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

NOTICE: Suspension of publication

Dear readers: For some personal reasons, I am sorry that the blogger would not be updated for a long time, at least one month. Thank you for your understanding. Best Wishes! X. Li 2018.9.30 ...

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: Eas...

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 ...

My Small Bliss

Search This Blog