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  • An interesting situation...

    From Kenny McCormack@21:1/5 to All on Sun Mar 19 16:59:41 2023
    You hold:
    Tx,9xxx,Qxxx,KQx

    The opponents bid (your side silent): 1C,1D/2S,3S/4C,4D/4H,4S/5D,5H/6S

    Before you lead, South announces:

    We's playin Jahuzda strong club, announced Chief Jbobo at
    the end of the auction. Dat was epsilon relay sequence.

    You lead the king of clubs and the blue-clad cattle drover in the
    North seat put down this dummy:

    xxx,KTxx,Kxx,Tx3

    Declarer now says:

    Where's de ace of diamonds? demanded the chieftain, turning
    over the dummy's cards and looking underneath.

    To which North replies:

    I's cue-biddin de king, explained Mrazana. Dats de modern
    style according to de white-bwana. He tellin me about it in de tea-break.

    And declarer replies:

    I does de tellin' in dis team, said the chieftain fiercely. "You have
    de ace next time or you's target practice for de young bowmen!"

    Your lead draws the: 3, 6, and 9.

    What do you play at trick 2 - and why?

    --
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  • From Paul N@21:1/5 to Kenny McCormack on Wed Mar 22 04:31:11 2023
    On Sunday, March 19, 2023 at 4:59:44 PM UTC, Kenny McCormack wrote:
    You hold:
    Tx,9xxx,Qxxx,KQx

    The opponents bid (your side silent): 1C,1D/2S,3S/4C,4D/4H,4S/5D,5H/6S

    Before you lead, South announces:

    We's playin Jahuzda strong club, announced Chief Jbobo at
    the end of the auction. Dat was epsilon relay sequence.

    You lead the king of clubs and the blue-clad cattle drover in the
    North seat put down this dummy:

    xxx,KTxx,Kxx,Tx3

    Declarer now says:

    Where's de ace of diamonds? demanded the chieftain, turning
    over the dummy's cards and looking underneath.

    To which North replies:

    I's cue-biddin de king, explained Mrazana. Dats de modern
    style according to de white-bwana. He tellin me about it in de tea-break.

    And declarer replies:

    I does de tellin' in dis team, said the chieftain fiercely. "You have
    de ace next time or you's target practice for de young bowmen!"

    Your lead draws the: 3, 6, and 9.

    What do you play at trick 2 - and why?

    Er, you lead a diamond to the ace which your partner presumably has, thereby getting the contract down?

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  • From Kenny McCormack@21:1/5 to [email protected] on Wed Mar 22 13:26:11 2023
    In article <[email protected]>,
    Paul N <[email protected]> wrote:
    ...
    I does de tellin' in dis team, said the chieftain fiercely. "You have
    de ace next time or you's target practice for de young bowmen!"

    Your lead draws the: 3, 6, and 9.

    What do you play at trick 2 - and why?

    Er, you lead a diamond to the ace which your partner presumably has, thereby >getting the contract down?

    You're on the right track, but I think that's only about 1/3 of the answer.
    You need to dig deeper. For example, what if declarer is void in diamonds?

    --
    Elect a clown, expect a circus.

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  • From John Hall@21:1/5 to [email protected] on Wed Mar 22 16:44:58 2023
    In message <tv7f1t$19jug$[email protected]>, Kenny McCormack <[email protected]> writes
    You hold:
    Tx,9xxx,Qxxx,KQx

    The opponents bid (your side silent): 1C,1D/2S,3S/4C,4D/4H,4S/5D,5H/6S

    Before you lead, South announces:

    We's playin Jahuzda strong club, announced Chief Jbobo at
    the end of the auction. Dat was epsilon relay sequence.
    <snip>

    That must be from the David Bird book in which the Abbot and some of his
    fellow monks go to do missionary work in Africa. I don't suppose such a
    non-PC book could be published nowadays.
    --
    John Hall "Do you have cornflakes in America?"
    "Well, actually, they're American."
    "So what brings you to Britain then if you have cornflakes already?"
    Bill Bryson: "Notes from a Small Island"

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  • From Kenny McCormack@21:1/5 to [email protected] on Wed Mar 22 18:39:05 2023
    In article <H31Mf7AKCzGkFwox@jhall_nospamxx.co.uk>,
    John Hall <[email protected]> wrote:
    In message <tv7f1t$19jug$[email protected]>, Kenny McCormack ><[email protected]> writes
    You hold:
    Tx,9xxx,Qxxx,KQx

    The opponents bid (your side silent): 1C,1D/2S,3S/4C,4D/4H,4S/5D,5H/6S

    Before you lead, South announces:

    We's playin Jahuzda strong club, announced Chief Jbobo at
    the end of the auction. Dat was epsilon relay sequence.
    <snip>

    That must be from the David Bird book in which the Abbot and some of his >fellow monks go to do missionary work in Africa.

    Yes. In fact, I OCR'd the dialog text from the book where I found this
    hand. What I found interesting is that the book didn't touch at all upon
    the effect the table talk should have had on the defense. In the book,
    they just have him continue clubs at trick 2, with disastrous consequences.

    I would have expected that everybody (who's anybody) would have read these books; I consider them classics of bridge literature.

    Incidentally, with one solitary exception, the cast of players is entirely disjoint between the monastery in England and the missionaries in Africa.
    There is one story where the Abbot visits the missionaries, but that one
    story is pretty much standalone.

    I don't suppose such a
    non-PC book could be published nowadays.

    More's the pity.

    --
    "They say if you play a Microsoft CD backwards, you hear satanic messages.
    Thats nothing, cause if you play it forwards, it installs Windows."

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  • From Kenny McCormack@21:1/5 to Kenny McCormack on Wed Aug 30 18:59:40 2023
    In article <tvevlj$1detl$[email protected]>,
    Kenny McCormack <[email protected]> wrote:
    In article <[email protected]>,
    Paul N <[email protected]> wrote:
    ...
    I does de tellin' in dis team, said the chieftain fiercely. "You have
    de ace next time or you's target practice for de young bowmen!"

    Your lead draws the: 3, 6, and 9.

    What do you play at trick 2 - and why?

    Er, you lead a diamond to the ace which your partner presumably has, thereby >>getting the contract down?

    You're on the right track, but I think that's only about 1/3 of the answer. >You need to dig deeper. For example, what if declarer is void in diamonds?

    I figure enough time has gone by on this one - I can now give the answer to
    the puzzle.

    The point is this: From the tabletalk, you can be pretty sure that declarer does not have the ace of diamonds - and, therefore, that partner has it. (*)

    But, declarer may be void in diamonds. So, to cater to both possibilities,
    you need to switch specifically to the QUEEN of diamonds, because if he is void, you want to trap dummy's king. If declarer's diamond holding is
    anything other than void, he is down at trick 2, so you don't really care
    if your QUEEN play sets anything up for him.

    (*) But, note, and this is the truly interesting part of this thread, what
    if declarer *does* turn up with the ace of diamonds? Then, you need to
    call the director and make the case that the tabletalk was unethical. And
    you better hope you prevail. I wonder how often this will work out in your favor in practice. It's not a sure thing. For one thing, opps could just
    deny that they said anything at all.

    Some final notes:

    1) In the actual hand, declarer *was* void in diamonds, but it was critical
    to the defense to expose that fact early in the play. It was also critical
    to neutralize dummy's king.

    2) One of the characteristics of the Monastery bridge books is that they are a little fast-and-loose about the legal/ethical/rulings aspect of the game.
    This hand seems to be a good example of this characteristic.

    3) All things considered, it was probably unwise of declarer to duck the first trick.

    --
    After Using Gender Slur Against AOC, GOP Rep. Yoyo Won't Apologize 'For Loving God'.

    That's so sweet...

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