I played with David Wiseman in the Men's Teams on Sunday. Our card was nothing to be proud of, and our team-mates seemed mostly relieved by this, as they were, if anything, even worse than us. We were deservedly comfortably at the bottom of the table. Congratulations to Mike Ash, Alex Adamson, Finlay Marshall and Patrick Home who won the event (narrowly beating Derek Sanders, Stephen Peterkin, George Plant and Peter Moss).
Here is the last hand we played of the evening.
Having passed as dealer, (he might have opened if we were playing Acol, but probably not, as the rebid is potentially awkward), David understandably got excited when I opened 1♥, and even more excited when I bid a conventional 3♥, showing a non-minimum opener with a shortage in ♣s. After checking all the keycards were there, we didn't really have any system available to find out what could be done with the third round of ♠s, so David just decided to go for it.
John Murdoch led a small ♣, and everyone followed to everything when I ruffed out the other suits, N pitching a ♣ on the second round of ♥s, so I was down to this ending. The missing cards being ♠Q98632 and ♣KJ.
What next? Do you play off the last round of trumps? (I didn't, and I think this was a mistake - if either defender started off with 4 ♠s, they'd be forced to pitch one now, which gives you a big clue as to where the Q is). If you don't (or if you do, and both defenders pitch ♣s), which way do you play the ♠s?
I played ♠ towards the ♠K next, and John played the ♠9. Does this tell you anything?
There were 29 IMPs on the line on this board, as they had failed to bid even the small slam at the other table. Those 29 IMPs were worth more than 13 VPs (we were playing 4 board matches, and this would have converted a 20-0 defeat into a victory)... what are the clues? Is it any better than a guess?
Tough hand John, as you say I think cashing the final heart can't hurt but also I wouldn't assume any spade pitch was definitely from a 4 card suit. It would be really useful to know the full South hand that we know of to this point - diamond holding and club pips etc.
ReplyDeleteI'd have a long think about what club holdings South would lead from here. I guess with Qx of hearts he didn't want to make the passive trump lead so his hands are tied in some respects and a club is actually the next most passive lead. Pretty sure a low club doesn't actually mean much (although it might be important to have watched what club spots he played again this might mean nothing vs a slam).
I suspect I would probably finesse south if i cash the heart and the K!C doesn't appear (I don't believe he'd lead away from the K!C very often here - you might have a club void and so there's a potential free finesse if AQ appear in dummy?
Given the detail available I'd go for the old cliche of finessing the player who it'll annoy more! (In no way does this mean I think it'd annoy John)
South didn't lead a Spade, so maybe he has the Queen?
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