Deanrover, on Nov 23 2004, 01:50 PM, said:
I think the distribution is much clearer than you all realise.
Declarer clearly had one diamond, and partner six.
First clue: Partner overcalled two diamonds, but did not Weak Jump shift first up. Why would he do this? Probably because he had a four card major.
Similar situation. Bidding goes: P~1♣~p~1♠~2♥ it is more likely than usual that the two Hearts bidding has 4 ♠s, which helps explain his initial pass.
What 4 card major could it be? If he doesn't have 4 ♠ then declarer does, but declarer would have support his partner with a 4 bagger, so we rule that out.
So partner seems to be 4w6x
and declarer is 3y1z
Many people require a 6 card suit to rebid a minor which would give declarer 3316. If he had a 5 cards suit then he would be 3415 in which case he might have supported Spades. So 3316 is most likely, with 3415 an outside possibility.
As for the honour distribution. Partner would not overcall 2ds on just QTxxxx. Furthermore, we know that he did not bid 2d first up because of his 4 card Spade suit, well if his suit was headed by the ten he would be less inclined to worry about this, so he must have at least one spade honour. Could he have both? Unlikely. For one, he may well have led from AKxx. Furthermore, if he did have AKxx then this leaves declarer with
xxx
Kxx
K
KQ8xxx
Which is a pass for most people. Give declarer
AKx
xxx
K
KQ8xxx
and he likely rebids 2♠ bypassing his 6 card suit. So partner has
Hxxx (H is A or K)
?xx
QTxxxx
Void
For his 2D bid he surely must have the Heart K, completing the picture of the hand.
Dean,
I totally disagree with your premise on no weak two jump overcall... so a four card major. First, partners suit is QTxxxx not what weak two are made of. Second, his partner (us, me and you, and those solving puzzle) is a passed hand. If you are going to preempt, just do so, don't worry about the side four card major.
The second example.. P-1C-p-1S-2H the implication about spades is a little clearer. Since partner was not a passed hand at the first bid...
Likewise I disagree with your view that WEST has six clubs becasue "he would raise with three card support to high honor" and stiff diamond. I would, and in fact I argue for this kind of raise all over the place. But the world, sadly, is not as enlightened. So, EAST is only marked with 5 clubs for sure. The failure to bid 4
♣ himself over your three diamonds, to me, is a clear indication he has only five.
As an aside. If declearer is 3-3-1-6, he makes all day, as we get 1D, 1H, 1S. Who the heck wants to play for that hand? This is a ZERO defense hand. A low heart back beats it when parnter has Kx of hearts and stiff club, nothiing beats the contract when declearer has six clubs and three-three is spade. Kit Woolsey (search old bridge worlds for his article on Zero defense) would say anything but low heart at trick two is a defensive blunder. Heads you win, tails you break even.
ben
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