Rare bird by Jos van Kan No doubt you occasionally wish you were in a different contract when dummy hits the table, but it won't happen very often that, after all, the contract you were in was the only one that could be made. Playing knock-teams you find yourself, all vulnerable in first seat with S K9852 H AK D A753 C AK For once you suppress the urge to open 2NT on a hand like this and you kick off with a heavy 1S. While opponents pass, partner responds 1NT and you can hardly bid less than 3D. Partner huddles for a while and finally emerges with 3S. Since you need an ideal dummy to make a slam you somewhat lazily bid 4S. LHO leads H2 (third or fifth) and you get a look at what partner was huddling about: S Q3 H 9654 D KQ82 C 863 Well, 3NT looks a lot easier, you mumble to yourself as you win E's 8 with HK and play a small trump to the Queen, winning, while opponents contribute only small fry. You continue a trump to your 9 and W's T , E following small and W continues with another small H for T and A. Your SK goes to W's A. While you ponder your discard let's ask some questions. 1) Is there a problem if Spades are 3-3? 2) Is there a problem if D are 3-2? 3) Which opponent can hold long Spades? If so which opponent is most likely to hold long Diamonds? 4) Do you agree with the way declarer has played the hand so far? 5) What do you discard? 1) No. If Spades are 3-3 you lose two spades and at most one diamond. 2) No. Even if W holds the remaining Spades and D are 3-2 you lose 3 spades, but that will be all. 3) W of course. He's shown up with 3 Spades already. Since his H play suggests length in that suit it is most probable that E will hold diamond length if anyone will. 4) Since it is a near certainty that W holds SA on this sequence of plays, it might have been wiser to lead a small S instead of the K. You would have known in advance then whether S were 3-3 or 4-2 at the moment you'd have to make your crucial discard. But otherwise declarer's play looks fine. 5) This is a difficult one. You cannot miss a D if W holds a singleton (we'll get to that later) and it is also not wise to let go of a H, because that is something of a threat to W. So the only rational discard at this point is a C. Both you and E discard a C on this trick and E discards another C on the HQ that W plays to the next trick and you ruff. Since your only worry now is a 4-1 D break, what is your master plan? 5) Cash DA and plan to play low diamonds toward dummy twice. W is most likely to hold the singleton, since he already has shown up with 9 cards in the majors. If he ruffs he'll be ruffing a loser. (That's why you could not afford to discard a D at trick 5.) Cashing that DA first is essential, because otherwise it will be ruffed away and you'll go down. So you cash DA while everybody follows and you play a small D towards dummy. W thinks for awhile and discards a H. You win in dummy. What is W's distribution? Are you going to make this contract? Since every important card is known at this point we are in fact playing double dummy. W originally held 4 Spades, 5 Hearts (since E discarded on the 3rd S and H rounds), 1 Diamonds and hence 3 Clubs. The remaining cards are: S -- H 9 D K8 C 863 S J S -- H J H -- D -- D JT C xxx C xxx S 9 H -- D 75 C AK Yes, you are going to make this contract if you continue your plan. Needing 4 tricks out of the last 5 you cash C AK then play another D towards dummy in the following ending: S -- H 9 D K8 C -- S J S -- H J H -- D -- D JT C x C xx S 9 H -- D 75 C -- S are trumps. South needing two tricks plays Dx. iIt looks somewhat like a squeeze, but W is not really squeezed: even if he were allowed to pass his turn declarer would make his contract! (By ruffing a H). As it is W has a choice of three plays, all losing: SJ ruffs declarer's loser, HJ sets up H9 and a C lets declarer ruff his H for the 10th and decisive trick. The key play of this hand really occurred at trick 5 where you had to choose a discard from dummy on the third round of trumps. You may convince yourself, that no other discard would have enabled you to make the contract against the actual break. You may also convince yourself, that 3NT cannot possibly be made. No wonder you won this knockout match. Copyright (c) 1997 by Jos van Kan. All rights reserved. Rare bird (correction) By Jos van Kan ... Quandoque bonus dormitat Homerus. Sometimes the good Homer isn't paying attention. Horace. While the object of "thinking bridge" was to prove our existence as a bridge player I just succeeded to prove my humanity by making a gross error in analysis. Let's go back to the problem: S Q3 H 9654 D KQ82 C 863 S K9852 H AK D A753 C AK You are in 4S, W leads H2 (third or fifth), we played: trump to the queen, winning, trump to 9 and T, (E following), W continued H and I now let you play another trump and let W continue with another H after which a nice ending developed. The top expert Rondrey rightfully pointed out "....but declarer misplayed the hand by leading the 3rd round of spades. If west cashes his jack of spades and then exits, declarer only has nine tricks no matter how he plays. The "winning" line of play is ..." What is the winning line? Rondrey still has the stand and we'll let him continue: "... to NOT lead the third round of spades but rather play ace and a low diamond instead after winning the second heart trick. If diamonds are 3-2, declarer can return to hand via club and play a 3rd round of spades to make 11 tricks if spades are 3-3 if he/she chooses. As the cards are, the same "loser on loser" situation develops down the line but occurs one trick earlier." And so it is. Copywrong (not c) 1997 by Jos van Kan. All rights (especially the right to be wrong) reserved.