From: gippo

Sent: 12/16/2002 7:45 PM

West    If east had ace cl  she  would have  made a t/o dble  since  she showed KQ of ds and ace of Ht already

Right des and gipp - heres no 2 - same questions i) # losers ii) # winners iii) key problem in hand

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HAND 2

West       North        East        South
           2nt           PASS       6nt
ALL PASS


Dealer North, IMPs, both vul.
Lead Q

           NORTH

A K Q 2  A 7 6 5  A 8  K 5 4

 

                           SOUTH

9 3 4  K Q 2  K 6 4  A 8 7 2

 

 

And here's no 3 for later (this is from tournament currently being played which is why I put it up now - a number went off because they didnt count where their 10 tricks were coming from) - same questions i) # losers ii) # winners iii) key problem(s) in hand

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Hand 2

 

Hand 3

 

Hi des and gipp

 

Think I should change whats required to losers, winners,. source of extra tricks and problem in hand.

 

In hand 2 you need 2 extra tricks. You will always make if hearts and spades are 3-3. But you can also score an extra club trick.

 

So you have 10 tricks and a possible extra spade, heart or club - you need 2 of the 3. The key to the hand is to lose a club trick immediately by playing low from both hands (if you play A then K if clubs are 4-2 you seet yrself up to lose 2 club tricks).

 

In hand 3 there are 3 losers - and 7 winners the key to the hand is to work out how to get 3 extra tricks. You must ruff 2 hearts (trumps were 3-1 and a few pulled trumps losing the ability to ruff 2 hearts). That gets you 9 tricks. The opening bid by east locates a lot of the missing hcps...and east probably has AK of diamonds so I'd lead diamonds low from dummy after 2nd heart ruff

Hand 3

 

Dealer North, MPs, NS vul.
Lead 4

          NORTH

Q 10 9 6  A 6  4 2  Q J 10 9 3

                           SOUTH

A K J 3 2  K 10 7 2  Q 10 3  5

Win lead in hand.  HA, HK.  Low to CQ.  If covered and a trump returned, win in dummy.  CJ, C10, C9 ruffing finesse discarding diamonds.  Dummy still has 2 high trumps so if CK is ruffed out, you can always return to dummy by ruffing a heart, although perhaps you should cash SK before doing this if there is still a trump out at that point.  This line has chances to take as many as 11 tricks although it can go down if CK offside, as in that case opps can take 2 clubs and 2 top diamonds before they are pitched.

Which losers did I count that you don't think are losers Ross?

Just like winners are 'tops' losers are usually quick losers - particularly when there's an easy way not to have 2 heart losers

OK but in this case we don't know right away whether we are going to ruff both hearts, or pitch one or two of them on the clubs, or if there is a way to "exchange" a diamond loser for a heart ruff so that we lose 1 club, 1 diamond and 1 heart, or if maybe we could even set up the heart 10 -- it seems to me clearer to count all the losing tricks in the hand with the long trumps, and only after that start in with how to eliminate them "if I ruff both the hearts that's 4 losers, if the DQ can be set up then there are only 3 losers" etc.

You generally write it this way..

 

3 Quick losers ;  ? potential losers

 

and

 

Winners; ? source of extra tricks

that post 19 is an example of overcomplicating your thinking.

 

What Im trying to do is get you to write down

 

1. Quick losers 2. Potential losers

3. Quck winners 4. Potential extra tricks***

 

The most important thing is to specify how 3 and 4 add up to the number of tricks you need...(thats what I originally called counting winners)