Creature's Features

[jcreech]

Attached are the 2/18 lesson hands.

[jcreech]

Counting on Defense

Dlr: South
Vul: E-W

                A
                83
                AKQJ97
                8753

J8652
KQT
T3
QJ6

South  North
 1 NT   4
 4     6 NT
 All Pass

This is a hand where North gambled that slam could be made, pulled out the the seldom used Gerber convention, and finding that all suit had first-round control, blasted into the NT slam.  With clubs being 3-3, slam is ice cold on the lead of any of 11 cards.  Unfortunately, West has a natural lead of the problem suit - hearts.

West led the K, which was ducked by declarer.  At the time, it was not certain if declarer was executing a Bath coup or preparing for a Vienna coup.  Both are potentially applicable, so let it suffice that West shifted to a small spade.  At this point, the defense just needs to figure out what cards to hold onto because that will be the setting trick.

I was East, so it was clear that I needed to hold onto either the Q or three clubs. 

West's job was harder because he was looking at three suits to protect.  However, counting should make the job much easier.  South either has all of the missing high cards or could be missing either the Q or the J; anything else would bring South's hand down to 14 HCP for a first seat 1 NT opening.  If declarer has the Q, then declarer has 12 tricks - 3 spades, 1 heart, 6 diamonds and two clubs; therefore you need to save hearts and clubs, and pitching after declarer, you will know what to hold.  There is another approach that also works.  He is also looking at the need to pitch four cards on the run of the diamonds; the only suit with that many pitches is the spade suit.  I think West should get this problem right 100% of the time.

Should I, as East, gotten the problem right too?  Actually, I think so.  My problem is less one of counting and one of hoping that I can hold onto the right card.  Where I went wrong is I got greedy and tried to retain a heart.  To hold onto that greedy heart, I released a club, and when partner did as well to hold onto the J, that was the end of the defense.

Declarer gave the defense a chance to go wrong, and off we each went.  Congrats to the declarer!

For the full hand, follow the link:  https://www.bridgebase.com/tools/handviewer.html?lin=st||pn|South,West,North,jcreech|md|1SK74HAJ2D8654CAK2,SJ8652HKQTDT3CQJ6,SAH83DAKQJ97C8753,SQT93H97654D2CT94|sv|e|rh||ah|Board%2019|mb|1N|mb|P|mb|4C|mb|P|mb|4S|mb|P|mb|6N|mb|P|mb|P|mb|P|pc|HK|pc|H3|pc|H7|pc|H2|pc|S2|pc|SA|pc|S3|pc|S4|pc|H8|pc|H9|pc|HA|pc|HT|pc|SK|pc|S6|pc|C3|pc|S9|pc|D8|pc|D3|pc|DA|pc|D2|pc|DK|pc|H6|pc|D6|pc|DT|pc|DQ|pc|H4|pc|D5|pc|S5|pc|DJ|pc|H5|pc|D4|pc|C6|pc|D9|pc|ST|pc|HJ|pc|S8|pc|D7|pc|C4|pc|S7|pc|HQ|pc|C8|pc|C9|pc|CK|pc|CJ|pc|CA|pc|CQ|pc|C7|pc|CT|pc|C2|pc|SJ|pc|C5|pc|SQ|

[kenberg]

Regarding that 6NT hand posted above, let me be provocative: When partner leads the heart K you can deduce that he has the club Q (or better). Why?
If pard has the heart A to go with the heart K (of course he doesn't after the Gerber sequence0 then he will of course cash it at T2. So: Declarer, together with dummy, has the spade A, the heart A, six diamond tricks (assuming he holds at least two Ds in his hand the suit will run). That's 1+1+6=8 tricks. If declarer has the club AKQ, even if it is AKQ tight, you have three clubs and the board has four so pard has at most 3. Declarer will, sooner or later, cash the AKQ and the 8 on the board will be good.
Thus: Unless pard has the club Q or better, the hand is over. So, for the purpose of planning the play, he has it.

There is another inference after declarer ducks the heart. If declarer held AJT he presumably would have taken the A at T1 and led the J to establish the T. So pard's heart holding is KQT or possibly KQJ.

I assume from you play of the H7 at T1 and spade 3 at T2 you are playing udca. Thus pard knows that you do not have the heart J and you do have something in spades. Even in the virtually impossible on the bidding event that he has the spade K as well as the heart KQ and the club Q, he can now comfortably toss the spade K, keeping his heart and club threats.

When declarer played the heart 8 from the board, I think covering with the 9 was an error. Surely pard has the Q so declarer is not about to let the 8 ride. And there is a downside. Presumably pard took the heart 7 at T1 as denying the heart J, but when you cover the 8 he has to worry that maybe, just maybe, the 7 was an encouraging card from J97. Declarer might have started with five hearts. Pard will be subjected to a pseudo-squeeze and you don't want him even thinking of pitching the heart Q on the assumptions/hope you have the J. Of course this gets clarified as you pitch more hearts on the run of the Ds, so it really shouldn't matter.

As long as the spade 3 at T2 showed values in spades, pard can pitch all of his spades on the Ds and then choose between a club or heart after he sees what declarer does. but this is true only if he is confident that declarer holds the heart J Declarer comes down to the heart J and the AK (only) of clubs so it is safe to toss a club.

It's a hand with possibilities. Declarer might take the A at T1 and try a pseudo without the count.

Added: Seems it makes 6D.

[kenberg]

I was thinking about this a little more. you could vary declarer's hand and make it a DARE. Give S the AKJ of clubs instead of the AK2. Now he wins the first heart, cashes the spade A,  comes to hand with the club A, cashes the spade K throwing a club, and runs clubs. So he has played two spades, one heart and six diamnds, coming down to

H: 8
C 87
and
H: J
C: KJ

He has to read the position but if he does he makes it: W holds the H Q and the C Qx so now S puts him in with a heart.

Of course there is nothing to be done about that, if that's the way it is then that's the way it is.

As it went, declarer does not have that holding and he ducked the first heart, won the spade, came to hand with a heart and cashed the spade K, then run diamonds.

So everyone comes down to three cards on the last D. You save the spade Q and two clubs. You denied the heart J at T1 so W knows S has (or had) it and since you pitched all of your hearts he knows S has no other heart. So he has no trouble finding the right pitch. But this does assume you pitched all hearts on the run of the diamonds. You do not want him to worry that maybe S pitched the heart J, holding the 6, an equivalent heart since you played the 7 and 9. This assumes that after 9 tricks W came down to the heart Q and the QJx of clubs and then, on the last diamond, must choose his pitch.

And, if you had not played the 9 then he would worry that maybe the J was thrown from J9. I think that all hearts must be thrown.