RoboCoup (Le Bridgeur Magazine n°902)

Choosing a line of play over another one is conceivable if you can anticipate how opponent will react. No certainty at the table but when you play against a robot…

The first Paris Festival took place at Paris Country Club from 5 to 11 November 2015. Funbridge sponsored the event and I had the pleasure of winning the first edition of the Open tournament with Pierre Franceschetti.

Here is a nice deal won by Pierre as part of a challenge on Funbridge. He is playing 6NT in South on the heart jack lead.

K 10 7 2   A 9 8 4  Q 2  A 10 7

A Q J  K 6 3  A K 4 3  Q 3 2

 
You take with the heart king and when you play hearts again, West follows with the 10. So you take with the ace and play hearts to establish your eleventh trick. East plays a fourth round of hearts (you give away a club, whereas West discards a spade and a club). The layout is:

K 10 7 2  –  Q 2  A 10 7

9 8 6 4  –  J 6 5  K 9 8 5

5 3   –  10 9 8 7  J 6 4

A Q J  –  A K 4 3  Q 3 2

 
To win, you can cash the club ace in a Vienna coup and then all spades. This is the winning line of play provided that East holds the club king and four diamonds or West holds club king-jack and four diamonds. Expected success rate: 37.5%.

Pierre prefers playing the club queen, knowing that the software systematically covers. Here West covers and declarer wins wherever the club jack and the four diamonds are. If West had played low, he would have played the ace and this time he would have won if East had both honours in clubs and the four diamonds. Here only Pierre’s line of play was rewarded…

The full deal was:

K 10 7 2  A 9 8 4  Q 2  A 10 7

9 8 6 4  J 10  J 6 5  K 9 8 5

5 3   Q 7 5 2  10 9 8 7  J 6 4

A Q J  K 6 3  A K 4 3  Q 3 2