so actually the presence of the C10 is enough for your defense to defeat the contract (109 not needed)... kinda. And honestly even the club 10 may not be needed. This hand is crazy complicated so the analysis below gets a little dense. I break it out into 3 possible shapes partner can have. 1. Let's say you play a spade and partner is 3316. Declarer wins and clears the spades.. Now partner with K10xxxx of clubs plays the CT anyway!. Declarer wins the Q and runs spades. But partner keeps all clubs, and also ducks when declarer leads the JC off dummy later. Down 1. But not so fast, there's several more levels. If declarer has 8xx of spades, they could counter this defense by leading a low spade towards their 8 after winning the AS. Now, at least double dummy, they can succeed by cashing their heart winners and later conceding a club to partner. Here's another line to consider even if declarer has xxx spades. What if they just let the SQ hold? Now if we cash the DA, declarer will surely have the rest after our next play. So we immediately play a heart. But then again they can cash their hearts and concede a club to partner Cashing the AD at trick 3 can never be better, since then when we play the QS declarer can always duck. So in conclusion, we actually have no chance if partner is 3316, if declarer can see through our cards. But your QS play is as good a try as any. 2. What if partner is 4315? A key difference is now when we play the SQ, it can't be ducked. Declarer can win and drive spades, but partner can throw dummy back in with a spade. Here, even if declarer has the CT, they are down as long as partner keeps all 5 of their clubs on the run of the spades, and then ducks the Q and J of clubs (note if they pitch even 1 club, they can be thrown in with the CK and forced to concede a heart at trick 13). On this layout, we can potentially make it even easier for partner by cashing the AD before playing the SQ, since again, declarer can't afford to duck. If declarer wins the SQ and plays clubs from the top, partner will have to duck them if declarer began with xx AQJ10 Qxx 10xxx. And if partner made the mistake of pitching a club on the DA, the contract will be cold. So probably better to avoid this play and just play the SQ directly 3. Lastly when partner is 3415, yes, only a heart will work. Though again, you only need partner to have KTxxx to be able to safely exit the CT in the main line you looked at. One difference here though is that declarer can't duck the SQ and easily make like when partner only had 3 hearts. If the spade queen is ducked, now you are forced to play a heart, and now the position gets really funky. Declarer pitches a diamond from dummy, and wins the heart. They can't afford to cash another heart, so they run spades. Dummy and Partner come down to 4 clubs. Declarer comes down to 3 clubs and a heart winner. As long as declarer has the C9, they can succeed (lead the CQ from dummy, can always endplay partner somehow). So this is actually the one position where partner does need KT9 of clubs (or you could just play a heart at trick 3 and always beat it). Summary: - If partner is 3316, nothing works, probably your spade play is best practical chance - If partner is 4315 both a spade and AD work, but a spade is probably simpler. A heart fails. - If partner is 3415, a heart works always. A spade works if declarer wins it and partner has the T of clubs. If declarer ducks the spade, then partner needs T9 of clubs. All in all, looks like you made the best play at the table
Oh my goodness Kevin! What an outstanding deeper deep dive. Thank you for taking the time to write all of this out. I Didn't consider that they could just duck the SQ in the case that declarer has 3, although I never considered that declarer could have 3, which maybe I should. I also didn't consider that if they truly were endplayed in the dummy, I can cash my DA before endplaying them because they have no way back to their hand to cash the DQ. It just goes to show that I still have a long way to go in my Bridge thinking and I am excited to work on the climb to get there. But in the end, I am glad to hear that I made the best play!
@@BridginWithKai At the table I think it's sensible to place declarer with 2434, since not everyone would bid 3N with 3 spades, especially with no obvious club or diamond stopper (though I think it was an interesting/reasonable shot with their actual hand)
This is great. Sounds like you did your best against a very strong team. Distributional hands like that are so rare, it is hard to figure them out in tempo. Give me 30 minutes to think about it, and maybe I will find the solution. Thanks for sharing.
Should have overtaken DK with the Ace and forced out DQ. With HK as entry and Partner having stops in both Black suits the contract will go about 4 off as Declarer will have only 5 tricks before the defence gets in.
Good point! But sadly I had already played to the trick :(. I wish I led the DA!!!! Maybe I could have found that lead actually now that I think about it. But that's really bad if declarer has KQ 3rd. Both leads are bad if declarer has KQ 3rd.
so actually the presence of the C10 is enough for your defense to defeat the contract (109 not needed)... kinda. And honestly even the club 10 may not be needed. This hand is crazy complicated so the analysis below gets a little dense. I break it out into 3 possible shapes partner can have.
1. Let's say you play a spade and partner is 3316. Declarer wins and clears the spades.. Now partner with K10xxxx of clubs plays the CT anyway!. Declarer wins the Q and runs spades. But partner keeps all clubs, and also ducks when declarer leads the JC off dummy later. Down 1.
But not so fast, there's several more levels. If declarer has 8xx of spades, they could counter this defense by leading a low spade towards their 8 after winning the AS. Now, at least double dummy, they can succeed by cashing their heart winners and later conceding a club to partner.
Here's another line to consider even if declarer has xxx spades. What if they just let the SQ hold? Now if we cash the DA, declarer will surely have the rest after our next play. So we immediately play a heart. But then again they can cash their hearts and concede a club to partner
Cashing the AD at trick 3 can never be better, since then when we play the QS declarer can always duck. So in conclusion, we actually have no chance if partner is 3316, if declarer can see through our cards. But your QS play is as good a try as any.
2. What if partner is 4315? A key difference is now when we play the SQ, it can't be ducked. Declarer can win and drive spades, but partner can throw dummy back in with a spade. Here, even if declarer has the CT, they are down as long as partner keeps all 5 of their clubs on the run of the spades, and then ducks the Q and J of clubs (note if they pitch even 1 club, they can be thrown in with the CK and forced to concede a heart at trick 13).
On this layout, we can potentially make it even easier for partner by cashing the AD before playing the SQ, since again, declarer can't afford to duck. If declarer wins the SQ and plays clubs from the top, partner will have to duck them if declarer began with xx AQJ10 Qxx 10xxx. And if partner made the mistake of pitching a club on the DA, the contract will be cold. So probably better to avoid this play and just play the SQ directly
3. Lastly when partner is 3415, yes, only a heart will work. Though again, you only need partner to have KTxxx to be able to safely exit the CT in the main line you looked at.
One difference here though is that declarer can't duck the SQ and easily make like when partner only had 3 hearts. If the spade queen is ducked, now you are forced to play a heart, and now the position gets really funky. Declarer pitches a diamond from dummy, and wins the heart. They can't afford to cash another heart, so they run spades. Dummy and Partner come down to 4 clubs. Declarer comes down to 3 clubs and a heart winner. As long as declarer has the C9, they can succeed (lead the CQ from dummy, can always endplay partner somehow). So this is actually the one position where partner does need KT9 of clubs (or you could just play a heart at trick 3 and always beat it).
Summary:
- If partner is 3316, nothing works, probably your spade play is best practical chance
- If partner is 4315 both a spade and AD work, but a spade is probably simpler. A heart fails.
- If partner is 3415, a heart works always. A spade works if declarer wins it and partner has the T of clubs. If declarer ducks the spade, then partner needs T9 of clubs.
All in all, looks like you made the best play at the table
Oh my goodness Kevin!
What an outstanding deeper deep dive. Thank you for taking the time to write all of this out. I Didn't consider that they could just duck the SQ in the case that declarer has 3, although I never considered that declarer could have 3, which maybe I should. I also didn't consider that if they truly were endplayed in the dummy, I can cash my DA before endplaying them because they have no way back to their hand to cash the DQ. It just goes to show that I still have a long way to go in my Bridge thinking and I am excited to work on the climb to get there.
But in the end, I am glad to hear that I made the best play!
@@BridginWithKai At the table I think it's sensible to place declarer with 2434, since not everyone would bid 3N with 3 spades, especially with no obvious club or diamond stopper (though I think it was an interesting/reasonable shot with their actual hand)
This is great. Sounds like you did your best against a very strong team. Distributional hands like that are so rare, it is hard to figure them out in tempo. Give me 30 minutes to think about it, and maybe I will find the solution. Thanks for sharing.
Yes this hand certainly needs 30 min! Even if I did, I think I would still play a spade just because I was so set on this play working!!!
Should have overtaken DK with the Ace and forced out DQ. With HK as entry and Partner having stops in both Black suits the contract will go about 4 off as Declarer will have only 5 tricks before the defence gets in.
Good point! But sadly I had already played to the trick :(. I wish I led the DA!!!! Maybe I could have found that lead actually now that I think about it. But that's really bad if declarer has KQ 3rd. Both leads are bad if declarer has KQ 3rd.