a***@yahoo.co.uk
2018-11-24 13:45:41 UTC
Sadly I failed to spot the safety play, here is an interesting hand from yesterday evening.
JT52
54
982
J965
Q97 A862
K62 AQ
A63 KQ
QT83 AK742
K3
JT9873
JT754
-
N E S W
2H P
P X P 3H
P 6NT AP
Small heart led. I could see 12 easy tricks if the clubs are not 4-0, so I started by unblocking the red suits, then cashed the CA.
Fatal. The 4-0 break was revealed and I now can't pick up Norths four clubs for no losers. I ended up conceding a club to North, one down.
The correct play is, after unblocking the red suits, lead a spade to the queen. If the king is onside the queen is another entry to dummy, which allows me to enter dummy twice to play clubs through North as long as I don't cash the club ace first. I have to enter dummy with the CQ which reveals the bad break, run high cards through North using the SQ as a second entry, and eventually the C7 is promoted if North keeps covering, else his J9 get finessed. 12 tricks made.
On my failed line, I needed to play to the CQ first (not the ace) which reveals the bad break, play a high club through North, then play a spade to the queen to generate the necessary second entry. It was the key play of making use of the SQ that I failed to see and was my downfall.
On the actual layout, if I play the spade ace and another, South wins by force and is endplayed into giving me an extra entry to dummy in one of the red suits, but that is very double dummy play and not a sensible line of play.
No-one else in 6NT made it, but it could have been a top if I had seen the best line. Those who stopped in 3NT on the combined 33 HCP were rewarded with an average plus.
JT52
54
982
J965
Q97 A862
K62 AQ
A63 KQ
QT83 AK742
K3
JT9873
JT754
-
N E S W
2H P
P X P 3H
P 6NT AP
Small heart led. I could see 12 easy tricks if the clubs are not 4-0, so I started by unblocking the red suits, then cashed the CA.
Fatal. The 4-0 break was revealed and I now can't pick up Norths four clubs for no losers. I ended up conceding a club to North, one down.
The correct play is, after unblocking the red suits, lead a spade to the queen. If the king is onside the queen is another entry to dummy, which allows me to enter dummy twice to play clubs through North as long as I don't cash the club ace first. I have to enter dummy with the CQ which reveals the bad break, run high cards through North using the SQ as a second entry, and eventually the C7 is promoted if North keeps covering, else his J9 get finessed. 12 tricks made.
On my failed line, I needed to play to the CQ first (not the ace) which reveals the bad break, play a high club through North, then play a spade to the queen to generate the necessary second entry. It was the key play of making use of the SQ that I failed to see and was my downfall.
On the actual layout, if I play the spade ace and another, South wins by force and is endplayed into giving me an extra entry to dummy in one of the red suits, but that is very double dummy play and not a sensible line of play.
No-one else in 6NT made it, but it could have been a top if I had seen the best line. Those who stopped in 3NT on the combined 33 HCP were rewarded with an average plus.