[inquiry]

Sometimes, lessons don't sink in. I was playing this one with a student. We had agreed to use Glenn Ashton responses to a takeout double. Basically, you jump in your suit only with five card (or longer suit) and SIX or more points (or five points with specifically KQ in the five card suit. Student only remembered the jump in a five card suit part of the requirement, explaining why we got to game.

Again, we see the first two tricks by clicking on the NEXT button twice. Click it a third time to see the position after West leads the ♦K to trick three. On the shift to the ♦King at trick three, how should south continue?

I think by adding the question about the level of the problem, if done over a wide range of problems, we might get some kind of consensus of what level of play we think occurs at the different levels. I broke intermediate up into three ranges as it is probably the largest area of uncertainty, but maybe should just have left it as intermediate.

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[eagles123]

i think the club lead is likely singleton with 6 hearts as he might bid 4 with 7 so i thnk his sh ape will be 3631 or 4621 or 2641. with the k d shift suggesting a d onour sequence so prob not 4621. therefore i would win the diamond and play 1 trump hoping for the 2641 shape. if w is 3631 i'm prob screwed though lol

[Cyberyeti]

eagles123, on 2014-May-07, 13:56, said:

i think the club lead is likely singleton with 6 hearts as he might bid 4 with 7 so i thnk his sh ape will be 3631 or 4621 or 2641. with the k d shift suggesting a d onour sequence so prob not 4621. therefore i would win the diamond and play 1 trump hoping for the 2641 shape. if w is 3631 i'm prob screwed though lol

Specifically a trump to the A if you're doing that so you can then ruff the clubs good if necessary and get back to them.

[kenberg]

I'll let others, if they feel the need, decide whether I qualify as a late intermediate or whatever. Here is how I think I would play the hand. I win the first club and I lead a spade to my Ace. I then lead a small club toward the board. It seems that after the X and the jump, xx / AKxxxx/ KQxx / x would not justify a 3♥ call opposite a passing partner, so I assume the ♠ K is on my left. If Kxx is on my left, I am going down as near as I can tell. So I play for Kx on my left. I see little reason to let the K take my Q.

If he ruffs with the King and plays a diamond, or a heart and then a diamond, I rise, ruff a small club and draw trump, ending on the board, making 5 . If he ruffs and plays a heart and another heart, I can afford to ruff, cash a spade, and run clubs until he ruffs in with his last trump, then back in diamonds to resume clubs, making 4. More likely he does not ruff. I win the club on the board and ruff back to my hand. If he now overruffs, it's basically the same as the above. If he does not overruff, I lead a spade so he takes his spade. Whatever he returns, I am fine.


Imo, leading a singelton when you have no prayer of getting partner on lead is a bit weird, particularly with Kx, but it is hard to imagine what else it would be. And I really don't see how to make this with Kxx on my left. If indeed the club is a singleton it seems that the lead of the King of diamonds at T1 would have set the contract. Even if, when you are in with the spade K, the continuation of the diamond Q drops partner's Jack, a third diamond produces a ruff.

[kenberg]

I hae been thinking a little about how to handle this if West has three spades. I just don't see the singleton lead with Kx in spades, actually I don't think much of the singleton lead anyway, but let's try it with W holding Kxx. If West is 3=6=3=1. I guess the plan is you duck a diamond and take the second one and run the spades. It doesn't work. One round of clubs, two of diamonds, five in spades. East has no problem coming down to a heart, a diamond, three clubs. Declarer can cash his five spades, the diamond ace he has, cash a second club and then attempt to throw E in with a diamond, forcing a club return. But E has a heart.

OK, maybe W is 3=6=4=1. Take the second diamond. W saves a diamond and a heart, E saves a heart.

Or take the first diamond. Doesn't help as near as I can see. Ducking diamonds twice would be an interesting play!

So I just don't see it. If W has three spades then spades must be drawn before another club is played. After which, there are not enough tricks on top, and there is no way to set up clubs and get to them.


Please show a poor late intermediate what he is missing. If I play W for Kx in spades it seems this is fairly straightforward. If he has Kxx it seems it is impossible.

I still think W should have led a diamond at T1. He will have a decision to make after small, small, small. But it's a start. Incidentally, if he does lead the ♦ K I think third had gives attitude about the Jack, not count.

[kenberg]

Ah ha. With a defensiove eerror, maybe it can be made with three spades on the West hand. Club lead, spade Q taken by the King, Diamond King. Let os assume East holds Jxx in diamonds. Declarer ducks the first diamond. Suppose West now takes a heart and continues the Queen of diamonds. Opps. Declarer takes his Ace and runs the trump. One round of clubs, two rounds of diamonds, five rounds of spades, East must come down to four cards, three of them being clubs. If he tosses the Jack of diamonds then both of declarer's diamonds are good. Making 4. If he saves the diamond Jack he is thrown in and dummy runs clubs.

This would work, but clearly playing the second high diamond from the West hand is an error. It's obviously bad if declarer holds the Jack, and if East holds the Jack a small diamond is right. Moreover, the ♦K should get an attitude card from East when he holds Jxx, so playing small to the Jack is not tough.

Still, it could happen that declarer makes the hand when W is 3=6=3=1 with KQx in diamonds. He shouldn't, but he might.

[inquiry]

A unanimous poll for the correct play. Win the diamond ace, pull one round of trumps, and test clubs.

I was playing this one on line with the student with the ability to chat (playing against robots, chat after key plays or misplays, never during the bidding, etc... ). We had spent somet time after the bidding reviewing the bidding and why a jump to 2♠ was wrong. Anyway, the play went pretty fast, club ace, spade queen loses, diamond Ace wins. And without pause for thought, he told me, he had 11 tricks and he banged two rounds of trumps. When clubs proved to be 4-1, his 11 tricks quickly turned into eight.

So this was a good time to discuss the principle of that if clubs were splitting 3-2 originally, they would still be 3-2 after you play one more round of trumps (winning in declarer hand). Then test clubs. IF both follow, pull the outstanding trump, run clubs. If clubs are 4-1, you might find the opponent with four clubs also has three trumps. This is a bonus situation, you can then ruff a club, return to dummy, and enjoy five club winner, four trumps and the ♦A for 10 tricks.

So by playing one round of trumps (keeping entry in dummy) you still win 11 tricks when clubs split, and as a bonus, get 10 tricks when they don't split as long as the hand with three trumps also has the four clubs. I thought this an intermediate problem, and looks like the forum agrees. Here was the full hand with the misplay included.... ...

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[EricK]

Did you also point out that the ♣6 is a terrible lead?!

[kenberg]

My view of the error on offense:
Often you see players embark on a line that cannot possibly produce the required number of tricks. That was the case here. Surely the club is a stiff, so there are four to the jack to declarer's right. Where are ten tricks coming from?
I would say that is the error, rather than any particular line of play.

If it is too tough to see how to get ten tricks then so be it, but at least look. Maybe he did, maybe he didn't, but I strongly suspect that he didn't. He must think: That club lead looks like a stiff. If so, where are my ten tricks. Maybe he can find them, maybe he can't. We all come up short sometime. But the basic error is not thinking through whether he has ten or whether he has not.

I regard the defensive error of leading the singleton as far more serious.
The chance that he will get a ruff here is very low.
As it happens, he can get a ruff but it does not set the contract. Win the spade, underlead the Ace of hearts to partner's King (if he is not prepared to do this he should not lead his stiff, and a club comes back for the ruff. That's 3 tricks but, with careful play, that's all. Maybe best to now play the ace of hearts forcing a ruff in dummy. Declarer must ruff small, and with two hearts out he cannot overtake the J. No problem, cash the Jack, ruff a club to hand, draw the last trump. There are till three clubs in dummy, all good, and the diamond Ace is an entry..

So W should consider: He got his spade King while he still has a trump, he (in the replay) made a daring but successful underlead of his ♥ A, he got his ruff, declarer still made the hand. In a better replay, he starts with a prosaic ♦ K, he sets the hand with ease. . Surely it is worth his time to reflect on this.

[StevenG]

I thought (post 7) that West was a robot.

[inquiry]

StevenG, on 2014-May-08, 16:37, said:

I thought (post 7) that West was a robot.

Yes, EW were robots. I lecture them, but they never seem to listen. We "play" against the robots so we can stop and discuss problems and answer questions in real time. The robots are very understanding of the delays this discussion causes.

[kenberg]

I figure the bots have a grand old time laughing at my errors, so turnabout is fair play!

Actually it si something to keep in mind. I really think no human would have led his stiff on that hand. I figured he must have three trump, but I could figure no way to make it if he did have three.

[EricK]

I think it is useful to also point out to your student mistakes made by the robots. Learning from your own mistakes is good; but learning from the other sides mistakes as well is much faster. And, as you say, the robots don't mind if you chat about their mistakes!