[Yzerman]

The following hand was played on BBO with 4 players as a host of kibitzers watched.  All parties, players and kibitzers, I have much respect for and all very capable.  The following deal was topic of much discussion.  Please read and make arguments for or against my analysis.

Dealer North
Vul N/S

................North
................J6
................876
................A98
................AQJ85
West.......................East
Q92.........................1073
A4...........................KJ10952
QJ32........................10
10943......................K72
................South
................AK754
................Q3
................K7654
................6

N    E    S    W
1C  2H  2S   P
3S  P    P     P

Opening lead is the HA from West.  West won the first trick and continued hearts to East King.  East plays the J of hearts and now hand gets interesting.  South made a very nice play (and the only play to give him play for 9 tricks) and ruffed with the SK.  Now I will describe to you the remainder of play at table before presenting my analysis.

Actual Play
West discard club.  South play a spade to the Jack in dummy winning then spade to the Ace.  Declarer plays a diamond to dummy and a diamond off, and West ruffs this trick (immaterial play).  West then play another heart and East scores the SQ and a natural diamond trick for down 1 (1S, 2H, 1D, 1D ruff).

My argument
My argument is that hand can be made double dummy IF West discards a minor suit card at trick 3 (at table East discard club).  Hence, the ONLY winning defense (in my analysis) in which there is NO double dummy play to make contract is that East must underruff the SK.

The following are the double dummy play line for a club discard (diamond discard is obviously a losing play);

Upon a low club discard by West, declarer plays as he did, a spade toward dummy.  West can win this trick or duck, lets assume he wins the trick.  And West must exit.  (a) Upon a spade exit, declarer cashes CA and takes ruffing finesse against the K (East best to cover this).  ( Upon a diamond exit (this is best defense), win the diamond in hand cross to dummy with trump and then take your ruffing finesse for the same end position.  ©  Upon a club exit, now unblock the trump Jack and take your ruffing finesse.  Each of these play lines upon a club discard @ trick 2 the club suit will come in for 4 tricks.  All of these play lines can be generalized as a Dummy Reversal.

Now, this is where I would like to see if anyone can find double dummy play to make this hand upon an underruff @ trick 3. The key to this hand (imho) is the blockage in the diamond suit as the suit can be played for 1 loser but declarer must tap his hand twice to see the long diamond and does not have enough trump (3 rounds to exhaust defenders trump, one tap @ trick 3, and one tap to return to hand after picking up the diamond suit).

Lets look @ the minor suits in isolation after an underruff (declarer MUST play spade to the Jack at trick 4) and assume he wins this trick (best defense) and plays a club (best defense), @ this point in the hand is the crucial point in which declarer must decide whether to play on diamonds or clubs, here is the position;

................North
................J
................
................A98
................QJ85
West.......................East
9.............................107
...............................1095
QJ32........................10
943..........................K7
................South
................A75
................
................K7654
................
 
Once again, this is the position @ trick 5.  Defense has already scored 3 tricks (two hearts and the SQ).  Additionally, this is best defense (imho) to this point.  Your play is to play off dummy (North) and play to make!

I would appreciate ANY feedback.

Regards,
Mike

[inquiry]

Underruff allows declearer to make, west made the right play, in my opinion of discarding a club.

First let's look at the play with your underuff. South continues a low SPADE towards the JACK. Two lines are avaiable. West wins his QUEEN or ducks it.... Let's go with duck first. The Jack wins. Play one more trump. Cash Diamond King, then lead a low Diamond towards A9 through West's QJx. If West does not split, insert the 9. If West does split, go up with ACE. They get 1S and 1D to go along with their 2Hs. QED

Now we take the line where West jumps up with the SPADE QUEEN. From your "key ending" I assume your line is to return a club after the QUEEN of Spades wins (as bad as anything else). So dummy wins the ACE to reach your second ending. Several lines work fine, we will just examine the straight forward. After winning the CLUB ACE, take the SPADE JACK, Lead a diamond to the King. pull the last outstanding trump.


                    S-
                    H-
                    D-A9
                    C-QJ82
S----                                  S-T
H----                                  H-952
D-QJ3                                 D----
C-T94                                 C-K7
                    S-A7
                    H---
                    D-7654
                    C---

What is West to play on the SPADE ACE?  Clearly not a Diamond, or Diamond and diamond makes, so west throws a club (right?) as does dummy. South leads a diamond, and what does WEST do? Split seems right (it really doesn't matter as we will see), and the D-ACE wins. Now the Diamond nine from dummy, do you see it yet, West can't afford to win this diamond, or declearer's hand is good. So the diamond nine wins. Now the CLUB Queen, forcing EAST has to cover, south ruffs, and WEST is throw in with the diamond for a steppingstone to dummy;s club JACK.

Actually, the right defense was THE pitch a club at trick one . The trick, not mentioned in your post is when the low spade is lead towards the dummy, WEST must unblock the SPADE=NINE. This way, he forces a trump entry to his partner's hand when it will do his side some good. I leave it to you to figure out how the spade NINE is the best play on the low spade towards the jack.

BTW, just to start another argument (discussion) I think over 2H's with the south hand I would double 2H's.

Ben

[inquiry]

Now I will go ahead and argue, in depth, against your theory that pitching a club allows South to make it double dummy. Here is the hand.

Dealer North
Vul N/S

................North
................J6
................876
................A98
................AQJ85
West.......................East
Q92.........................1073
A4...........................KJ10952
QJ32........................10
10943......................K72
................South
................AK754
................Q3
................K7654
................6

N    E    S    W
1C  2H  2S   P
3S  P    P     P

Opening lead is the HA from West.  West won the first trick and continued hearts to East King.  East plays the J of hearts and now hand gets interesting.  South made a very nice play of ruffed with the SK.  

"Your argument
Upon a low club discard by West, declarer plays as he did, a spade toward dummy.  West can win this trick or duck, lets assume he wins the trick. "

I agree with your analysis that after a CLUB discard, if WEST wins the low spade towards the JACK, South will make. Interestingly, however, you didn't discuss WEST not winning the first round of spades. In fact, that is the right defense, and specifically, if want to play double dummy defesne, the right play is for WEST to play the SPADE NINE (and it is not that hard a play to find). It is a fairly sure BET that EAST has the SPADE TEN, for with SPADE - AKTxx(x), south surely would have ruffed with the SPADE TEN, not the king. So the beginning of an unblock seems clear, and cost nothing.

After the JACK WINS in dummy, this is the position....

....6
            void
            A98
            AQJ85
Q2                              T8
void                      952
QJ32                      T
T94                       K72
            A75
            void
            K7654
            6  

Actually, from this position, South has no winning line, but I will follow the "winning" line for him that you gave after WEST won the SPADE queen on the first round (which was CLUB ACE, and hooking finesse).... to reach....
            6
            void
            A98
            J85
Q2           T8
void         952
QJ32          T
T           7
            A7
            void
            K7654
            void  

The clubs are good, as in your line, but south is in no position to take advantage of his "good luck".  Spade and Spade, doesn't work as WEST unblocks queen so EAST wins ten and they take 3 heart winners. Spade ACE and diamond is no good, so although you win a club, you are going to lose 2 Spades and a Diamond to go along with the first two hearts.

The reason the NINE of spades is important, is to deal with a line of play where after the JACK of SPADES wins in dummys. If South continues a spade, and your partner plays the EIGHT, South can duck to you, and If partner plays the TEN from T8, south wins the ACE and you can't get out of the way with Q9 left. By unblocking the nine, you can get your partners way in time to be useful for you...

Really, it was a VERY NEAT HAND.... requiring the CLUB discard, and then the spade NINE unblock (you can't win a spade late for the same reason you can't win the SPADE Queen at trick four)... .

Ben

[jjsb]

very nice hand notice that the way the deal is given i cant answer cause there's 2 "7 of Spade" and no 8 . And strangely enough give 1073 to east and so AK854 in South contract will be made . you give 1083 to east and so AK754 to south and contract is now ....  down !!! (pitching a C on the 3rd round of H and unblocking S as inquiry suggest) ... in fact , to finish on that very nice hand in the last position i give (1083 to east) when declarer ruff with the K and play S , west MUST PLAY 9 . astonishing hand to say the least nice find

regards
syl

[JeffHand]

I think that if East was dealt the spade 8 and not the 7, and if the defenders found the spade 9 unblock at trick 4 to defeat the hand, then the defenders should be highly praised -- they are alert and thinking clearly. It is the type of hand that, with a more reasonable auction, would be great to see in top events.

My comments are about the bidding. I think a negative double is way off the mark, and that the actual 2Spade bid is correct. If West has a hand that can raise the preempt, it is clearly right for South to show strength and 5 Spades urgently. The Diamond suit is not as important to show at this point.

Given the 2Spade bid, North now has an unenviable rebid. Raising to 3Spades on Jx in spades is unattractive. I think a 3Club rebid is more normal, hoping that partner might be able to bid 3NT or repeat the spade suit.

Most 2-over-1 players play that 2Spades in competition is not game forcing, and that if the opener or the responder rebid their suits, then the partnership can pass short of game. Each serious partnership needs to have clear-cut agreements on when 2-over-1 bids in competition are not game-forcing.

Over a 3Club rebid, South would now show his Diamond suit, which would be a forcing bid. Now, a 3Spade preference by North would be best. I think passing here is the last chance for the partnership to stop short of game.

So with that auction, we end up at the same contract, but I think it is bid a lot better.