Normally Sunday night social games are the opportunity for me to turn my brain off and play some lousy bridge. Last night, perhaps buoyed by a big win in our teams match Sunday morning, I was fairly alert.
The following hand stood out, not because I made a brilliant play (I can't tell, but it might not even matter in the end), but because of what I was looking for....
At trick 2, the automatic thing to do, I guess, would be to lead trump. My losers in trump and hearts are completely inevitable, however, spades look at least interesting. If I'd had AQ instead of AJ, the possibility of an endplay looks far clearer, but I decided to take a shot, anyways. I decided there was very little risk.
So I claimed my 3 diamond tricks, throwing a heart. I then led trump, won on my left. The queen of hearts held, and I smiled. LHO wound up leading spades twice, and my JS ended up being the overtrick.
Granted, the JS probably sets up anyways, so it probably made no difference on this hand. Still, I was pleased that I'd struck on the idea of playing this way. If I'd held the queen of spades instead of the jack, or if I'd lacked sufficient entries to finesse spades twice, this approach might have helped me win an extra trick.
Monday, January 25, 2010
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
Right Play, Wrong Hand
Last night, I got to declare a fairly mundane 4 hearts contract.
At trick 4, knowing the hearts were 3-2, I took a misstep, and led the queen of clubs. LHO won and returned a spade, and right away I could see why I hadn't needed to worry - I could have taken the final trump straight away.
However, if dummy had stared with 3 or more spades, my play would have been correct.
The issue is whether opponents can run you out of trumps to promote a spade winner before the clubs are promoted. In this case, you draw the oustanding trump, lose one club, ruff a spade in hand, lose another club, ruff the next spade on the board, and even though you're now out of trump, you're good.
Note that there's no reason to ever take the diamond finesse.
This was a classic case of seeing something, but not thinking quite deeply enough.
At trick 4, knowing the hearts were 3-2, I took a misstep, and led the queen of clubs. LHO won and returned a spade, and right away I could see why I hadn't needed to worry - I could have taken the final trump straight away.
However, if dummy had stared with 3 or more spades, my play would have been correct.
The issue is whether opponents can run you out of trumps to promote a spade winner before the clubs are promoted. In this case, you draw the oustanding trump, lose one club, ruff a spade in hand, lose another club, ruff the next spade on the board, and even though you're now out of trump, you're good.
Note that there's no reason to ever take the diamond finesse.
This was a classic case of seeing something, but not thinking quite deeply enough.
Monday, January 11, 2010
1 Step Forward...
This weekend I played quite a few hands, and learned 2 things:
- I don't overcall or balance enough.
- When playing for fun, I let my brain shut off, and make very poor decisions.
The only thing that makes me feel good about my play this past weekend was this hand:
Not sure if this was the best line, but I started on clubs. A low club yielded the King from LHO, so I won. I then returned to hand, and ran another low club. Both times, I was prepared to duck if LHO did. This time he did, and I did, too. RHO won the with the ten, which meant that I was safe.
He was even nice enough to return a diamond for an overtrick.
This line fails to 4-1 clubs, and KJT on my left, but if the JT are split, I can make on any 3-2. The key is not to let LHO lead a diamond, especially if they wind up being 5-3.
- I don't overcall or balance enough.
- When playing for fun, I let my brain shut off, and make very poor decisions.
The only thing that makes me feel good about my play this past weekend was this hand:
Not sure if this was the best line, but I started on clubs. A low club yielded the King from LHO, so I won. I then returned to hand, and ran another low club. Both times, I was prepared to duck if LHO did. This time he did, and I did, too. RHO won the with the ten, which meant that I was safe.
He was even nice enough to return a diamond for an overtrick.
This line fails to 4-1 clubs, and KJT on my left, but if the JT are split, I can make on any 3-2. The key is not to let LHO lead a diamond, especially if they wind up being 5-3.
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