[Aberlour10]

Scoring: IMP

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G. Cohler (East) played and made this 7♥ contract, E.Rodwell (South) led ♣6,

It would be nice to read some thoughts & opinions by BBF experts about this hand.

Robert

[hatchett]

On the actual lie, 7♥ is down on a club lead, because it takes out an entry prematurely to ruff 2 ♦s.

The most likely line on a ♣ lead is to play for trumps 3-2. So ♣K, ♦A, ♦ ruff, ♣ ruff, ♦ ruff with ace, ♥9, overtaking in hand, to try and draw trumps planning to score, 2♠, 5♥, 1♦+2 ruffs, and 3♣s. This fails on the actual hand obviously.

I believe when the board was played Cohler won the ♣lead, played ♦A, ruffed a ♦ and then played ♠A. He must have been convinced that South had some shape for his 4♣ bid and he now played ♣A and Q. North would have defeated the contract if he had ruffed either of these but he didn't and the contract made when South now ran the ♥9 from dummy, North played low but it didn't matter if he covered at this stage since declarer could score the ♥7 with a tump coup.

[bid_em_up]

Yes, it can be beaten. North simply needed to ruff either the A or Q of clubs. Instead, he pitched on both, allowing Cohler to then make the excellent play of running the heart 9 to make.

[foo]

On the line hatchett gave, a slight variation gives Declarer some legitimate extra chances (the ducking of either of the two top ♣'s, let alone both, seems strange).

After ♣K, ♦A, ♦ ruff, if Declarer leads the ♣9 from the board, N must Duck this or 7H makes.

[hatchett]

Quote

After ♣K, ♦A, ♦ ruff, if Declarer leads the ♣9 from the board, N must Duck this or 7H makes.

North knew South had 7 clubs from the bidding so he was hardly going to ruff, and secondly, even if didn't know how many clubs south had from the bidding, if declarer had 4 Clubs tricks then he had thirteen on top after one ♦ ruff. The chance of North ruffing the ♣9 is zero.

[jtfanclub]

Easily the most incredible play I've ever seen in real time. I thought things like this were made up for columns and books.

[FrancesHinden]

The right line is highly dependent on the auction.
I was given this hand as a play problem in the car on Saturday morning. I was told the auction started 1S P 2H 4C followed by West RKCB'ing to grand.

On the club lead it looks very likely that South has a minor 2-suiter, I vaguely remember being told it is game all, which makes the 4C bid aggressive.

The most sensible line I could come up with at the time was the very simply one of playing for trumps 3-2.

King of clubs,
Ace of diamond
Diamond ruff
Club ruff
Diamond ruff with the ace
Trump to hand.

This clearly doesn't work on the layout; but then the chosen line only worked on a misdefence. I'm not a good enough player to decide what misdefence is most likely from North....

Once North has failed to ruff either club it does indeed look obvious to play for trumps 4-1.

One alternative line is to play for South to be 2-0-5-6/3-0-4-6. I suggested this in the car and was told to try for "something more likely" . If South has either of these then the line selected at the table works genuinely:

CK
DA
D ruff
SA
CA discarding a spade

now you try the CQ, if North ruffs you over-ruff, ruff a diamond low, cash the other top spade, ruff a spade in hand, ruff a diamond high then lead a plain card from dummy. You do it in this order in case North doesn't ruff the CQ, as happened at the table, then you can pick up various 4-1 heart breaks.

[Fluffy]

blablabla, more nonsense

[Codo]

One more question: I understood declarers line- not that I had come close to find it at the table, but I can see the reasoning behind his line after the deal. Well done.

But what was North reason not to ruff the clubs?
Discarding must be wrong, because it gives declarer some parking spots for loosers (In case there are some) and it may give him a good clue for the trump suit. So what was his reason to choose this defence? Did he believe, that declarer will play for a 3-2 trump break after this start?

[ceeb]

"But what was North reason not to ruff the clubs?"

With six trumps, declarer would simply pull trumps and claim: 2 spades, 6 trumps, 1 diamond and 1 ruff, 3 clubs. Therefore Meckstroth knew declarer had only 5 trumps. Further, Meckstroth could see that with KQJxx of trumps declarer should could and should ruff one diamond low, return to hand ruffing a LOW club, ruff a diamond high, and hope the trumps are 3-2. Therefore Meckstroth "knew" that his partner had the J of trumps. In that case, the hand is sure to go down if he discards, whereas ruffing in with any card entails a slight risk that declarer will then be able to pick up the trumps.

-- Charles