Dang. Back when *I* was a junior, they didn't allow girls to play. (Actually, there were two, one from my corner of the world and one not, but they were both already taken.)

Guys, I'm in Austin now, and my friend in Houston bailed on the offer to let me stay with her. I wish I could be there.

Good times with Myrm last night. Grabbed some dinner before the 7:30 session, and then met up for a midnight KO. Got bounced in rd 1, but at least the wine and conversation was good.

Sorry you couldn't make it atak.

R/R, MPs

I'm in 3rd seat, partner opens 1, I respond 1, he says 2. What now?

8 6 5 3
A K Q 9
K 9 8 4
5

2D.

I did that, and my partner says 3. At this point, I passed, but I feel like we have to be missing something.

I don't think so. Apparent misfit; pass and take your probable plus.

Some people will say 2NT at your second call, and when pard tries 3C you may wish you had done it, but that doesn't make it right at the time. If partner had spade help or a flexible hand he would bid 2NT at his third term; if he had bad spades but tolerance for notrump he would bid 2S (which is clearly not natural in this context.

Note that another problem with 2NT at your second call is that it will often wrongside your notrump contract -- picture partner with Kx xx Jxx AKQxxx, with which 3NT is far from icy but which certainly would be better played from his side.

If 3C is wrong, either your partner has screwed up, or you were unlucky.

I'll bet you wouldn't be asking if 3NT hadn't had decent play. But partner should have Jx xx Qxx AKJxxx or the like here. You should lose at least the first four tricks (probably four spades and the diamond ace), and are unlikely to have nine solid after that. (If he has Qxx or better in spades he should try 2NT; with Jxx he should try 2S. If his clubs were solid he should have tried 2S even without a partial spade stopper. If he has the diamond ace he should also strain to do something more aggressive.)

2D then bail out at 3C seems obvious to me. Partner is afraid of notrump, doesnt have 4 spades, doesnt have 3 hearts.. what else CAN he have besides a mittful of clubs?

Ok, that makes me feel better. We ended up making 4C, but I didn't take a look at his hand (and I forgot to pick up a hand record, or look at the score), so I was just wondering about the bidding.

Now, I have a pretty basic hand-play question. It's w/r, and we end up getting to 4. My RHO dealt and opened 1, but that's the only bidding from the opponents.

Lead is the 7.

J 6 3
9 5 2
4
A Q J 9 6 3


K Q T 9 5
Q 4
A K 8 7
T 2

It looks like I'm losing 2 hearts and the master trump. What's the best way to play this?

Hope the club king is on side...

Seriously, undoubled and at IMPs, you're playing to make. You therefore assume the club king is on side. You can't very well handle Kxxx on your left because you can't get back to hand after either ruffing diamonds or setting up clubs without risking losing control to a 4-1 trump break, or losing a club ruff, respectively.

I'm assuming the defense started with top heart, top heart, heart back.

I would ruff (high if LHO showed a doubleton). Then two high spades from hand. If the master is still out but they were 3-2, I can afford to ruff one diamond. More likely someone won the first or second round at continued hearts. I ruff on the board, return to the diamond ace, finish drawing trump, and run the club ten. If the ten holds I probably cash the diamond king before finessing the club queen.

If you see more than 4 or 5 points come out of LHO's hand on the way, though, you'll have to play for the drop in .

Oh, and make sure you guard against LHO having a doubleton in hearts, and overruffing you.

I guess the problem comes when RHO holds Axxx of spades and threatens to win the third round, but I don't see how you can handle that case very well. If two rounds of spades hold with LHO showing out you'll be forced to play clubs, which probably won't work -- but there was nothing else to be done, as you cannot ruff away both of your diamond losers and still get back to hand.

Maybe if you start with a diamond ruff (low), then a low spade toward hand. If LHO holds the spade ace (which is likely when he doesn't hold the club king) he can either use it, after which you have control even when he plays a fourth heart, or let you back to hand. You can then ruff your other diamond Then play the spade jack. If RHO wins you can win the return (ruffing high or low depending on whether LHO followed) and draw trump. If RHO ducks again you eave the ace outstanding if it's alone. If RHO ducks again from an original four-card holding, leaving himself A8, I don't see how you could ever make it, as he will always be able either to overruff in diamonds or to ruff an early club, and if you try to draw trump he will tap you successfully once dummy's trumps are gone.

Ruffing an early diamond and playing the first round of spades toward hand looks good to guard against stiff ace on your right, but it isn't necessary because the normal line works in that case.

So here's my (pretty terrible) line:

They win tricks 1 and 2 with A,K. LHO plays the 8 on trick 2.

Trick 3: J, I ruff with the 9, LHO plays the T.

Trick 4: T, which holds

Trick 5: Club to Q.

Trick 6: Diamond to A.

Trick 7: Diamond ruff

Trick 8: Low club (pitching diamond if RHO ruffs with A). He does not, so I ruff low.

Trick 9: Diamond ruff

Trick 10: J, overtaken with K, and pull trumps.

In retrospect, this also hinges on a 4-4 diamond break, which is probably terrible. I think I delayed pulling trumps for far too long, although I'm a little scared of them getting a diamond trick if they punch me while dummy's trump is gone.

True. But you won't get to see the diamond honors because of the way the hand will play out, and LHO doesn't have a high heart: with honor third and an ace he'd have raised, while with a doubleton honor he'd have led the honor. So even when it's right to play for the drop, I don't think you can discover that in time.

I suppose if LHO turns up with three small hearts and a stiff spade you should play for the drop, because with that shape and a side king he'd probably have bid 2H over the 1S overcall, but now we're stretching -- can he be counted on to have bid that with x xxx xxxxxx Kxx?

What would you have done had RHO followed to the third club? You need to ruff high, but now I think you have a problem no matter how you play the trumps.

Playing on clubs that early also risks a ruff when they are 4-1 or 5-0 (though you may not make it in such a case anyway -- I guess you do if you ruff one diamond, though).

Actually, on the defense you encountered clubs are almost always 3-2, else there would have been a club lead by LHO, or a shift by RHO while RHO had a possible entry in hearts (unless LHO holds all the hearts higher than the 7, which is unlikely). But when LHO has exactly two you are making life hard for yourself.

LHO is marked with the K, so after 2 rounds, RHO can't have nay more clubs left, since the only outstanding one is sitting with LHO, right?

When LHO's card at trick two indicates that he's not ruffing hearts you ruff low. Now you can afford to play diamond ace and a low diamond ruff, followed by a low spade to the king. If that holds you can afford to continue with the diamond queen (smothering the jack). You still lose when RHO started with Axxx, but as I said I think that was always happening.

Correct -- but when you played the second round a good defender would have played the king from either an original Kx or Kxx, for that reason, and you'd have been left to choose.

Tricks 5 and 6, cash diamond AK. Then club to Q, club ace ruffing if righty follows or ruffs low, else pitch diamond. Then crossruff while ruffing our last diamond with the spade jack.

On my BlackBerry in a car but this looks safe if you assume lefti has club king double or triple.

MPs w/r

My hand
Jxx
K9753
xx
AQJ

Bidding goes

RHO Me LHO Dad
P P 1C P
1S P 1NT P
P 2H P P
2S 3H P P
X P P P

Dummy comes down

AKx
Q864
JTxxx
x

LHO leads A diamonds, king of diamonds, and a small diamond to RHO's Q. Plan the play.

If hearts aren't 4-0, I should be able to make easily by playing trumps right away, conceding two trump tricks:

T3: ruff diamond in hand
T4: play low trump (covering whatever LHO plays)
T5: win spade/club return
T6: play trump
T7: win spade/ruff club return
T8: play remaining trump

At this point, all the enemies trumps are out, and I still have a spade entry or club ruff entry to the dummy to cash the 2 diamond winners, so I win 3 trumps + 1 ruff + 2 diamonds + 2 spades + 1 club.

If trumps are 4-0 (I assume with the LHO, there's not really enough room in RHO's hand to have 4 hearts since he has 5+ spades, 3 diamonds, and some clubs), I will probably finesse in clubs through the RHO (since he doesn't have the AK of diamonds or the AJ of hearts, he really needs the K of clubs to be at responder strength).

wait wait bidding was

RHO Me LHO Dad
P P 1C P
1S P 1NT P
P 2H 2S 3H
P P X P
P P

Sorry, I try to double check bidding when I put it in first time, but always somehow mess up. Harder to get the bidding correct when the hand happened a few hours beforehand with no hand record.

I think I'd ruff the third diamond in the hand. If the trump is 3-1, or better, I think you can make your bid here. If the trump is 4-0, with LHO holding them all (which looks pretty likely), you are going to lose 3 trump tricks if you lead low to the board. It's weird for RHO to pass 1N if he held a 5-0-4-4 hand though, so I'm not sure. He may have a singleton 2 in hearts.

So, I'll play the A, following with the Q, ruffing in the board. Next, I'm playing a low heart to the K, to verify the trump break. If he returns a spade, I play a diamond, ruffing in the hand. If he overruffs, I can finesse his Jx in hearts. Once I'm in my hand I'm playing another club, ruffing on the board. I should have enough entries as long as the dummy holds Q8 in hearts, and I can finesse all the trump out.

I don't think RHO has 4 hearts, by the bidding. If he does, I don't think this makes.

LHO's hand probably looks like:

x x
A J T 2
A K x
x x x x

So, he's counting on his partner for help somewhere (likely spades).

Given the corrected bidding, this can't be LHO's shape (he would not have raised to 2). He's a very very heavy favorite to be 3=2=3=5. I guess 3=1=4=5 is also possible depending on style. It would be useful to know opponent's 1NT opening range here in case we need to find the club king for some unforeseen reason.

At any rate, I don't see how we can go down here. What does a low heart from hand at trick 4 produce from LHO?