[popovitsj]

This is a hand we played on our club last night. At the end of the night we always get a sheet that shows how many tricks each side should've made in each game. I played this particular hand very poorly and went -2 (0%). I see I should've made -1, but the sheet says N should make 9 tricks and S 8 tricks with Diamond as trump. But I don't see how!

Please help me out

They start ♥A

E/All
N: ♠ATxx ♥T9x ♦9xxx ♣Qx
E: ♠KQ9xxx ♥AQ ♦QTx ♣Kx
S: ♠Jx ♥Jxx ♦AKxx ♣AJ9x
W: ♠x ♥Kxxxx ♦Jx ♣T8xxx

1♠ - X - Pass - 2♦
2♠ - 3♦ - All pass

[mikeh]

Using these sheets can be interesting if what you are doing is solving a double-dummy problem. If, however, you are trying to improve your game, then (with rare exceptions), these sheets are counter-productive. The number of tricks is determined double dummy and it is a mistake to infer that good play will routinely deliver this number of tricks. Quite frequently, taking the announced number of tricks requires what would be, single dummy, remarkably bad play. You'll see, for example, that declarer never loses a 2 way finesse, always drops singleton honours offside, never takes a restricted choice finesse unless it works and so on.

One more hint: if you want players to help you with this sort of hand, try to use the create hand diagram feature so that we see the 4 hands in the traditional way.....don't worry....most of us (definitely me) had trouble learning the site features, but once you do, it'll work better for you.....

[popovitsj]

Thank you. I have noticed that sometimes it wins tricks that should'nt be won following regular guidelines (usually taking the finesse with 9 trumps), but quite often it seems to be a fairly accurate indicator. In any case, I'm usually able to see what way of playing yields the said number of tricks, but in this one I'm lost.

BTW, comments on the bidding are also welcome. We had a discussion on whether the 3♦ take-out was wise.

[mikeh]

---

ok here is the hand, with me making up the x's randomly.

they lead the heart A. How do you want E to continue?

Let's say he continues the heart Q: nothing looks any better.

W can overtake and give a ruff, but that costs E his trump trick, and declarer now gets 4 trump in dummy, 2 clubs, two club ruffs and the spade A for 9 winners.

And overtaking and returning a spade is no good, since now declarer cashes two trump and has a now-good heart...scores 3 trump, a heart, 2 clubs, a club ruff and a spade for 8 tricks

Overtaking and doing anything else is no better.


So West ducks the heart Q. Now what would you have E do? If he leads a black card, he gives up a trick immediately..he can't attack either black suit. So he leads a trump, and is lucky enough to find W with the J. Declarer simply plays 3 rounds of trump and E is endplayed....forced to break a black suit. Opener gets 3 trumps, two clubs, a club ruff, a spade and an extra trick in whichever black suit E plays, for 8 winners.


BTW, the 3♦ call was bad. N will play S for these values for the original double, so S is bidding the same values twice...never a good idea. He should pass 2♠.

[popovitsj]

Thanks so much

So basically you only make 9 tricks if EW play badly. I did figure 3♦ was not good, but not for the right reason.

[jmcw]

popovitsj, on 2011-October-05, 14:15, said:

This is a hand we played on our club last night. At the end of the night we always get a sheet that shows how many tricks each side should've made in each game. I played this particular hand very poorly and went -2 (0%). I see I should've made -1, but the sheet says N should make 9 tricks and S 8 tricks with Diamond as trump. But I don't see how!

Please help me out

They start ♥A

E/All
N: ♠ATxx ♥T9x ♦9xxx ♣Qx
E: ♠KQ9xxx ♥AQ ♦QTx ♣Kx
S: ♠Jx ♥Jxx ♦AKxx ♣AJ9x
W: ♠x ♥Kxxxx ♦Jx ♣T8xxx

1♠ - X - Pass - 2♦
2♠ - 3♦ - All pass

---

On a ♠ lead. You win pull 2 rounds of trumps and exit a ♠.
East can do no better than cash a ♦, 2 ♥ and out a ♠, pitching you losing ♥. Now you hook ♣ and eventually ruff the last ♠.
I think this sets up a ♥/♣ squeeze on West. Perhaps others will confirm.

[Elianna]

popovitsj, on 2011-October-05, 16:30, said:

Thanks so much

So basically you only make 9 tricks if EW play badly. I did figure 3♦ was not good, but not for the right reason.

That's not true. I have no time to think about the hand, but these DD sheets NEVER rely on opponents doing the wrong thing. In fact, on these sheets opponents are always believed to do the right thing (they get to play DD) too.

[manudude03]

Maybe not the answer you're looking for, but on jmcw's diagram, 3D only makes on a club or low spade lead.

Quote

On a ♠ lead. You win pull 2 rounds of trumps and exit a ♠.
East can do no better than cash a ♦, 2 ♥ and out a ♠, pitching you losing ♥. Now you hook ♣ and eventually ruff the last ♠.
I think this sets up a ♥/♣ squeeze on West. Perhaps others will confirm.

It doesn't, unfortunately you're in the south hand and the only way to cash the last trump in N (which would be your squeeze card) is in clubs which gives the defence their 5th trick (1S 2H 1D and 1C).

edit: just saw you said you'd finesse clubs. Assuming East covers, you don't have the communication to both ruff a spade and finesse clubs (and not destroy the squeeze)

[phil_20686]

pretty sure the defence can always beat this by end playing dummy into giving up a club trick.

Suppose the defense plays AQ hearts and a trump, 3 rounds of trumps but east back on lead, but he can lead the K of spades. If this holds a low spade endplays dummy, if this is take by the ace the spade suit is blocked, and one cannot untangle both the spades and the clubs. you can only ruff one of the losing clubs, and cannot arrange to pitch the other on a spade against alert defenders.

[twcho]

Spot cards are critical in deciding how many tricks you can make. For this hand, if North has ♠A108x, he will make 9 tricks in 3♦ while if he has only ♠A107x, he will get only 8 tricks with perfect defense.

[han]

mikeh, on 2011-October-05, 16:23, said:

---

ok here is the hand, with me making up the x's randomly.

they lead the heart A. How do you want E to continue?

Let's say he continues the heart Q: nothing looks any better.

W can overtake and give a ruff, but that costs E his trump trick, and declarer now gets 4 trump in dummy, 2 clubs, two club ruffs and the spade A for 9 winners.

And overtaking and returning a spade is no good, since now declarer cashes two trump and has a now-good heart...scores 3 trump, a heart, 2 clubs, a club ruff and a spade for 8 tricks

Overtaking and doing anything else is no better.


So West ducks the heart Q. Now what would you have E do? If he leads a black card, he gives up a trick immediately..he can't attack either black suit. So he leads a trump, and is lucky enough to find W with the J. Declarer simply plays 3 rounds of trump and E is endplayed....forced to break a black suit. Opener gets 3 trumps, two clubs, a club ruff, a spade and an extra trick in whichever black suit E plays, for 8 winners.


BTW, the 3♦ call was bad. N will play S for these values for the original double, so S is bidding the same values twice...never a good idea. He should pass 2♠.

Cheat sheets are useful because they prevent people from making an incorrect double dummy analysis. So does the GIB button.