Showing posts with label Endplays. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Endplays. Show all posts

Thursday, November 11, 2010

Greg's 7AM Squeeze and an Update

A friend of mine sent out this hand a few days ago, it's a very cool ending that I hadn't seen before... Figured I'd share. Apparently it came up in a BBO robot tournament around 7AM. It's a very fun four card ending, fast forward in the handviewer diagram to check it out. Enjoy!



On a separate note, I have been exceptionally bored lately, so I am going to try to keep this blog updated for real!

No, this isn't another one of my "I will post more" posts, that winds up in no more posts for several months/years. Hopefully not, at least. I'm playing a fair amount online, and working on some new relay systems with Owen. Orlando is coming up in a couple weeks, and I will post some cool hands and bidding problems from there as well. Then I have some time off before a cruise with the family, and lots more bridge.

Tuesday, June 2, 2009

Palm Beach Gardens - Part 1

Sorry for not updating the blog for a while, I have been very busy. I was in Palm Beach Gardens at the regional tournament there for the past week, there weren't too many really wild hands, but one from the Monday Night session was quite memorable! The 2nd board of the entire tournament, playing with a very good partner, who however is playing precision for only his 2nd time, so we were going to have to work through that a little bit. I pick up my hand, in 2nd seat all vulnerable I hold:
AKQ9xx
Q
AQ
AKQJ

So I of course open 1C, and partner makes the expected 1D response showing 0-7 HCP. Now I ran through a lot of options in my hand, but finally decided to bid 1430 for Diamonds, since all I really cared about was the King of Diamonds and the Ace of Hearts. It was a brilliant plan I thought... Partner denied any keycards, and undeterred I bid 6S and earned myself this beautiful dummy:
x
JTxxx
Jxxx
xxx
AKQ9xx
Q
AQ
AKQJ

I was kinda stuck, after all, I had no entries to dummy, and received a club lead. Luckily trumps split 3-3, but even then, there was only one hope... A squeeze creating an endplay. As long as the King of Diamonds is in the hand with the ace of hearts, and I read the cards correctly, I can make. So I ran off 5 spades, and all my clubs, making sure to preserve 3 hearts and diamond in dummy. On these LHO followed to all of the clubs, and pitched 2 small diamonds. RHO followed to 2 clubs, and pitched 2 hearts and 2 diamonds, leaving this ending:
JTx
J
Kxx
x
Ax
Kx
x
Q
AQ

On my last Spade, LHO can pitch a Heart or a Diamond, but RHO is in trouble. If he pitches a Diamond, I drop his now stiff king. If he pitches a small Heart, I exit with my Heart, and he's endplayed into allowing a Diamond finesse. If he pitches his Ace of Hearts, then I exit my Heart, and LHO is endplayed into either leading a Heart into dummy's good Jack, or leading into my AQ of Diamonds... Either way I have 12 tricks. As it was, RHO was not too imaginative, and pitched a small heart. Now I exited the heart, and took the diamond finesse to make 6, the full deal:
x
JTxxx
Jxxx
xxx
Jxx
Kxx
Txx
Txxx
Txx
Axxx
Kxxx
xx
AKQxxx
Q
AQ
AKQJ

This was a complete top, worth all the matchpoints, and lots of bragging rights too! I'll have more from Palm Beach shortly.