Articles›Declarer Play›Interactive Problem 17
Interactive Problem 17
7 minutes
Sun, May 12, 2024Gavin WolpertDeclarer PlayVideo: Bridge Hand
Articles›Declarer Play›Interactive Problem 17
7 minutes
Sun, May 12, 2024Gavin WolpertDeclarer PlayVideo: Bridge Hand
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Nice. I correctly ducked the club and drew two rounds of trump. However I went wrong by somehow imagining that a heart overruff (on the 3rd round of hearts) would hurt me. That thought led me to ruff a club immediately, which loses the needed entry. I got it right on the 2nd try. Funny how the mind works. Such an overruff can be bad, but in this case it is perfectly safe. Still my instincts drove me to avoid it.
If you see the trumps break 4-1, after playing the K of spades, you should then immediately ruff the club and hope that either hearts are 3-3, the diamond finesse is on, or there is a squeeze, no? The squeeze can only be the better option if E has the long hearts, so if you find out E has long hearts (and that spades are 4-1 (does the direction matter?)), what other info would you want to have to go for the squeeze instead of the finesse (knowing the the squeeze would require E to have the Q and the 10)? Please let me know if any of this is wrong
Nice to see you engaging on here Alan!
Everything you said is correct. There isn't really a possible squeeze on east. You will need to pitch a diamond from the table to keep a heart in the end position, so the only way you could ever squeeze east in hearts + diamonds is if they had 5 diamonds. Also, once you ruff a heart you will have lost control of the hand, You cant cash trumps to squeeze anyone. If east is the one with 4 spades, your best bet after checking if hearts are 3-3 is to play king of diamonds , diamond to the ace and just try to score one more heart ruff for your 10th trick. (2 diamonds, 2 hearts, 1 club, 1 club ruff in dummy, the ace king of spades and two heart ruffs in hand)
Thank you, I think in my earlier comment I was playing / thinking for making 5 spades. For 4 spades, I agree with the play when E has 4. When W has 4 spades, you can check for 3-3 hearts, but when W has 2 or less hearts you immediately lose (1/3 ish). Otherwise, you can drop a diamond on a good heart (cash diamonds before 4th H) or get a second H ruff in (though this requires almost precisely 4423, with possible variation in the club suit). Or one could finesse the diamond immediately, for a less than 50% flip, but I think it is best to check the hearts still in this case, simply acknowledging that one can go down a lot more if it turns out W can overruff on the H . Is this analysis / conclusion correct? How much lower is the D finesse % after learning about the 4-1 split?
Yes youre correct. I have no idea how much lower % the diamond finesse is. Its definitely lower. Would guess maybe 42% to succeed
Nice reminder about managing a suit so you ruff when you want to -- not when they want to
Very nice hand. I ducked the club but ruffed the third after two rounds of trumps, (before working on the H) and squandered an entry Good lesson -- entries are valuable!