Where is the sixth winner?!

For some reasons, the blog hasn't been updated since the end of April. And now I'm back, HAHAHA!

This is the deal in our weekly online training.

Board 1
Vul: None
Dealer: North

North East South West
Pass 1♣ 1♢ 1♠*
Pass 2♡ Ap

1♠: take out X
Lead: ♢K

Trick North East South West
1 ♢T ♢A ♢K ♢4
2 ♡Q ?

You lead ♢K and the declarer wins with the ♢A. Then the declarer plays ♡Q quickly. Now how to defend? Assuming that you duck on the first round and win with ♡A on the next round. You partner follows ♡8 and ♡5 respectively.

What we do first is to estimate the points and the distributions of the declarer's hand. He might hold 3♠, 4♡, 3♢, 3♣ or 2-4-3-4. You could win 2♢ and 1♡ now. The signal from your partner shows that he hold ♠AQ at least. Will you cash ♢ certainly? If you do that, where is the sixth winner?

If declarer is 2-4-3-4, the contract is icy. So the declarer must have 3♠ and the sixth winner will come from ruffing the third ♠ or through ♠ twice. So you should shift ♠ at once and ♢ is the connection between defenders.

Pay attention please: For North, it's still a challenge. If North holds ♠AQX, he should play ♠AQ before shifting ♢ to prevent blocking.

The full deal:
Board 1
Vul: None
Dealer: North

Comments

Online training: Please remember to detect the honors beforehand !!!

This deal happened in our weekly online training last Monday. I couldn't concentrate my attention due to the lack of card sense online. Rookie mistake should be mentioned here. Board 13 Vul: Both Dealer: North East West 1NT 2♣ 2♡ 4♡ Lead: ♠7 South led ♠7 while North followed ♠J. And I won with the ♠Q. Now what's your plan? ♠7 seemed to be doubleton. Firstly, you couldn't avoid to lose 1♠, 1♢ and 1♣ at least. In other word, you must make a right guess in who had ♡Q. For me, due to the leading, I had supposed South hold long ♡ and he hadn't led trump, so I just played casually, cashing ♡K, then ♡J->♡2->♡5->♡Q... Oops... Doing some detection first to find more clues might be a better choose. Sending out ♢ first and whatever who won, he had no choice but to return ♢ or ♠. I could win in hand. Crossing to table with ♣K. And now the distribution was clear. If one A for each, now it was your guess time, n...

Interactive Hand Testing

Fu Bo shared this deal with me. This deal happened in the open pair qualify of the 15th Would Bridge Series. She asked me could you find out the defense even if you saw 4 hands. Interactive hand analysis was interesting and played an important role in improving bridge technique. Although double-dummy analysis always stood on a God view, it was essential in a post-mortem analysis. This was first time to show a interactive hand analysis here. I'd appreciate if you could share any interesting double-dummy with me. How to defend 4♠? In this case, defenders should prevent declarer from ruffing ♣ or from winning 3♢. How to cut the connection between table and hand became a serious problem. Timing and speed were the crucial point. 1. Leading ♣ A slow step, losing an upper hand. Declarer could win with the ♣A and sent out small ♣. Even if the defender shift to trump, the declarer was a step ahead. (a) Returning small trump, won by North, ruffing a small ♣ and finessing ...

The Premier League Final China 2018: Get professional! How a declarer became a defender

This deal happened in the last segment of The Premier League Final China 2018, PD Times VS Hengzhou. Board 8 Dealer: West Vul: None West North East South Lorenzin J.Li Bessis Z.Fu Pass Pass Pass 1♣* Pass 1♢* Pass 1NT Pass 2♡* X XX* 3♢ 3♡* Pass 4♠ AP 1♣: Precision 2♡, 3♡: Transfer Lead: ♡3 (3rd/5th) South won with the ♡A while you followed ♡J. Then the declarer crossed to the table with ♠J to lead a small ♡ from table. Now what's your plan? Who holds the ♡T and where is the ♢A become 2 serious questions. First, 3♢ indicates that West holds 4 ...

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