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 doubleton ♢, otherwise he would shifted to ♢. Now it was easy to know how to play in ♠. If ♣ was 3-3, ♠ was 3-2. If ♣ was 4-2, ♠ was 4-1. There was a guess in ♠. South was singleton T or singleton small. This would be discussed here.
2. If South won with the J and returned ♢. North was the dangerous hand, so you must win the K and guess ♠ immediately.
3. If South ducked, he must hold 4 cards ♣. Then he couldn't escaped from being thrown in in the endplay. Cashing ♠A and knocking out ♠K. Even if North returned ♡, winning with the ♡A. Crossing to dummy's K if ♠ was 1-4. South would win with the last ♣ so that he was thrown in. 3♠, 2♡, 1♢, 3♣, totally 9 tricks.
The full deal
Board 15
Dealer: South
Vul: N-S
Reading the distribution plays an important role in bridge. A good player must catch all the information on the table. Never say give up in the worst situation!!! Luck and card sense was another important factor. In this case, guessing right in ♠ was the precondition.
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
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 doubleton ♢, otherwise he would shifted to ♢. Now it was easy to know how to play in ♠. If ♣ was 3-3, ♠ was 3-2. If ♣ was 4-2, ♠ was 4-1. There was a guess in ♠. South was singleton T or singleton small. This would be discussed here.
2. If South won with the J and returned ♢. North was the dangerous hand, so you must win the K and guess ♠ immediately.
3. If South ducked, he must hold 4 cards ♣. Then he couldn't escaped from being thrown in in the endplay. Cashing ♠A and knocking out ♠K. Even if North returned ♡, winning with the ♡A. Crossing to dummy's K if ♠ was 1-4. South would win with the last ♣ so that he was thrown in. 3♠, 2♡, 1♢, 3♣, totally 9 tricks.
The full deal
Board 15
Dealer: South
Vul: N-S
Hi, appreciated your article, Great effort!
ReplyDeleteCan you explain more on how to establish C9 as dummy entry? Following your line, declarer wins the first trick with CA. If Declarer plays C10, South ducks. If declarer plays C2, south wins with CJ, cashing DA and exit with low D.
But I agree the best effort from declarer is to play C10 at trick 2, tempting South to cash CJ.
If South ducked, the declarer wouldn't need 2 entries to get 4 tricks in spade. He would get 3 spades, 2 hearts, 1 diamonds and 3 clubs, because South couldn't avoid to be thrown in in the endplay. Knocking out the sk and Crossing to dummy's DK. The last club was the strip card. South had to play H and you would get 2 tricks in H.
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