[VixTD]

This hand was played in our county mixed pairs competition. The standard is mixed, there are no beginners or experts.

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At every table the final contract was 2, 3 or 4♥ by North or South. If South played it, the lead was ♦6 or 8, if North played it, the lead was a top club.

At my table declarer made nine tricks, which look unassailable, but when I looked at the results I saw that the number of tricks NS had made varied between nine (x4), eight (x3) and seven (x1). It looks to me as if the defence have four top tricks, declarer nine, no side has any tricks to establish, no means of discarding losers, so even if the defensive tricks aren't cashed immediately they don't go away. There's no squeeze or trump promotion. How can EW hold declarer to fewer than nine tricks?

Most pairs will play a weak NT so the auction is likely to start 1NT - 2♥ (or Landy or something) - 3♦ (or Lebensohl). The only thing I can think of is that East lead out three rounds of clubs and then won the first diamond with the ace to disguise his count, persuading North to play him for ♠Q, but I doubt that this happened at four out of eight tables.

Can anyone think of a likely answer?

[ArtK78]

I can see no reason why declarer would take any number of tricks other than 9 if played in hearts. If played in spades, however, the defense has to cash its clubs before losing the lead, otherwise declarer will get to pitch a club from the North hand on the long heart.

As for making less than 9 tricks, I just don't see it.

[helene_t]

Defender throwing a diamond on the hearts (colour coup), now declarer thinks hearts were 2-2 and deffenders get a spade ruff.

But yeah, some will play E for ♠Q because he opened.

[fbuijsen]

For 8 tricks, all you have to do is not finesse for the ♠Q. Maybe declarer had some reason to think the Q would be offside and tried to drop it.
After all, it looks like E opened the bidding, so maybe declarer had some reason to place points in the E hand.

7 tricks is harder. I'm inclined to suspect a revoke. That, or some other silly brainwave.

[VixTD]

fbuijsen, on 2014-June-17, 08:45, said:

For 8 tricks, all you have to do is not finesse for the ♠Q. Maybe declarer had some reason to think the Q would be offside and tried to drop it.
After all, it looks like E opened the bidding, so maybe declarer had some reason to place points in the E hand.

But on the normal, unthinking defence, which is what I'm expecting from these players (myself included), East will play three rounds of clubs and win the diamond switch with the king, marking him (almost certainly) with the ace. So the normal line is to play West for the ♠Q.

fbuijsen, on 2014-June-17, 08:45, said:

7 tricks is harder. I'm inclined to suspect a revoke. That, or some other silly brainwave.

I was the playing director, and I wasn't called for any established revoke, but that's not to say it didn't happen.

[Cyberyeti]

Declarer thought he was in 3N and didn't discard a trump till trick 7 ?

[kenberg]

Of course the answer is that it seems impossible. But perhaps we can speculate. Let's say that it begins with a diamond lead and then a second diamond ruffed. Trumps are drawn in three rounds. I think for more than a few declarers, it would not occur to them to lead a club to see what's what and maybe get a free finesse. . They would just tackle spades as best they can. Ah, East opened 1NT. Probably he has the Queen. Good grief, maybe he has QTxx.. I read a book about Safety Plays, I won't start with the Ace. . Surely, for the No Trump opening, East has at least two spades. Ah ha! Over to the K, run the Jack. Who knows, maybe I pin the T if W started with Tx.

I am not saying this is sane, there is no sane way to make only 8 tricks. And making only 7 simply is not possible. I believe you, but still it is not possible.

[kenrexford]

There is an exotic defense available, not that it came up in practice...

East-West cash four minor winners, with East ending up on lead. East then leads a fourth round of clubs, knowing that anyone can ruff in, perhaps with knowledge that the opponents have eight combined spades, where a ruff-sluff gains nothing.

On the fourth club, West discards a spade, possibly the 10.

Declarer, once in control, believe that East has the spade Queen, possibly third. He therefore tries the spade King, seeing the spade 10 drop from West if it had not been played earlier. Whether now or later, the J-9 becomes the card necessary to finesse against East's presumed Q-x remaining in spades.

[nige1]

VixTD, on 2014-June-17, 07:13, said:

This hand was played in our county mixed pairs competition. The standard is mixed, there are no beginners or experts. At every table the final contract was 2, 3 or 4♥ by North or South. If South played it, the lead was ♦6 or 8, if North played it, the lead was a top club [SNIP] when I looked at the results I saw that the number of tricks NS had made varied between nine (x4), eight (x3) and seven (x1). It looks to me as if the defence have four top tricks, declarer nine, no side has any tricks to establish, no means of discarding losers, so even if the defensive tricks aren't cashed immediately they don't go away. There's no squeeze or trump promotion. How can EW hold declarer to fewer than nine tricks?

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Luckily, this is one of my areas of expertise. Defenders woodenly lead ♣AK and continue ♦AK ruffed by declarer. Declarer draws trumps in 3 rounds, cashes ♠AK (safety-play against a doubleton queen), then triumphantly exits in ♣ imagining that this line will work not only when ♠Q drops but also when the player with the remaining ♣ winner is forced to give a ruff and a sluff. As the cards lie, this deservedly leads to immediate defeat. Dummy ruefully points out that, anyway, a ruff and sluff would do declarer no favours. She sighs, resignedly, dreading my next attempt at the brilliancy prize.

[manudude03]

I'll go with East opening a weak NT, and West leading a diamond. East wins the king and cashes the ace of clubs seeing West encourage. East now underleads the king of clubs for West to cash 2 more clubs before exiting a diamond to the ace and ruff. Declarer knows that East has started with AK of diamonds and the ace of clubs, and since the king of clubs was never played, it is assumed West has it so East "must" have the queen of spades.

[VixTD]

manudude03, on 2014-June-18, 05:46, said:

I'll go with East opening a weak NT, and West leading a diamond. East wins the king and cashes the ace of clubs seeing West encourage. East now underleads the king of clubs....

Won't East now look a proper Charlie if West was encouraging with ♣10x to get a third-round ruff?

[manudude03]

VixTD, on 2014-June-18, 06:41, said:

Won't East now look a proper Charlie if West was encouraging with ♣10x to get a third-round ruff?

Indeed he would, but I have seen plenty of people who never encourage without a top honour.

[whereagles]

In BBO opposite a random, people won't even encourage WITH a top honor LOL.