Articles›Declarer Play›Interactive Problem 21
Interactive Problem 21
5 minutes
Mon, Jun 17, 2024Gavin WolpertDeclarer PlayVideo: Bridge Hand
Link to 'When to Delay Drawing Trumps' lesson
Articles›Declarer Play›Interactive Problem 21
5 minutes
Mon, Jun 17, 2024Gavin WolpertDeclarer PlayVideo: Bridge Hand
Link to 'When to Delay Drawing Trumps' lesson
Comments
Sign in to join the conversation — comments are open to members who've bought a lesson or class.
IF we held the ST.... When HK is led (HQ likely with W?), does it become superior to play a C now to uncover HCP's, in an effort to find the SQ? Please ignore if it's off topic questions are not desired here.
It's hard for me to see how playing clubs first will help locate the spade queen. The only way you can learn how the opponent's clubs divide for sure is if they get a ruff, which defeats the purpose of testing the suit.
Gavin After the King of hearts lead, taking one round of trump with the King - what about playing a club to get the Ace of clubs out and then addressing the spades?
Playing clubs before trumps are drawn exposes you to a club ruff. If trumps are breaking there is no reason not to draw them first. It’s only when we learn about the 4-1 break that it becomes important to knock out the club. You gain nothing by playing clubs first as you can handle the 4-1 break later as I described in the video.
I played this out before watching the video and managed to make 11 tricks in a slightly different way to what the video described. At trick 2 I led a low spade which was covered by the 10, my J, and West's Q. West returned Qh which I ruffed in hand. Then I led a low trump towards dummy's K, discovering the bad break. I decided I needed to knock out the Ac before drawing trumps so led a low club from dummy, inserting my J which was won by West's A. However at trick 6 West led back a diamond which I was able to win in hand with the Q, then I drew West's remaining 2 trumps with my A9 and was able to easily cash my club and diamond winners for 11 tricks. So did I get lucky, and/or did the robot defender make an error at trick 6 in leading back a diamond instead of a heart after they won their Ac?
It looks as though what you did is extremely similar to the line of play Gavin suggests. You just didn't play the spade king first, so you gave up a small chance of singleton queen offside. But at the point you played a club you were in the same position. There was nothing the defense could do after winning the club ace.
At trick two, I played a club won by W with the AC. They returned a trump. Still lost two tricks, but played very easily since it looked like knocking out the AC and keeping the timing right looked like the key to the hand.
And if C were 4-1 you lose a club ruff.
the main peoblem for you is if west have kx of spade and 3 clubs. then u might get a club ruff when u could easily avoid it