[nullve]

From a Robot Rebate 55% tournament I played today:

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Please press the 'Next' button to see the two first tricks and then take over.

(I'm not trying to make fun of GiB here, despite what happened in trick 2.)

[shyams]

I guess my imagination is limited to playing for the player holding the ♣A to also have begun with a doubleton diamond.

So I draw a couple of rounds of trumps (3, if needed) and play on clubs.

[FelicityR]

nullve, on 2020-June-10, 10:20, said:

I'm not trying to make fun of GiB here, despite what happened in trick 2.

I'm guessing here that instead of ending up with 9 tricks assuming West led from a doubleton ♦ you ended up with 11 tricks when East fails to cash the ♦K later in the play and you get a discard on one of dummy's ♣ honours?

Now that would be stupid, but given how stupid GIB was at trick two I imagine that it is not beyond the realms of possibility.

I'm still trying to work out what it has to do with 'Towns in Belgium' though...

[apollo1201]

FelicityR, on 2020-June-10, 13:56, said:

Now that would be stupid, but given how stupid GIB was at trick two I imagine that it is not beyond the realms of possibility.

I’ve seen « worse » by humans. Suit contact, K lead, dummy hits with Txx and i have small doubleton. RHO overtakes the K to return J, that LHO in turn obertakes with Q. I looked quite puzzled when it went small, 10, small and discard.

I guess RHO was afraid his partner would fear a Bath coup if he ducked (but with T in dummy it is thoughtless) while LHO thought this unblocking would guarantee 3 tricks by a ruff.

FelicityR, on 2020-June-10, 13:56, said:

I'm still trying to work out what it has to do with 'Towns in Belgium' though...

Same...

[nullve]

shyams, on 2020-June-10, 12:33, said:

I guess my imagination is limited to playing for the player holding the ♣A to also have begun with a doubleton diamond.

And if that isn't the case, is there a best way of fooling opps into not cashing the ♦K?

FelicityR, on 2020-June-10, 13:56, said:

I'm guessing here that instead of ending up with 9 tricks assuming West led from a doubleton ♦ you ended up with 11 tricks when East fails to cash the ♦K later in the play and you get a discard on one of dummy's ♣ honours?

Yes, that is what happened.

FelicityR, on 2020-June-10, 13:56, said:

I'm still trying to work out what it has to do with 'Towns in Belgium' though...

Not much, although it rhymes with 'Gowns in Belgium'.

[nullve]

The bidding and two first tricks were the same at four other tables. But there the declarers ended up with only 10 tricks after continuing with the ♥AK (at tricks 3 and 4) followed by the ♣K (at trick 5).

[cherdano]

I've meant to write a post about this - good example nullve.

You have to cash ♠A against GIB before setting up clubs. GIB won't infer that you have a singleton spade, hence he will probably try to cash a spade rather than a diamond when in with ♣A.

The key to declaring against GIB is that while GIB may make odd-looking plays, in truth its plays are VERY logical. GIB is just completely unable to dray any inferences from your play at all.

[nullve]

cherdano, on 2020-June-11, 17:29, said:

You have to cash ♠A against GIB before setting up clubs. GIB won't infer that you have a singleton spade, hence he will probably try to cash a spade rather than a diamond when in with ♣A.

Exactly.

This was the full deal:

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[shyams]

Thank you, this is very useful.

By the way, what's the story with the title?

[nullve]

shyams, on 2020-June-12, 04:20, said:

By the way, what's the story with the title?

I was looking for a title that stuck out without giving away any clues about the play. So I chose one evidently not about bridge.