xx K7 Txxx AKTxx
in first seat, and the auction proceeds: P-(3H)-P-4H all pass.
Partner inquires as to style, and opps say disciplined. The opening
lead is the QC, and the dummy is:
AQx Q AKQJxxx xx
How do you defend?
Bill Campbell
Two rounds of Clubs. If they cash, the Heart King.
--
Will in New Haven
The only chance I see for beating this hand is to play 3 rounds of
clubs and tapping dummy. Then, it might be impossible to get off the
board without conceding a trick (to the king of spades, or perhaps a
diamond overruff), so I will encourage clubs, win the 2nd round and
play the ace.
Henrysun909
I would play the club ace and king and then lead a low heart
playing declarer for something like: S xx H AJ109xxx D x C xxx.
Declarer will probably guess wrong by winning the heart ace and try to
discard a club on two rounds of diamonds.
Eric Leong
But partner will ruff the second diamond.
I find it hard to play for a disciplined preempter to open 3H on a
suit like H A108xxxx when he is red vs. white.
Eric Leong
How about starting with three rounds of clubs (assuming that the second
round stands up)? If dummy is forced to ruff the third round, then that
will improve the chances of our King of hearts making. Furthermore, it's
possible that declarer might find it hard to come back to hand safely,
if he doesn't have the King of spades. An attempt to do so by ultimately
ruffing a diamond could conceivably lead to partner making a trump trick
by either ruffing or promotion.
--
John Hall "[It was] so steep that at intervals the street broke into steps,
like a person breaking into giggles or hiccups, and then resumed
its sober climb, until it had another fit of steps."
Ursula K Le Guin "The Beginning Place"
Best chance to beat this is probably to overtake and give partner a diamond
ruff.
Tiggrr
If it goes AC, diamond ruffed by partner, club to the K, do you
continue clubs, or diamonds, or does it depend on the club partner
plays back?
Bill Campbell
In contrast to other opinions, I don't believe that AJT9xxx and out is
enough for a first seat "disciplined" red vs. white preempt as it
contains only 5 to 5.5 tricks, far short of the 7 classically
promised. Thus, declarer and not partner has the spade king. Also, as
to heart quality,
it is not unreasonable to play decalrer for 7 to at least the AJ. Two
rounds of clubs followed by the heart king will not be quite good
enough as declarer will draw another trump then pitch his third club
on a winner in dummy.
.
Three lines are promising:
LINE 1 (Henry). three rounds of clubs hoping partner has the heart 9.
This requires declarer's hearts to be no better than AJTxxxx. You
hope that after ruffing in dummy, crossing to the spade king and
playing A-J of hearts, you can win and play a fourth club promoting
the heart 9. Declarer can counter be playing ace and a low heart (not
so tough given your defence). Also, if declarer has two only clubs,
this defence will fail if the hearts are as good as AJ9xxxx as the
ruff will be taken in hand.
LINE 2. play partner for a diamond void and overtake the club, diamond
ruff, club, diamond ruff. This requires declarer to hold 2-2, 2-3, or
2-4 in the minors. In turn, it also means that partner, who has from
six to eight spades, did not balance with 4S, white against red with
something along the lines of:
JT9xxx, xxx, --, QJxx or
JT9xxxx, xxx, --, QJx or
JT9xxxxx, xxx, --, Qx
LINE 3 (ERIC): two rounds of clubs followed by a low heart. You have
to hope partner has the heart ten with the following additional
conditions: a. declarer rises with the ace of trumps; b. has a third
club (because with a doubleton, he WILL float the heart retunr); c.
chooses the wrong suit for a pitch of that third club (whcih ain't
gonna happen); and d. either 2=7=1=3 OR 1=7=1=4 as otherwise, with
3=7=0=3, he will cross in spades and pitch a club on a diamond, cross
back to spades and play more trumps.
If the "disciplined" part of the explanation is to be believed, and
the opponents are of decent quality as befits a top bracket, then LINE
2 is a long-term winner and is at least as good as LINE 1. LINE 3
requires also requires specific shape but unlike LINE 1, requires
partner to have a stronger trump holding.
Regards,
David W
Is this a trick question? If a club to the king wins, how can it be
wrong to play a second diamond? Would you have us believe that
declarer has 0=9=2=2 shape? If that is the case, then partner has
8=1=0=4 with KJT9xxxx, x, --, QJxx and failed to act? Hardly. The
only club that partner can play back where it would make a difference
is the ace or king.
Regards,
David W.
If declarer is 2=7=1=3 and can ruff the second diamond high, he can go
to dummy with a spade, and play the QH. After I don't cover, he
returns to hand with a high diamond ruff, draws trump, and later
accesses dummy in spades to pitch his last club. In that case, the
second diamond return is wrong, and a third club is right, forcing
declarer to ruff in dummy with the Q, promoting my K doubleton of
hearts.
> Regards,
> David W.- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -
Bill Campbell
> On Nov 23, 11:10 am, metobillc <metobi...@gmail.com> wrote:
>> IMPS, Bracketed Swiss (top bracket), favorable vulnerability, you
>> hold:
>>
>> xx K7 Txxx AKTxx
>>
>> in first seat, and the auction proceeds: P-(3H)-P-4H all pass.
>>
>> Partner inquires as to style, and opps say disciplined. The opening
>> lead is the QC, and the dummy is:
>>
>> AQx Q AKQJxxx xx
>>
>> How do you defend?
>
> In contrast to other opinions, I don't believe that AJT9xxx and out is
> enough for a first seat "disciplined" red vs. white preempt as it
> contains only 5 to 5.5 tricks, far short of the 7 classically
> promised.
SEVEN! That may be _classical_, but I don't think it's a modern
_disciplined_ preempt. I was taught 5 tricks for the two level, 6 for
three. And my preempts aren't _that_ disciplined, but probably at least as
much as the average player's.
--
derek
I disagree. Classically it was the rule of 2 and 3. (Within 2 of the
contract if vul and within 3 if non-vul). More recently, that became
the 2-3-4 rule: within 2 tricks at unfave, 3 tricks at equal, and 4 if
favourable. I am talking about disciplined preempts. Today's
"undisciplined" style is of course a different matter.
Regards,
David W.
Bill...
If declarer has a stiff diamond as in your construction then so does
partner and there was no diamondf ruff at trick two. (Of course,
partner may have revoked but that is a different story...)
Regards,
David W.
> On Nov 23, 3:32 pm, Derek Broughton <de...@pointerstop.ca> wrote:
>> David W. wrote:
>> > In contrast to other opinions, I don't believe that AJT9xxx and out is
>> > enough for a first seat "disciplined" red vs. white preempt as it
>> > contains only 5 to 5.5 tricks, far short of the 7 classically
>> > promised.
>>
>> SEVEN! That may be _classical_, but I don't think it's a modern
>> _disciplined_ preempt. I was taught 5 tricks for the two level, 6 for
>> three. And my preempts aren't _that_ disciplined, but probably at least
>> as much as the average player's.
>
> I disagree. Classically it was the rule of 2 and 3. (Within 2 of the
> contract if vul and within 3 if non-vul). More recently, that became
> the 2-3-4 rule: within 2 tricks at unfave, 3 tricks at equal, and 4 if
> favourable. I am talking about disciplined preempts. Today's
> "undisciplined" style is of course a different matter.
I don't see that there's a disagreement there. "Classically", I'm sure
you're right about what constitutes discipline, but today's ACBL students
are being taught from Audrey Grant, and she says 5 & 6 playing tricks.
--
derek
I find it hard to beat the contract when declarer has a good hand, so
I play him for a bad one. I don't mind tapping dummy with a third Club
though. That still depends on declarer having less than "sound" might
indicate.
Assuming 4H can be set, how do you plan to take four defensive tricks
by leading a third club?
Eric Leong
>
> --
> Will in New Haven- Hide quoted text -
Well, what if the 4 hand are
AQx
Q
AKQJxxx
xx
Kxxxxx xx
9xx Kx
x Txxx
QJx AKTxx
Jx
AJTxxxx
x
xxx
How do you propose to make 4h after three rounds of clubs?
Henrysun909