Andre Asbury

King of the Miami Endplay

I saw several interesting declarer play problems this week in club games. The ones that I made more tricks than I should aren’t as memorable as the ones I went down in. While I often make excellent declarer plays, I have successfully executed several Miami endplays lately.

Dealer: S

Vul: Both

North

♠ AKQx

♥ xx

♦ Q8xx

♣ ATx

South

♠ x

♥ AQJx

♦ AJx

♣ J9xxx

South West North East
1♣ Pass 1♠ Pass
1NT Pass 3NT Pass
Pass Pass

First off, this is an interesting bidding problem. There are major flaws with any way you choose to bid the south hand. I think opening 1♣ and rebidding 1NT is best lie, but I really wanted to open 1♥. I wish I was playing canape as this hand would be great for a 1♥ opening. In 3NT, west led his 4th best heart (which was the 6 and the 5 was still unseen) to east’s 10 and my Q. How would you play from here?

Not wanting another heart lead through my tenace so soon, I opted to cross to the ♠A and take a losing diamond finesse. In retrospect I think leading a club to the 10 is right because that’s the suit is reasonably likely to produce 4 tricks via a double finesse and even if both club honors are off, east may not have a third heart. West thought for awhile after winning the ♦K, guessed well not to play his partner for the ♥J and led a low spade. I won this, crossed to my ♦A, and now played a club to the 10. This lost to the Q and east led a heart to the T and dummy’s Q.

The fact that east did not return a heart implies that he has a 4th spade and another entry, presumably the ♣K. I cashed the ♦Q with everyone following. I cash the long diamond, seeing 2 heart discards from the opponents (both higher than the opening 6 so it is still not clear whether the opening lead was from 4 or 5) Now I have 9 tricks – 3 spades, 2 hearts, 3 diamonds, and 1 club. How might get a 10th? Or better yet how can I turn that into 8 tricks?

With 7 tricks in the bag, I am left with ♠x ♥3 ♦- ♣AT in dummy and ♠- ♥AJ2 ♦- ♣x in my hand. At this point I am convinced that east has the protected ♣K left so finessing the club again or trying to drop the club K is out. If clubs are coming in for one loser, I’ve already lost ground to the field by not attacking clubs earlier so I kind of have to play for both clubs to be offside now.

If west started with ♠Jxxx ♥Kxxx ♦Kxx ♣xx, I can endplay him by cashing the club and playing the last spade.

If west started with ♠xxx ♥Kxxxx ♦Kxx ♣xx, I can endplay him by cashing the club and ducking a heart.

If west started with ♠Jxxx ♥Kxxxx ♦Kxx ♣x, I can endplay him by throwing him in with a spade, and whether or not I cash the club first doesn’t matter.

If west’s original hand was something else (3 or more clubs), which I’ve decided is highly unlikely, I can surely make 4 by either finessing or dropping KQ tight with east.

I opted for the first line, playing west for 4-4-3-2 distribution. When I led the spade, east claimed the last 3 tricks with 2 spades and the ♣K for down 1. West actually had hand #2 so cashing the ace and ducking a heart would have gotten me most of the matchpoints for making 4.

Note that only line #3 is safe – no possible distribution can result in being set. The worst case scenario for exiting dummy with a spade before cashing the club is that east takes 2 spades and then you have 2 aces for the last 2 tricks. Line 2 risks going down when east has a heart high enough to hold the trick and 2 more spades.


7 Comments

CobbcountykiaDecember 19th, 2015 at 6:21 pm

Good – I should dentfiiely pronounce, impressed with your web site. I had no trouble navigating through all the tabs as well as related info ended up being truly simple to do to access. I recently found what I hoped for before you know it in the least. Quite unusual. Is likely to appreciate it for those who add forums or anything, site theme . a tones way for your client to communicate. Nice task.

auto owners insurance Caruthersville MOMarch 4th, 2016 at 5:25 pm

I told my kids we’d play after I found what I needed. Damnit.

http://www.soulduster.com/May 13th, 2016 at 1:01 am

his will be the outstanding weblog page for anyone who wants to know about this theme. You recognize a lot its virtually difficult to argue with you (not that I actually would want…HaHa). You absolutely put a fresh spin on a subject matter thats been published about for a lot of years. Wonderful things, just exceptional!

car insurance quotesMay 16th, 2016 at 1:30 am

Contract met iedereen lijkt mee een goede zaak. En het lijkt bovendien nodig te zijn want er zijn nog steeds zowel haatzaaiende moslims als haatzaaiende rechts-extremistische organisaties. Volgens mij kunnen we er allemaal alleen maar mee winnen.

By Jeffry Caudill 2009-08-05 – 19:32:46Your comment….”complacency has led to havoc.” is so simple, yet so powerful, in so many ways. Not just politically, but also from a marketing point of view. I’ve worked with very large clients who grew complacent in so many ways…they’re no “very large clients” for anyone! We must never become complacent. Reply

unife.itOctober 7th, 2016 at 5:13 pm

Good stuff. Now factor in that these loons will at some point want to recycle your body parts when they unplug you and voila! Can’t you just see it coming. “Yes Mrs. Ordinary American your husband has had govt. healthcare for xxx years and now it is time for him to give back. We are going to recycle him but will give you his false teeth to bury.”Sadly. I am only half kidding.Ken

http://www./November 4th, 2016 at 3:37 pm

The kids were totally absorbed in the magic show! We kept up a running commentary thru the cutting n slicing illusions, so that the kids wouldn't think it was smart to try stuff like that. Quite gory!I liked the costumes for being 'decent'…I'm old-fashioned like that! And we realised why the groundfloor seats were more expensive…we missed out on PC Sorcar walking among us!

Leave a comment

Your comment