An interesting situation...

[Kenny McCormack]

You hold:
Tx,9xxx,Qxxx,KQx

The opponents bid (your side silent): 1C,1D/2S,3S/4C,4D/4H,4S/5D,5H/6S

Before you lead, South announces:

We's playin Jahuzda strong club, announced Chief Jbobo at
the end of the auction. Dat was epsilon relay sequence.

You lead the king of clubs and the blue-clad cattle drover in the
North seat put down this dummy:

xxx,KTxx,Kxx,Tx3

Declarer now says:

Where's de ace of diamonds? demanded the chieftain, turning
over the dummy's cards and looking underneath.

To which North replies:

I's cue-biddin de king, explained Mrazana. Dats de modern
style according to de white-bwana. He tellin me about it in de tea-break.

And declarer replies:

I does de tellin' in dis team, said the chieftain fiercely. "You have
de ace next time or you's target practice for de young bowmen!"

Your lead draws the: 3, 6, and 9.

What do you play at trick 2 - and why?

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[Paul N]

On Sunday, March 19, 2023 at 4:59:44 PM UTC, Kenny McCormack wrote:
> You hold:
> Tx,9xxx,Qxxx,KQx
>
> The opponents bid (your side silent): 1C,1D/2S,3S/4C,4D/4H,4S/5D,5H/6S
>
> Before you lead, South announces:
>
> We's playin Jahuzda strong club, announced Chief Jbobo at
> the end of the auction. Dat was epsilon relay sequence.
>
> You lead the king of clubs and the blue-clad cattle drover in the
> North seat put down this dummy:
>
> xxx,KTxx,Kxx,Tx3
>
> Declarer now says:
>
> Where's de ace of diamonds? demanded the chieftain, turning
> over the dummy's cards and looking underneath.
>
> To which North replies:
>
> I's cue-biddin de king, explained Mrazana. Dats de modern
> style according to de white-bwana. He tellin me about it in de tea-break.
>
> And declarer replies:
>
> I does de tellin' in dis team, said the chieftain fiercely. "You have
> de ace next time or you's target practice for de young bowmen!"
>
> Your lead draws the: 3, 6, and 9.
>
> What do you play at trick 2 - and why?

Er, you lead a diamond to the ace which your partner presumably has, thereby getting the contract down?

[Kenny McCormack]

In article <278bca24-ae22-4ab6...@googlegroups.com>,
Paul N <gw7...@aol.com> wrote:
...

>> I does de tellin' in dis team, said the chieftain fiercely. "You have
>> de ace next time or you's target practice for de young bowmen!"
>>
>> Your lead draws the: 3, 6, and 9.
>>
>> What do you play at trick 2 - and why?
>
>Er, you lead a diamond to the ace which your partner presumably has, thereby
>getting the contract down?

You're on the right track, but I think that's only about 1/3 of the answer.
You need to dig deeper. For example, what if declarer is void in diamonds?

--
Elect a clown, expect a circus.

[John Hall]

In message <tv7f1t$19jug$1...@news.xmission.com>, Kenny McCormack
<gaz...@shell.xmission.com> writes

>You hold:
> Tx,9xxx,Qxxx,KQx
>
>The opponents bid (your side silent): 1C,1D/2S,3S/4C,4D/4H,4S/5D,5H/6S
>
>Before you lead, South announces:
>
> We's playin Jahuzda strong club, announced Chief Jbobo at
> the end of the auction. Dat was epsilon relay sequence.

<snip>

That must be from the David Bird book in which the Abbot and some of his
fellow monks go to do missionary work in Africa. I don't suppose such a
non-PC book could be published nowadays.
--
John Hall "Do you have cornflakes in America?"
"Well, actually, they're American."
"So what brings you to Britain then if you have cornflakes already?"
Bill Bryson: "Notes from a Small Island"

[Kenny McCormack]

In article <H31Mf7AKCzGkFwox@jhall_nospamxx.co.uk>,

John Hall <jo...@jhall.co.uk> wrote:
>In message <tv7f1t$19jug$1...@news.xmission.com>, Kenny McCormack
><gaz...@shell.xmission.com> writes
>>You hold:
>> Tx,9xxx,Qxxx,KQx
>>
>>The opponents bid (your side silent): 1C,1D/2S,3S/4C,4D/4H,4S/5D,5H/6S
>>
>>Before you lead, South announces:
>>
>> We's playin Jahuzda strong club, announced Chief Jbobo at
>> the end of the auction. Dat was epsilon relay sequence.
><snip>
>
>That must be from the David Bird book in which the Abbot and some of his
>fellow monks go to do missionary work in Africa.

Yes. In fact, I OCR'd the dialog text from the book where I found this
hand. What I found interesting is that the book didn't touch at all upon
the effect the table talk should have had on the defense. In the book,
they just have him continue clubs at trick 2, with disastrous consequences.

I would have expected that everybody (who's anybody) would have read these
books; I consider them classics of bridge literature.

Incidentally, with one solitary exception, the cast of players is entirely
disjoint between the monastery in England and the missionaries in Africa.
There is one story where the Abbot visits the missionaries, but that one
story is pretty much standalone.

>I don't suppose such a
>non-PC book could be published nowadays.

More's the pity.

--
"They say if you play a Microsoft CD backwards, you hear satanic messages.
Thats nothing, cause if you play it forwards, it installs Windows."

[Kenny McCormack]

In article <tvevlj$1detl$1...@news.xmission.com>,

I figure enough time has gone by on this one - I can now give the answer to
the puzzle.

The point is this: From the tabletalk, you can be pretty sure that declarer
does not have the ace of diamonds - and, therefore, that partner has it. (*)

But, declarer may be void in diamonds. So, to cater to both possibilities,
you need to switch specifically to the QUEEN of diamonds, because if he is
void, you want to trap dummy's king. If declarer's diamond holding is
anything other than void, he is down at trick 2, so you don't really care
if your QUEEN play sets anything up for him.

(*) But, note, and this is the truly interesting part of this thread, what
if declarer *does* turn up with the ace of diamonds? Then, you need to
call the director and make the case that the tabletalk was unethical. And
you better hope you prevail. I wonder how often this will work out in your
favor in practice. It's not a sure thing. For one thing, opps could just
deny that they said anything at all.

Some final notes:

1) In the actual hand, declarer *was* void in diamonds, but it was critical
to the defense to expose that fact early in the play. It was also critical
to neutralize dummy's king.

2) One of the characteristics of the Monastery bridge books is that they are a
little fast-and-loose about the legal/ethical/rulings aspect of the game.
This hand seems to be a good example of this characteristic.

3) All things considered, it was probably unwise of declarer to duck the first
trick.

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