Gryphons II -- Hand writeup -- August 11, 2001
Jim Plank
A flawed writeup, for two reasons. First, since I didn't go to
last saturday's game, and I don't have the hand records, I'm
writing about a hand from friday (8/17). Second, since Kevin's
out of town, you don't get his commentary. But here's a neat hand.
You're west, non vulnerable, and pick up a stellar hand:
S AK763
H A
D KTxx
C KQx
Even better, partner opens 1H. 1S by you and partner raises to
2S. I went straight to 4N, and partner bid 5H, showing the two
missing aces, but no queen of spades. That was enough for me --
7S is out of the question because of the QS -- Even if partner
has JT9x, our chances of bringing in the spade suit with no
loser is under 60%. I thought briefly about 6n, but I can only
count 10 tricks (4 spades, 3 clubs, 2 diamonds and a heart). If
partner has the HK, that's 11, but partner could easily open
with those 11 points. No reason to tempt fate -- I bid 6S.
A club is led, and partner tables a gold mine:
S T854
H KQxxxx
D Ax
C A
S AK763
H A
D KTxx
C KQx
My first thoughts are negative -- 6n and 6s are making the same
number of tricks, so we're going to lose to the 6n bidders.
This is looking like a quick claimer. The only concern is a 4-0
spade split. If RHO has it, I can bring the contract home by
leading low from the dummy, and just covering RHO's card. So I
take the CA, lead a low spade, and there's no need for a safety
play, because RHO discards a club. Ugh.
In case you're wondering, a 4-0 split with LHO having the spades
is a 4.8% probability. Even worse, 6N still has a chance if
hearts split 3-3, or if they don't start with a club (if they
start with a club and hearts split 4-2, you don't have enough
entries to flush out the heart loser and run the last hearts).
However, what makes the hand interesting is that you shouldn't
give up -- you can still make the hand if LHO has the right
distribution. I tried to play her to be 4333, which she was,
but I couldn't get it right, and lost two spade tricks. As it
turns out, you can't make it if LHO is 4333. However, if LHO is
4423, you can, so that's how you should play it. Think about it
before going on.
Suppose these are the cards:
S T854
H KQxxxx
D Ax
C A
S QJ92 S -
H Jxxx H xx
D xx D QJxxx
C xxx C Jxxxxx
S AK763
H A
D KTxx
C KQx
After finding out the bad news about the spades, you win trick
#2 with the ace of spades and strip LHO of exit cards -- you
play the KC of clubs (throwing two hearts from dummy), the KD
and AH, then a diamond to dummy. Then you win the KH and QH,
throwing your two last diamonds, and ruff dummy's last heart.
Here's the position:
S T85
H -
D -
C -
S QJ9 S -
H - H -
D - D who
C - C cares
S K76
H -
D -
C -
Lead a low spade, and LHO is endplayed. She'll have to win the
SJ, and now either return sets up your ST in dummy.
Unfortunately, with LHO is 4333, you're done after leading the
first spade. You could make if you had the DQ. But to strip
LHO, you have to ruff a diamond in dummy, and that means that
the end position would be:
S T8
H x
D -
C -
S QJ9 S -
H - H -
D - D who
C - C cares
S K76
H -
D -
C -
Now when LHO wins the SJ, the SQ will squash the ST, and LHO's
S9 holds up as the setting trick. You can make it double dummy
if you don't draw the first round of trump, but that, of course,
is insanity.
As always, the scores were all over the place:
1 - 1520 -- Ann Donnell and Helen Kirby bid the ice cold 7n
(since hearts are 3-3)
2 - 1020 -- Two pairs in 6n+7
1 - 1010 -- One pair ended up in 6H, and made 7.
1 - 460 -- 3N plus 5 (losing two spades, I guess)
3 - -50 -- My compatriots
3 - -100 -- Either 7s down two, or 6S doubled, down one
1 - -300 -- 7s, treated to the red card and set two.