Declarer cashed a second spade (both opponents following, West with the ♠T), played 3 rounds of diamonds pitching a club (all follow, no ♦J). He then led a low club from the table, East playing the ♣J as he ruffed. He then exited a trump to East, to this ending:

A complex ending to be sure. If East gets out the JD, declarer is more or less compelled to play for a club/heart squeeze against West. If East doesn’t get out a diamond, then declarer has a number of options, ranging from playing East to be endplayed to a simple diamond/heart squeeze against West to many more complicated squeezes against either or both opponents. This can also lead to some interesting deceptive options for the defence.

Consider this East hand:

If you exit the ♦J when you are on lead with the ♠Q, declarer has no real choices other than the (winning) heart/club squeeze. If, however, you exit with a low club, declarer may go wrong in a number of ways. (Discarding, playing for the wrong squeeze, etc.)

No guarantees that declarer will go wrong, of course, but it always pays to consider alternative defences, even when an ‘obvious’ play is available.

Post Mortem: East did not hold the diamond at the table, and my friend got the ending right to make the rest of the tricks.

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Look for a wrap up of the events from Hawaii, a few interesting hands from play both from myself and others, plus more coming soon.

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Last month, I have made the decision to try to pursue bridge full time. I am leaving my corporate job and will make bridge my life. It is a very exciting transition, one which took a lot of soul searching to make. I feel that it is the right decision for me at this point in my life, and my wife wholeheartedly agrees. I wouldn’t be doing this with out her support.
What this means in terms of this blog is only good things; I’ll have both more time and more material to give to this, trying to make this a worthwhile resource site. What this means for my life, time will tell.
The biggest reason I want to make this change is simple. It’s not that I think making a living from bridge will be either easier or more profitable than my current job. Rather, I want to focus on my passions and see how far I can go. I’ve had a number of memorable successes in my bridge career, and I’d like to push that to see if I can make it to the highest levels of the game, back into the international arena. I think that will take a dedication that I couldn’t manage with a full time corporate job, so that left me with only one thing left to do.

I have had a good time here at my job, and I will miss working with the friends I have made here. It’s a good crew, and it’s because of them that I’ve been here as long as I have. But sometimes you just have to spread your wings and try to fly. For me, today is the day.

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How do you play this combination…

1a) …for 4 tricks?

You have very few options here other than finding the K doubleton of spades onside. Lead low to the Q, cash the Ace and hope the K drops. Because you do not have either the 10 or 9 of spades, you cannot afford to lead the J from your hand. West covering would guarantee a loser in the suit.
1b) …for 3 tricks?

Play the Ace of the suit first. If the K plays, you have 3 tricks. If the T or 9 plays from either opponent, lead through that opponent next (so that they are second to play) to your high honor. If that T or 9 was singleton, you will have a finesse against the spot in the other hand.
1c) …for 2 tricks if you cannot lose the lead?

Lead low to the Q and hope it wins. If you are playing against a West who always covers an honor with an honor, you might consider leading the J and going up with the A to try to drop the K offsides, but they really need to always cover for this to be right.
1d) …for 2 tricks if you cannot lose the lead to East?

Play the A first, then lead to either the Q or J. You basically need West to have the K, but this gives you the slight extra chance of East holding the singleton K.

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For each of these problems, unless otherwise stated, assume that you are playing in notrumps with plenty of communications in side suits to lead the key
suit in any manner you wish. (Examples, leading up to dummy twice, etc.)

The object in each of the questions below is to play in a manner which gives you the greatest chance of success based on the goal outlined. Frequently there will not be a solution which works 100% of the time.

For this series, I’m going to use the same card combination, but with different goals.

How do you play this combination…

1a) …for 4 tricks?
1b) …for 3 tricks?
1c) …for 2 tricks if you cannot lose the lead?
1d) …for 2 tricks if you cannot lose the lead to East?

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Sample:

AQTxxx

—

—

AKT9xxx

It works, but it doesn’t always look clean.

Another idea is to use HTML elements and fonts to express suit symbols:

I’m still not convinced which I like better.

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It was very distressing to me to come back to hear about the new internet gambling bill which got tied to a port security bill. I can understand why the government might want to become involved in taxing the lucrative online poker industry, but banning it all together is simply misguided protectionism.

Most casino games pit the player against the house. Because of this, unscrupulous casinos could try to “fix” the game in their favor even beyond the percentages and cheat the customers of their money. I can understand and appreciate why regulation could be in the best interest of the customers.

Poker is different. The casinos (both Brick & Mortar as well as online) are merely providing the opportunity for like minded people to come together to play. They take a percentage of the prize pool for the house, but have no interest in the outcome. In fact, a “crooked” game would be devestating to the house if news ever leaked, since competition among poker rooms is so prevelant right now. Poker is a game of skill played against other players, just like bridge. There is no need for the government to try to “protect” the players from the casinos. By doing so, they are creating unneeded hostility in the poker community.

Within the community, a grass roots group has been started to try to lobby for better treatment for poker. This group is the Poker Players Alliance (http://pokerplayersalliance.org), and I encourage everyone to join. Let your voices be heard.

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More details at http://buffetcup.com/.

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This tournament is modeled after the Ryder Cup, a golf tournament where the best from the US take on the best from Europe. 12 of the best players are competing for each time.

You can find out more at http://buffetcup.com/

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