The Thirty-second Stratagem: Empty City

This deal happened in RR7 China vs Turkey of 17th World Youth Team Championships.

Board 10

Dealer: East

Vul: Both

North East South West

Pass Pass Pass

1♢ Pass 1♠ Pass

2♢ Pass 2NT AP

Lead: ♠8

The leading signal is attitude which means higher is more discouraging, lower is more encouraging. This signal is quite different from the 4th best leading. So that both West and East will know there's no any hope on ♠ after first trick. You just have 4♠, 1♡, 2♢ 7 tricks. The structure of ♢ is real ugly. Even if doubleton QJ exists, there is still a ♢8 outside. Setting ♢ is impossible because the loser will up to 6 first.

So how to play now?

I don't why the stratagem of empty city by Zhu geliang suddenly emerged in my brain that time. So I won with the ♠J and played a small ♣ quickly from the table. She would not continue to attack ♣ in a high rate. There's only one chance for me that West won the second trick and shifted ♡ with A. And then I would get 2♡ and brought contract home. Everything happened as expected.

The full deal

Board 10

Dealer: East

Vul: Both

Actually, West didn't calculate the points carefully. I already had ♠AKQ, so it was for me to hold ♣A. And West had ♣KQ and it quite strange that the declarer didn't set up ♢.

Comments

Online training: An unexpected but reasonable ducking

HAHAHA, after one month off bridge, I'm back!!! This deal happened in our weekly online training, Nov 5th, 2018. First of all, I have to admit my mistake. Hahaha, to be honest, the training was quite boring. After 12 boards, the scores were still 2:2. Although I knew X was not allowed and I would be fined if 3♣X was brought home, I still couldn't help to doing that. Board 13 Dealer: North Vul: Both North East South West Pass Pass 1♢ 2♢* 2♡* 2♠ Pass Pass 3♣ X AP 2♢: Michael 2♡: ♣ suit, better than 3♣ Lead: ♡3 (if hasn't raised, count has a priority. That is to say, xxx lead the smallest card) Table followed ♡9. Normally, you would play ♡Q causally. Would it be correct in this case? Leading analysis: East seems to hold 3♡, unless East hold ♡32. In that case, North might not scramble for 3♣ under such vulnerability if North has 4 cards ♡. Bidding analysis: There is no doubt that East doubled,

Asian Game_ Pairs Final: Creating an entry!

This deal happened in the last segment of Asian Game Pairs Finals. Who played this deal would never be mentioned in my blog. I was quite afraid of being accused of insulting players. Board 15 Dealer: South Vul: N-S South West North East 2♡* Pass Pass X Pass 2♠ Pass 3NT AP 2♡: Weak 6 cards ♡ Lead: ♣4 North followed ♣Q and you won with the ♣A. And now, how to play? Now you had 3♣, 1♡, so you need 4♠ and 1♢. You must assume that South hold ♢A and North hold ♠K. Otherwise it would down quickly. The leading was quite strange. If he was 1-6-3-3, he would lead ♢. If he was 2-6-2-3, ♡ was the normal leading. I felt South hold 4 cards ♣, because he led quickly. However, it was hard to say. Anyway, you need 2 entries to finesse ♠K. One was ♢K, appreciating the leading, ♣9 became another entry. Before everything, you must knock out ♣J first. 1. If South won with the J and returned ♣. The distribution was clear. And South must hold d

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, no more information I thought. May

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