT9x S W N E Axx ------------------------- x 1D P 1S P AQJx 1NT P 2C(1) P 2H P 4NT(2) P xx 6NT P P P Kxxx AKTxx (1)-forcing Kx (2)-invitational
desj@brahms.BERKELEY.EDU (David desJardins) (01/04/86)
In article <689@ihlts.UUCP> rainbow@ihlts.UUCP (Robert) writes: >I had a most interesting hand come up. We bid an aggressive 6NT >with the QD lead, east pitching the 8S. How did I make my contract? >There was no defensive lapse and the opponents were good players. > > AKT9x S W N E > Axx ------------------------- > x 1D P 1S P > AQJx 1NT P 2C(1) P > 2H P 4NT(2) P > xx 6NT P P P > Kxxx > AKTxx (1)-forcing > Kx (2)-invitational There are only a few possibilities that I can see, none of which seem very likely... -- You can find a singleton (or doubleton??) spade honor with West, in which case you have four spades, two hearts, two diamonds, and four clubs. -- You can find West with QJ doubleton of hearts, or Qx and failing to unblock (presumably you have no heart spots...). In this case you eliminate the spade and three clubs from West's hand, let him win the second heart and lead into your diamond tenace, and then squeeze East in spades and hearts for your twelfth trick. -- You can find West with QJ10 tripleton of hearts, or Qxx and failing to unblock. Here you again eliminate his hearts and clubs, let him win the third heart, and again he leads into your diamonds. Now the thirteenth heart is good with no squeeze. -- You can find West with Qxxx of hearts. In this case you can play two spades and four clubs, squeezing West out of a heart, then put him in with the third heart to lead into your diamonds. It should be completely safe to play the clubs and get a count on West (assuming one spade) and then follow the indicated line (unless of course a spade honor drops from West). It would be best to play a heart toward the board at trick two; this is completely safe, and should make it hard for West to unblock with Qx of hearts... Then a spade and four clubs (pitching two diamonds) should indicate the correct course. If the Qx of hearts is what actually occurred, I would be interested to know if you played a heart early... -- David desJardins
halle@hou2b.UUCP (J.HALLE) (01/06/86)
Play west for 3 or 4 clubs, and 2 or 3 majors. Play clubs and the major winners necessary to strip west, i.e. a spade and a heart winner in dummy, and one other major winner (you better guess well). Throw west in with a low diamond. The forced diamond return gives you an eleventh trick. Playing the last diamond winner squeezes east in the majors.
halle@hou2b.UUCP (J.HALLE) (01/06/86)
Addendum to my earlier posting Actually there is no guess due to entry problems. Hope that west has no more than 1 spade, 2 hearts, and 4 clubs. Play clubs, one spade, and two hearts ending in hand. Now try the throwin and squeeze.
desj@brahms.BERKELEY.EDU (David desJardins) (01/07/86)
In article <689@ihlts.UUCP> rainbow@ihlts.UUCP (Robert) writes: >I had a most interesting hand come up. We bid an aggressive 6NT >with the QD lead, east pitching the 8S. How did I make my contract? >There was no defensive lapse and the opponents were good players. > > AKT9x S W N E > Axx ------------------------- > x 1D P 1S P > AQJx 1NT P 2C(1) P > 2H P 4NT(2) P > xx 6NT P P P > Kxxx > AKTxx (1)-forcing > Kx (2)-invitational Well, as the proposer has kindly pointed out to me my previous solution is incorrect (sigh). My apologies. The correct (hopefully...) solution follows: Win the opening lead and play a spade and four clubs. If East has a spade and two clubs (or no spades and three clubs) you must play for him to have three hearts to the queen (and to fail or to be unable to unblock); exit with the third heart forcing a diamond return into the tenace, and the thirteenth heart is your twelfth trick. It is also barely possible that East has four hearts; it would be possible to handle this case but you do not have enough entries once you discover the situation (assuming he is 0472). But the most likely possibility is that East has two hearts (one spade and three clubs). In this case you pitch a diamond and a *heart* from hand, cash AK of hearts ending in hand, and lead your thoughtfully pickled small diamond. East is forced to return a diamond into your tenace, giving you your eleventh trick and correcting the count for a simple spade-heart squeeze against West for the twelfth! My thanks to Robert for presenting this fascinating hand (and for quietly pointing out the inadequacy of my previous solution...). Also my apologies to the rest of you for burdening you with not one but *two* lengthy solutions. I hope we can see more interesting bridge in this newsgroup... -- David desJardins