[inquiry]

This contest is now open. Add your favorite hands (played or kibitzed) from the date of contest eight ending until we get the ten hands.

Ben

[Flame]

How good those hands should be ?
I had a fun hand yesterday, i was the only one to make 4H, with just one mistake by the opponents, helped us win that toppers tournament.
nothing too good but was fun.
http://bridgebase.lunarpages.com/cgi-bin/h...6917&tzoffset=0

Scoring: IMP

---

West North East South

 -     -     -     1♣
 Pass  1♠    Pass  2♥
 Pass  3♥    Pass  4♥
 Pass  Pass  Pass  

H9 H2 H4 HJ
CA C2 C4 C3
C5 C9 H3 H7
D5 DQ D4 D2
DA D7 D8 D3
D9 DJ H5 D6
SA S3 C6 S5
S2 S7 H6 S8
C7 CT HK DT
S4 SQ H8 SJ
HA SK S6 HT
C8 CQ S9 DK

[inquiry]

Flame, on Nov 29 2004, 05:57 PM, said:

How good those hands should be ?
I had a fun hand yesterday, i was the only one to make 4H, with just one mistake by the opponents, helped us win that toppers tournament.
nothing too good but was fun.
http://bridgebase.lunarpages.com/cgi-bin/h...6917&tzoffset=0

Until we get more hands submitted, I guess we should accept any that

1) Don;t make us look silly for suggesting them
2) Be the best "honest" result on a hand.. that is if 6 pairs bid 6♣ and make, you maing 6♣ should not be submitted, unless you took a 100% line (or much better line) than the other guys, but both lines make

I mean, it is hard for you to win for bidding slams if everyone esle is doing it also.

Ben

[Pavell]

inquiry, on Nov 29 2004, 03:33 PM, said:

This contest is now open. Add your favorite hands (played or kibitzed) from the date of contest eight ending until we get the ten hands.

Ben

- What is the best contract ?

6
KT976
QJT
6543

T94
A
AK98
AKT82

[Flame]

Pavell, on Nov 30 2004, 02:02 AM, said:

inquiry, on Nov 29 2004, 03:33 PM, said:

This contest is now open. Add your favorite hands (played or kibitzed) from the date of contest eight ending until we get the ten hands.

Ben

- What is the best contract ?

6
KT976
QJT
6543

T94
A
AK98
AKT82

5♣

[inquiry]

Pavell, on Nov 30 2004, 03:02 AM, said:

- What is the best contract ?

6
KT976
QJT
6543

T94
A
AK98
AKT82

The slam has 46.4% chance of making,

You make when spades are divided
xx --- QJ
Jx --- Qx
Qx --- Jx
Q --- Jxx
J --- Qxx

Note, you wll not make if west has QJ doubleton as you will play restricted choice.

So the best contract, at imps or matchpoint is 5♣. If you need a swing in an imp game, you might take a shot here at slam, but generally, no.

[inquiry]

Scoring: IMP

West North East South

 -     -     -     1♣
 Pass  1♠    Pass  2♥
 Pass  3♥    Pass  4♥
 Pass  Pass  Pass  

H9 H2 H4 HJ
CA C2 C4 C3
C5 C9 H3 H7 <<---- here a trump back would beat the contract.
D5 DQ D4 D2
DA D7 D8 D3
D9 DJ H5 D6
SA S3 C6 S5
S2 S7 H6 S8
C7 CT HK DT
S4 SQ H8 SJ <<---- elope with small trump.
HA SK S6 HT
C8 CQ S9 DK

---

This hand caused a lot of problems for the declarers. It was played in 4♥ and only FLAME made it on a trump elopment play... some went down two tricks.

I doubt fewer than a small handfull of players would have found the right play at the table, and that requires a lot of inference from the opening lead to boot. If you decide the heart nine was from 9x or singleton 9 (placing QT7 with East), if you decide the lead also was stimulatated by good holding in first bid suit (clubs), you might fall upon the "right play" which would have worth all the gold coins (And more) that the spectators would have thrown on the table.

It looks like you might have 4♥, 1♦, 1♣, 1♠ and two club rurrs, but tehn you will still need the diamond hook (your diamond ruff will evaporate on the trump back if diamond hook is off). The trump lead also puts into question two club ruffs too, as WEST likely is long and strong in clubs.

So instead, you plan on one club ruff, two diamonds, and diamond ruff. Now your total comes to 4♥, 2♦. 1♠, 1♣, 1♣ruff and 1♦ruff. What can go wrong? Hearts might be 4-1 so your 4th heart trick in your hand will be at some considerable risk, you can compesate for this by eloping with your small trumps with spade ruffs. Also East might overruff the club ruff, and return a trump, and you will have no way come to your 10 tricks. You get your four hearts in your hand for sure with the overruff, but you get effectively only one ruff in dummy.

So this becomes a timing problem Win the first heart in your hand with the JACK, cash the club ACE, and duck a club (discard diamond or spade). When South discards a spade (or diamond) on this club, you are glad you didn't ruff in dummy. If west continues another club, discard a spade from dummy (your second loser). West can't afford to continue club of he sets your clubs up for you. So he will lead a spade. Win the ace... pitch a club, and now play the very ending that FLAME found, involving ruffing a club with the king... so you take the diamond hook, cash the diamond winner, ruff a diamond. And lead a spade in this position.

Scoring: IMP

West North East South

 -     -     -     1♣
 Pass  1♠    Pass  2♥
 Pass  3♥    Pass  4♥
 Pass  Pass  Pass  

H9 H2 H4 HJ
CA C2 C4 C3
C5 C9 H3 H7 <<---- here a trump back would beat the contract.
D5 DQ D4 D2
DA D7 D8 D3
D9 DJ H5 D6
SA S3 C6 S5
S2 S7 H6 S8
C7 CT HK DT
S4 SQ H8 SJ <<---- elope with small trump.
HA SK S6 HT
C8 CQ S9 DK

---

If West pitches, you ruff small in your hand. If West ruffs with the seven, you overruff with the eight. If West ruffs with the Q or T, you discard a club. Any way he does it, you end up ruffing a club with the king and leading another spade to elope with your 10th tricks.

I know I would not have found the right play at trick three (pitch instead of ruff)... but maybe it can be found. However, great play by FLAME who made it when given the same chance some other declearers. Very nice play.

[pclayton]

Scoring: IMP

---

West Gospel East Clarsen

Pass Pass 1NT Pass
Pass 2♣ Pass 2♥
Pass Pass Pass

SQ S5 S6 S7
DQ D4 D2 DA
C6 C2 CT CQ
SA S4 S3 S8
SK H2 SJ S9
CJ C4 C3 CA
S2 D9 H3 ST
D6 DK DT D8
CK C7 D7 C8
D5 DJ H7 D3
H9 H6 HK H4
C9 H5 HJ H8
HA HT C5 HQ




Here's a nice hand Chris Larsen (Clarsen) played with Mark Lair (Gospel). Lair balanced with 2♣ over East's 1N and Chris took it out to 2♥. Whether or not its better to bid 2♥ directly is a matter of debate.

The defense started with a spade, but found the shift to diamonds. Chris focused on clubs first, hooking to East's Queen. East incorrectly continued spades crashing the suit, not only setting up Chris' ten, but also giving him the tempo to establish a club trick.

East gave West the spade ruff and West continued diamonds to arrive at this position:

Scoring: IMP

---

Chris cashed the club pitching a diamond, and ruffed a diamond shortening his trump. Now heart to King, and club off dummy to execute a trump coup oon East.

Certainly the defense fell down once or twice, but it was a nice play.

[inquiry]

I nominate Kleek's fine squeeze for this contest.

http://bridgebase.lunarpages.com/cgi-bin/h...tchlin=10212711

Scoring: IMP

West North East South

 -     1NT   Pass  2♥
 3♣    Pass! Pass  4♣
 Pass  4♦    Pass  6♠
 Pass  Pass  Pass  

---

SJ S2 S3 SA
CJ CA C7 C2
CQ CK C4 D7
ST S6 SK S9
SQ C3 D3 C5
H2 H5 HQ H3
HA H8 H7 HT
H4 H9 S5 HK
S7 C6 D5 D2
S8 C9 H6 D4
S4 D9 C8 D8
DT DK DA DJ
D6 HJ DQ CT

[Flame]

I'll try another one from yesterday.
http://online.bridgebase.com/cgi-bin/history.pl?...01703562-505660

Scoring: IMP

West North East South

 -     -     Pass  1♣
 Pass  1♥    Pass  1NT!
 Pass  Pass  Pass  

---

S5 S3 SJ SQ
S4 SK S6 S2
H5 H2 HA H9
H4 HT H3 H6 <<----- Trick 4
S8 SA S9 D6
C4 C2 CQ C3
C7 C6 C5 CK
D5 D8 DK D2
ST S7 D7 C9
HK D3 H7 HJ <<------ Trick 10
CA CJ H8 CT
C8 D9 DT HQ
D4 DQ DA DJ
This hand i played had two critical desicions, first at trick 4, should i put the K to catch Hx at west hand or put the 10 for AQJx in east's hand ?
I choose the successuf one and played the 10.
At trick 6 west lead a club i had few squeezes options, as it looked east's hand was 2434 (east early diamond discard wouldnt be from 4 cards) i had a club heart on east, unfortunetly there werent enough entries for that, but if the diamonds honors splits i can make it. i ducked the club, if east play back a diamond i can play small and later crush east's J. if east play heart or club (as he did)
The ending possition was

Scoring: IMP

West North East South

 -     -     Pass  1♣[/font]
 Pass  1♥    Pass  1NT!
 Pass  Pass  Pass  

---

When i played the 10 of spade discarding a diamond from dummy, east is squeezed, if he choose to discard the J of diamond, i would finnese to the 10 of diamond (at this point i know exactly what he as) if he discard a club my clubs are good.

[inquiry]

Flame, on Dec 2 2004, 02:23 PM, said:

Dealer: ????? Vul: ???? Scoring: Unknown

♠   ♥ 87 ♦ A107 ♣   ♠ 7 ♥   ♦ Q93 ♣ J ♠   ♥ QJ ♦ J ♣ 109 ♠ 10 ♥ K ♦ 4 ♣ A8

When i played the 10 of spade discarding a diamond from dummy, east is squeezed, if he choose to discard the J of diamond, i would finnese to the 10 of diamond (at this point i know exactly what he as) if he discard a club my clubs are good.

Those of you who are following the squeeze "lesson" (lectures? post?) will recongnize this ending as a guard squeeze (link to the post dealing with them http://forums.bridgebase.com/ind...indpost&p=45464 )

Let's review why this works....

Both is right (east quards against heart and club)
Loser is right (have four winners in five card ending)
Upper is right, as heart threat and club threat are divided, but
Entry - primary entry is flawed, as there is no entry to dummy in clubs or hearts
(squeeze card is spade TEN).

Fortunately, the entry to dummy (off suit) is partially finessable. So the spade ten (discard the diamond) squeeze EAST. As Flame points out, any way he goes, he loses. Also, it is important to note, that if you cash the heart KING before the spade TEN, you will lose a trick. Do you see why?

The defense could have been a little better, but the club back at trick 7 broke up a pending criss-cross squeeze, and also note if Flame had played club ace and ducked a club instead of simply ducking a club (blocking the club suit), there would also be one trick less.

Ben

[Fluffy]

Kitta just beated me and helium on a team match, partnering maximo64, they found this unbeateable vulnerable 4♠, wich was worth 11 Imps when I let my oppponents play 3♥ undoubled on the other board.


http://online.bridgebase.com/cgi-bin/histo...tchlin=11188950

Scoring: IMP

E-Kitta-W - Max
ps -1♦ -1♥-X*
ps -2♦ -ps -2♥
X -ps -ps -3♦
ps -3♠ -ps -4♠
ps -ps -ps

---

The play is simple, if defence start with 3 ♥ you ruff, draw trumps entering with ♦Q and make 10 tricks, if they do anything else, you play ♣ finese to score it as 10th trick.

[inquiry]

Scoring: IMP

West North East South

- - - Pass
Pass 1♣ Pass 1♥
Pass 4♥ Pass Pass
Pass

---

Here is another hand played correctly by BBO Gold Star Dinos1 (Sergey Kustarov), note safety play in hearts combined with strip endplay in case East had three hearts to KJ as he in fact did. Well played Sergey

CJ CA C2 C4
HA H9 H2 H8
CK C6 C8 C5
DK D2 DA D3
DQ D4 D7 D9
DJ D5 C9 DT
CQ C7 S3 C3
H4 D6 HQ HK
HJ H5 D8 H3
SA

http://online.bridgebase.com/cgi-bin/histo...etchlin=1335349

Ben

[inquiry]

Finally, caught a hand by our fearless leader. Fred was south on this one.

Scoring: IMP


West North East South

 -     1♣    1♠    2♥
 2♠    3♣    Pass  4♥
 Pass  Pass  Pass  

---

SA S3 ST S2
S8 S4 SK SJ
S5 H7 S7 SQ
C2 C4 CA C3
CK C7 D2 C9
C5 CQ H3 CT
DK D3 D4 DJ
D8 D6 DA D7
D9 D5 H8 DQ
HA H2 C6 H4


This hand is dicussed in another thread... Fred chooses a line to avoid a trump promotion on fourth round of trumps, well done.

Ben

[winkle]

Scoring: IMP

East:
Pass 1♦ Pass 2♣
Pass 2NT Pass 3NT
Pass Pass Pass

---

Here is one by Michael Rosenberg, against Benito Garozzo (west) and Lea Dupont (east).

On the ♥6 lead, declarer won with the king and lead a diamond to the deuce, queen, and ace. East returned the ♥7 to declarer's ace, west playing the four. Now declarer cashed the ♣Q, followed by a club ducked to east, west pitching the ♥3.

Now east switched to the deuce of spade. West won the ace and fired back the ♠3. Rosenberg in tempo played the ... ♠Q! Making 4.

This deal was over a month ago so unfortunately it's not in myhands any more.

Does anyone know how Rosenberg deduced the right play?

[inquiry]

Well, don't count on this logic to be that used by the world class declarer, but here goes two guesses as one.

West appears to be 4441. Why? He had one club, and his heart plays (2nd best as attitude) and he then played heart 4 then 3) makes the four card suit seem clear. This passive lead at imps suggest no better alternative. Surely a diamond into bidder from Txxx (at best, xxxx otherwise) doesn't seem wise. But with AJxx an attacking spade lead so that partner can lead through a hypothetical honor might be tried. If West was Axxx, then neither play will work (lose 3♠, 1♦, 1♣. So that is it, you are trying to decide what WEST would lead from these two holdings (if he had Axxx you can't go right)...

♠AKxx    ♠AJxx
♥9643    ♥9643
♦Txxx    ♦Txxx
♣x       ♣x

So if you judge it is more likley for an attacking spade lead from AJxx than from AKxx, you must play the queen, else play small. There are two additional reason to playing the queen. First a silly mathematical one, the odds either high or low can be right are about equal, but playing the queen gains a trick wihen it is right (make four), playing low (when it is right) you will only make 3....tend to take the higher payoff with equal odds. Finally, if WEST did have AJxx, the defense would be uniliely to have set 3NT at the other tables. West would most often start low spade, and everyone would play, forcing the king. Now the field is assured 9 top tricks. But anyone underleading the AKxx of spades at trick one would likley be rewarded with setting 3NT on the fly when dummy plays low.

Any logic favoring playing the QUEEN? Well this seems to be a restriced choice situation, such that with AK, west could have played either on the first round of the suit, but with only one of those honors, his choice on the first round is restricted. We think we know West has four spades. The orginal possible four card holdings were xxxxx, Jxxx. Kxxx. Axxx, AJxx. KJxx, AKxx, and AKJx. Here the four small, four to the jack high, and four to just the King high have been eliminated. That leave these possible holdings for west
Axxx
AJxx
AKxx
AKJx

We can ignore Axxx and AKJx as you can't go right in the first case and can't go wrong in the second. So you are comparing the odds of AKxx to AJxx. It turns out, that initially the odds of WEST holding AKxx and AJxx are exactly equal. However, half the time WEST holds AKxx he will win Ace, the other half the king. So this reduces the chance he holds AKxx, so the odds favor playing him not to have the King. And yet Declarer unerringly went against the restricted choice odds. I think this is because he counted on WEST attacking with a spade from AJxx at trick one instead of a passive heart, but with AKxx, hold back so as not to give away the positions of the honors.

Ben