[inquiry]

Partner starts off with the ♥7 and declarer plays low from dummy. Plan your defense.

This is another beginner trap. Explain what it is, and why you should avoid the trap.

---

[quiddity]

I'm not sure - maybe the trap is to play the ♥J. Unless partner has underled an honor (very unlikely with the 2NT opener on his right), declarer has AKT9. Partner would lead the T from T97 so he must have 73 or stiff 7.

If you play the jack declarer will win the ace, and if partner wins a trick (perhaps with the ace of spades) he will have to guess whether we have the ♥K or something else. Clear it up for him immediately by playing ♥2 instead.

[han]

If declarer has AK109 it doesn't matter. If we play low declarer still has 4 heart tricks. But if partner has led a singleton then declarer has AK109x. Now if we play the jack declarer has 5 heart tricks, while if we play low declarer has 4.

[vuroth]

FWIW, presented as a problem, it's easy. ATT I get this wrong at least 9 times out of 10.

Good problem. Thanks.

[inquiry]

Han got this one right.

The trap to avoid is the old adage, "third hand high." It is true you don't know where the setting trick is coming from. But if the ♥7 was "4th best" declarer has only one higher than the 7. Did partner underlead the heart ACE? Not likely against slam. If Declarer just had the heart ACE, he would try the heart queen from dummy. So it is not 4th best or even 3rd best.

Once you work out this is from shortness, playing low is right for the reason Han stated. Once you play low, there is no way for declarer to come to 12 tricks with proper defense.

The only two things East has to be careful about.
1) don't discard a heart on the third round of spade.
2) Don;t duck a club from dummy (else declarer win king, and pitch two clubs off dummy and give up a diamond, after all partner doesn't have AK fo diamonds or he would have started that suit.

As you can see, partner with heart singleton played you for one ACE in the majors. IF he had either, it would have been an easy down one. Ducking the first trick is not the end for the defense. The heart lead worked out by forcing us to consider declarer has five hearts, so we don't throw one away and if necessary, we grab the first club from dummy.

---

[Antrax]

Very interesting. I wonder how long before I stop to consider such things.
As another aside, do people really play superaccepts on 3-level transfers?

[manudude03]

Antrax, on 2011-August-29, 23:44, said:

Very interesting. I wonder how long before I stop to consider such things.
As another aside, do people really play superaccepts on 3-level transfers?

Yes, and in my experience, they're even more common than in 2-level transfers (percentage wise)

[han]

Yesterday I had AK10x QJx Axxx AJ. I opened 1D, partner bid 1H, I bid 2NT, showing 18-19 balanced. Now partner bid 3D, showing 5+ hearts (think: transfer). My hand seemed far too strong to bid 3H so I bid 3S, an undiscussed "superaccept".

[inquiry]

This hand was shown as a lesson to avoid following blinding "bridge rules" like "third hand high." For a beginner, this should be beyond their level. For an intermediate player, I think it is time to begin learning when to avoid old salts like this. The following hand was from a September 4, 2011 ACBL speedball (board 1, #2314), which shows maybe I over thought the level where thinking can avoid following rules blindly. Maybe you have to be advanced to avoid this knee jerk response.

Hand rotated to make declarer south. East opened 1D, and south overcalled in and played in hearts at all the tables.

 		S KT94
 		H T96
 		D J4
 		C Q765
S Q7643              	S A5
H J75                	H 83
D 8                  	D K9532
C J832               	C AT94
 		S J8
 		H AKQ42
 		D AQT76
 		C K

Only 12 "east" players were able to avoid the knee jerk response when their partners lead the diamond 8 in response to their opening bid. 48 of them wasted the King (the only play that allows "EW" to score 11 tricks. Not all declarers played well, so many got away with the heart king play. I wonder how many know they made a mistake?  Again, I rotated the hands so declarer was south. Results from tables where "west" lead the diamond 8 and East played either high or low are shown below (some played 2, other 3 or 5). We know know playing low is correct. I still think this should be an intermediate skill. Perhaps I am wrong on that. 

[b]Lead Partner  Result  Points
D8 	D2 	4HS-2 	100
D8 	D2 	4HS-1 	50
D8 	D2 	4HS-1 	50
D8 	D2 	3HS+1 	-170
D8 	D2 	2HS+2 	-170
D8 	D2 	3HS+1 	-170
D8 	D2 	4HS= 	-420
D8 	D2 	4HS+1 	-450
D8 	D3 	4HS-1 	50
D8 	D5 	4HS= 	-420
D8 	D5 	4HS+1 	-450
D8 	D5 	4HS+1 	-450
D8 	DK 	4HS-1 	50
D8 	DK 	4HS-1 	50
D8 	DK 	3HS= 	-140
D8 	DK 	2HS+1 	-140
D8 	DK 	2HS+1 	-140
D8 	DK 	1HS+2 	-140
D8 	DK 	3HS= 	-140
D8 	DK 	3HS+1 	-170
D8 	DK 	3HS+1 	-170
D8 	DK 	2HS+2 	-170
D8 	DK 	1HS+3 	-170
D8 	DK 	2HS+2 	-170
D8 	DK 	2HS+2 	-170
D8 	DK 	1HS+3 	-170
D8 	DK 	3HS+1 	-170
D8 	DK 	2HS+2 	-170
D8 	DK 	3HS+2 	-200
D8 	DK 	3HS+2 	-200
D8 	DK 	2HS+3 	-200
D8 	DK 	2HS+3 	-200
D8 	DK 	1HS+4 	-200
D8 	DK 	3HS+2 	-200
D8 	DK 	3HS+2 	-200
D8 	DK 	3HS+2 	-200
D8 	DK 	3HS+2 	-200
D8 	DK 	3HS+2 	-200
D8 	DK 	4HS= 	-420
D8 	DK 	4HS= 	-420
D8 	DK 	4HS= 	-420
D8 	DK 	4HS= 	-420
D8 	DK 	4HS= 	-420
D8 	DK 	4HS= 	-420
D8 	DK 	4HS= 	-420
D8 	DK 	4HS= 	-420
D8 	DK 	4HS= 	-420
D8 	DK 	4HS= 	-420
D8 	DK 	4HS= 	-420
D8 	DK 	4HS= 	-420
D8 	DK 	4HS= 	-420
D8 	DK 	4HS+1 	-450
D8 	DK 	4HS+1 	-450
D8 	DK 	4HS+1 	-450
D8 	DK 	4HS+1 	-450
D8 	DK 	4HS+1 	-450
D8 	DK 	4HS+1 	-450
D8 	DK 	4HS+1 	-450
D8 	DK 	4HS+2 	-480
D8 	DK 	4HS+2 	-480[/b]

[Antrax]

Posting to say I've had this come up in real life. Partner leads a spot, dummy comes down with KJTxx in the suit, and I'm holding Q87xx. Declarer called for the J, and thanks to seeing this problem, I knew to kick myself right as I played the Q. Hopefully next time kick myself before playing for the trick