Hi all
Currently in The Netherlands there’s the buzz of a possible “Elf Steden Tocht” (a 200 km ice skating tour thru eleven cities). Well, here in Berkeley, CA that feels like an event on another planet. It did stir the old viking in me, though. My appetite for snow and cold was in slumber for a long time, perhaps it’s time to check out Tahoe for my cold cravings.
Here are two deals from Quicktricks, I was playing with Jo Ginsberg.
2
3
5- 12-14
- 5-5 GF
- Cuebid agreeing
- RKC
- 3 Key cards
I let the auction sink in and finger my cards. Of course I’m going to lead a minor, but which one? I’m holding six myself, so the odds declarer (Geoff) has shortness there seems … plausible. I lead a .
Geoff competently wrapped things up. He won my lead with the Ace and ran the Queen to me. I continued but he ruffed and drew trumps. He crossed to dummy in and rode the Ten. Then after ruffing a his other two high provided parking spots for both losers in dummy.
Big kudos for my teammates who replicated the auction, play and result.
Here the ground we stood upon fell apart.
13- 5-5 + Major
- Extra values
- I totally & utterly zoned out
Why did I zone out? Because I haven’t disclosed what my Major is, thus 5 is pass or correct. Jo ended up playing in a silly 4-3 fit while we had a massive 5-5 fit between us.
She collected 11 tricks on the devious lead of a small by East. Our opponents got to the small slam in , on a 6 board match that’s almost impossible to recover from.
Jannes, on the first hand one could make the argument that the fact that you had six clubs meant you should lead a club because a club was more likely to go away than a diamond. But certainly a club lead from Q109xxx was not super attractive either.
On the second hand I actually did not hold the eight of spades and that’s the tricky card my LHO led, holding K8 tight. That was quite a lead! Sadly I did not work it out at the table and decided if my LHO was 1-3-3-6 I could make 6
if my RHO had started with Qxx of hearts. It wasn’t a very good shot, but I thought it was better than playing my LHO to have led the 8 of spades from K8! -Jo
FTFY ;-)