On Apr 25, 5:20 pm, Alan Malloy <alan.NO.S...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
> On 4/25/2008 3:54 PM, Adam Beneschan wrote:
>
>
>
> > On Apr 25, 4:47 am, Dave Flower <DavJFlo...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
> >> Match-points, N/S vul., dealer E
>
> >> I was actually declarer on this deal, but it seems an interesting
> >> defensive problem.
>
> >> K Q J
> >> 5 3
> >> K J 7 4
> >> 10 6 4 2
> >> A 9 7 5 3 2
> >> 9 7 5 3
> >> 8 6
> >> A
>
> >> E S W N
> >> p 1D 1H 2D
> >> 2S 3D p p
> >> 3H 4D all pass
>
> >> Opening lead S6; SJ, SA, S8
>
> >> (If you decide to cash CA, it continues C3, C5(attitude), C2)
>
> >> How do you defend ?
>
> > Do we have any standards for how defensive problems are supposed to be
> > posted? It took me a good long time to figure out what the heck was
> > going on here.
>
> > First of all, you neglected to tell us which compass direction we're
> > sitting (East). I'm sure this was just an oversight. But it took me
> > some time to figure out.
>
> > Second, you didn't tell us which of the posted hands we're holding,
> > although that became clear when you said "if you decide to cash CA".
>
> > Third, I can't tell from the diagram what compass position each of the
> > posted hands is. When dummy and a defender's hand are shown, it's not
> > immediately clear which is which, and which hand is over the other.
> > The way the hands appear, the center of the table could be "above" the
> > lower hand, meaning the hand with KQJ of spades is to the left of the
> > other hand; or it could be to the left of the lower hand, meaning the
> > hand with KQJ of spades is to the right of the lower hand.
>
> > My suggestion, besides making sure you tell us that we're East or
> > whatever, would be to label the two hands by their compass
direction---
> > i.e. put the labels "North" and "East" above the two hands, which
> > should make it easier for us to figure out. It might be even better
> > if, in addition, you put a blob of asterisks or something somewhere
> > where the middle of the table would be, to make it even clearer what
> > the layout is; but it's probably not necessary.
>
> > From what I recall, when publishers publish defensive hands in books,
> > they usually print them the way you would view them while sitting at
> > the table---in this case, with your hand at the bottom and dummy at
> > the right, which is where the dummy actually would be at the table.
> > But I guess either way is fine, as long as it's clear.
>
> > OK, enough ranting about presentation.
>
> > I object to the 2S bid. I would have just sup****ted hearts at some
> > level, probably 4 at this vulnerability. I can understand the bid,
> > because with this auction it may be our hand and I may need to bid
> > constructively rather than preemptively, and it could play better in
> > spades. But this spade suit is too moth-eaten to make it worthwhile
> > to bid it, when you have this much heart sup****t.
>
> > As for the defensive problem: Declarer sounds like he has six
> > diamonds, and I'm not going to play partner for two singletons after
> > he has bid this tamely at this vulnerability. So after ca****ng the CA
> > and getting a low attitude signal, I'm guessing that he wants a heart
> > through.
>
> > -- Adam
>
> I agree that the presentation here is less than optimal, though the
> questions asked clear things up quickly: we must be the hand with CA,
> and since we played third to trick one (SA), we must be third hand. That
> means the other hand shown is dummy, on our right. All the same, it
> would save a bit of detective work if OP had been more clear. It would
> also be nice if the bidding were ordered WNES, as is customary, rather
> than ESNW, which makes it very hard to follow what's going on.
>
> Also, every defensive publication I can recall read puts the defenders
> in the East and West seats, rather than South as you suggest.
You're right. Once I got home, I took the op****tunity to check
several bridge books and Bridge World issues. In all cases, the dummy
was on top. I don't know where I got the other idea.
Some other notes about what I found:
In about half the publications, there was a square where the middle of
the table would be. In all but one of those, the square had compass
directions (N, E, S, W) printed in it, but in the one case where it
didn't, it wouldn't have been missed: once that square is there, it's
obvious that whatever is above it is North, and to the right is East,
etc.
In the cases where there was no square, both hands were labeled with
compass directions; the only exception was the Bridge World's Swiss
Match, where "compass directions are tem****arily suppressed on
defense". I think this is because the condition is that you're
sitting South for the entire match, and putting "South" on a hand that
is in the East or West position in the diagram would be confusing. So
they just label your hand "You", and the dummy either "LHO (dummy)" or
"RHO (dummy)". In the other cases, where hands *are* labeled with
compass directions, most of those also put either (You) on the hand
you hold, or (dummy) on dummy's hand, or both. In the books "Kantar
for the Defense" and "Kantar for the Defense, Volume 2", for instance,
your hand is labeled either "East (You)" or "West (You)".
Finally---and this is a very im****tant point I missed before---when
the hands shown are North and East, they are always offset somewhat to
the right---never with the North hand right up against the left
margin. Putting North flush against the left margin is confusing,
because if you're imagining the two hands as part of an entire hand
diagram with the hands in the traditional positions, you're forced to
imagine one of the hands being off the edge of the page (or, in a
problem posted on r.g.b, off the edge of the screen or window), which
is hard to do. So I think this is an im****tant rule: when posting
just North and East hands, please indent!!
And, as I mentioned before, I might not have had any problems at all
if Dave had remembered to tell us that we were East.
-- Adam
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