I am ashamed to share this deal because I blew it. On a non heart lead, you have to play for the only chance, a red-suit endplay strip-squeeze and it works! On a heart lead when the Jack forces the ace, you are forced to play for H:KJ tight. Quite an amazing deal.
And the bidding? A sedate two clubs game forcing would get you, if you were aggressive to the slam. You would play it better than me.
I don't know if you can call this a discovery play. I risked developing clubs, to gain info, when west went in King of clubs and got out with a second diamond, his hand pattern was clear, but not so clear was if his trump was xxx or Qxx/ I actually closed my eyes after finessing in trump, opening them to receie the good news of a small card.
With the good guess in trump, the contract rolled in.
I do not recall the thought process, was I playing East for a stiff C2? Most likely.
Taking out partner's four level double was unwise here, but in the long term it pays off playing with these robots, who would not recognize a nonpenalty bid more situation if it came up. Many -790 and -490 later I am wiser. Sometimes they get away, like here. But at least I did not have to apologize to a human
Partner had produced a negative double of three spades. It was four spades by RHO back to me. I decided to bash a slam. Should I have bid a heart slam? Since I need the heart fillers for the club slam and 4-2 clubs might be ok in a Heart slam but not in a club?
True, with the club honors location, thirteen tricks are there, but taking twelve was good enough. East robot's trump play is desperation but from the bidding I am playing him for the King. (With four out including K,J, Cashing Ace and playing up to the QTxxx has something going for it to avoid a second round guess)
Opening a point short, and denying a 4card minor after the enquiry, I was in 6NT. Alas, after a successful guess in clubs, I failed to follow through by playing CA when the angels would have struck up the orchestra. Instead I went after a chimerical 3 3 diamond break or some squeeze and came up emtpy. A sad down one.
Such a pity
With only 14 HCP i passed and lay in the bushes in second seat after a 1D opening by RHO. Partner saw fit to pass with 4 diamonds in passout seat. Both red and the streets ran red as we restricted them to 4 tricks, down three.
When partner found a reopening bid, I re-evaluated aggressively. I played the hand well. The idea of the restricted choice trump play was that I did not mind losing this "unnecessary trick"
The bidding of suit slams when there is a preponderance of strength in one hand always depends on the cooperative bidding of partner. Here the robot came through. We won a bushel of IMPs. I am still not clear why the field did not bid the slam
A stretch to reverse here, a pushy inquiry there saw me in slam. My partner correctly critiqued my play. But I don’t think you played it optimally. After you win the second trick, isn’t it best to play SA and ruff a spade high, then play a trump to dummy? If trumps are 4-0, you’ll still make if spades are 3-3, but if trumps are not 4-0, you can handle a 4-2 spade break by ruffing spades high twice more, getting back to dummy once more in trumps and the other time by ruffing the second round of diamonds. And if spades turn out to be 5-1, you’ll still survive if trumps are 2-2 and East is the one short in spades because you can ruff 3 red cards in dummy.
After I had provided a support double and robot partner first appeared to subside in two hearts, he came to life with a cue bid of Four clubs, inspired, which backed me into the game. The evaluation proved correct! I suppose the robot uses four hearts rebid with a less defensive hand, all preempt
An imaginative raise to four of a major on a distributional hand lacking the fifth trump. Well done by the robot judging by the result.
The bidding in second seat was a bit outrageous since you can only make a case for such a bid in third. Still I got a gorgeous dummy. Would I have had the gumption to run the Diamond nine? You see why the reflexive cover is such a bad play? In trumps I catch these robots covering honors the way they would plain suits. Since they cannot set up honor cards in partner's hand, this is futile, as Reese in his primers is fond of pointing out.
since partner has some values. I figured, if no voids, my three aces and his defensive values must be at least down one..The defence of rising with the trump ace to deliver the ruff was marked and easy
This hand played at most tables at 2S or 3S was played in 4S X at mine because I opened 1NT light.
The double and the defence were a bit brutal.
At some tables it went 1C (1D) 2C (2S) swish or maybe it was 1H… The 2H showing H and a minor vul was not a thing of beauty and when partner thought he had an independent spade suit, the roof fell in after two rounds of bidding at my table.
My free rebid was not a thing of beauty. Neither was robot partner's excitable try bid (for slam??). We were then playing in the might as well be hung for a sheep as a goat territory. Luckily, tricks were pitched by defence.
You did think about a grand slam, but how do you get a cooperative move from partner? 5NT in response to 4NT showed even keycards plus a void (most likely in clubs).
Hard to bid 7 not knowing about the HQ in this auction. you have a 50% shot even if partner *doesn’t* have the HQ. Not IMP odds, for sure. Do you think partner should have bid 4C rather than 3H; that would have been both more informative and a closer approximation of the value of the hand? Then when you bid blackwood, partner can show 2 key cards and the trump queen, and you have a much easier time bidding 7H.
I was playing in a 4board Swiss KO. I knew I had bungled the first board, there was not much hope till this board came along. I first just represented my strength a point higher.
Then we arrived at a thin slam where I had multiple queen locating to do, or some serious card reading.
After getting a count on the spades, I had resigned myself to playing E for the S:Qxxxx, and even with the SQ I come to 3+3+3+2top clubs, so I need to find the CQ. Judging the CQ to be offside and hoping angainst hope something would develop, I first cashed the second high club.
I got lucky..
13 badly needed IMPs for bidding this one. Other room 4NT +2
My judgement that Goren high card points do not transfer into setting tricks, made me pass their 4Spades. The defence in clubs was abysmal (I fell asleep on the count card of robot partner). But declarer has a road to 11 tricks or 10. This ordinary deal is just an illustration that the shoals of distribution of declarer and dummy are sometimes waiting to sink your double ships
My fourth seat double followed by yet another free reopening of 1NT showed 19-20 points. Partner with his seven spades took a fine view.
There was some ping pong in gifting each side a club trick. Aside from that but the way I defended, I would only have beaten him one on competent declarer play. If I just passively lead trump at every opportunity, declarer, with so few hand entries, might lose a spade, 3 hearts, 2 diamonds and 2 clubs for down 3. <\p>
Fancifully, the robot in the unambitious contract of 4H, showed its dummy what’s what by ruffing its own DA and DK to hand... pretty funny since any card would do
How can you get to slam?
After I stopped precariously at five, West did well to take HA. The reason I played trump, the way I did was to avoid losing a ruff to a small doubleton trump. However this play, made instinctively and too quickly, was correct for another reason. Playing low to the A gains against stiff K with either West or East, as well as doubleton T9 with East. Leading the Q and letting it run if not covered gains against stiff T or stiff 9 with East, as you can lead to the 8 on the next round.
Partner showed 9 points and exactly 4 spades and fewer than 3 hearts and I had no business going on, but as they say, I liked my hand.I liked how I got a lock on to nine tricks. I have to admit, my friend was right when he observed about these robots that "the opening lead resolved that suit and the lead to the second trick resolved *that* suit, so that makes life easier"
My rebid of my suit was not a thing of beauty but my vulnerable opponents went on to bid 3NT and I was on lead. Our defence was blistering after I led a spade
Needing to generate a IMP swing, I looked to bid and make game here
My (human) correspondent I showed the hand to, rightly criticized my spade finesse on round three of the suit. "I can understand playing on spades before leading the 3rd round of clubs—if West had the last high club, you want to limit the number of tricks by which you go down. But taking the spade finesse on the 3rd round of the suit was an unnecessary risk—you still needed a club trick to make your contract, and if the spade finesse lost, you’d be down even if the last club honor was with East. And if the spade finesse was winning, and you don’t take it, you’ve managed to set up a trick for East, but at worst that would be the defense’s 4th trick—you still make your contract if East has the last high club"
In a robot IMP tourney, I boosted partner's competitive Five of a minor bid to SIX boldly, figuring him for a control from their bidding.
The following was a deal featuring some bad breaks. I arrived in a Robot tourney as North in 3NT. After a deep spade finesse fectched the King, I could in the endgame play double dummy. With 4 cards left to play I endplayed West who had to give me two spade tricks for the contract
