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Hand Analyses 9th August, 2006
Over 2♦, West has a choice between Double and 2♠, and it's something of a coin toss, we would say. Murphy's Law tells us this: (a) If we decide to double, Partner will be 2-3 in the majors and we'll never find our 5-3 Spade fit; (b) If we decide to bid 2♠, Partner will perversely be 1-4 or 1-5 in the majors with a moderate hand, and we'll miss our 5-4 Heart fit
For once, Murphy's Law turns out to be inoperative, Partner is too weak to care, and the hand belongs to N-S in Diamonds.
N-S make 10 tricks in Diamonds without breaking a sweat. It’s true that E-W have a profitable save in 4♥, but that is a contract which requires extreme good luck to go down just one. In fact, the play in 4♥ is an interesting little declarer problem ... they lead Diamonds, and on the second round West must pitch a Club! This allows Declarer to retain trump control, and his 9th trick will eventually be the long Spade. If the defense cashes Clubs, Declarer's 9th trick will be the 13th Club.
A routine auction to the normal spot. But the hands don’t fit well together (look at the Spade wastage), and furthermore the Diamonds don’t break and the Clubs are all off-side. The contract is destined to fail, it's just a question of by how many. South will probably lead a Spade, and Declarer must decide how to play the Diamonds, hopefully for one loser. He could go any one of 3 ways: A. First round finesse of the 9 B. A♦, then run the 9 around C. A♦ and K♦
Percentage-wise, there is not a huge difference in these three plans, so you might as well go with the one that best suits the complete hand. It would be nice to keep South off lead, as a Club through Dummy could be awkward … so we would win the opening Spade lead with the Ten, and finesse the 9♦. As luck would have it, this works like a charm, but, even so, the contract is still down one. As the entire field should be in 3NT, down just one will likely be a good result.
N-S are White versus Red, so North is entitled to look askance at Partner's 3♣ opening ... who knows what atrocity South might have committed in the name of favorable vulnerability? She might well have a 6-card suit and a defensive trick (or two), in which case 5♣ is (hopefully) a good save against their game, but bidding more than that might be too expensive. Alternatively, she might have a pure, true-blue preempt (such as the one she was actually dealt), in which case we want to get to the 6-level or 7-level as quickly as possible.
It's all well and good to toss out White versus Red preempts with a high frequency, on a variety of hand types, but the downside is that, on hands like this, North will be at a disadvantage. As North, opposite a stolid preemptor, we'd bid 6♣ to apply maximum pressure. But if Partner is known to be quite adventurous in these situations, perhaps 5♣ is sufficient.
System Note: Actually, there is a gadget available that allows North to invite South's cooperation in situations such as these ... please see the Bidding Quiz for more.
How about East's 3rd seat opener? Some players just cannot resist opening light in 3rd seat. But, here he’s vulnerable, has a crummy suit, and no distribution … we question the wisdom of getting involved here, though we're probably in a minority on this one, we suspect that most players would indeed open 1♥.
In the play of 3NT, because of the entry situation, it will be normal for Declarer to finesse Diamonds through the long hand, so the doubleton Q♦ is destined to score a trick. Therefore, we have two cases: (a) West takes Partner’s macho 1♥ opening seriously and leads a Heart, and Declarer will score 9 tricks. (b) East is testosterone-challenged, and declines to open 1♥ … West leads a Spade, the Diamond finesse loses, and it’s down one.
A straightforward enough auction. North had a pretty good hand for her 2♠ rebid, but 3♠ would be a slight overbid, we think.
The final contract should be almost universal, and the matchpoints will be won and lost in the play of the hand. Check the Problem # 54 for the play in 4♠.
Should West invite to game (via Stayman) opposite a 15-17 1NT? The general rule is to invite with good eights and moderate nines. This is a moderate eight at best (no working fillers), it’s just not quite good enough for an invitation, in our view. Of course, vulnerable at IMPs we'd give it a try, but not at matchpoints.
We won’t even try to predict the course of play in East’s 1NT contract, except to say that 7 or 8 offensive tricks will occur.
It takes but 9 tricks to make game in No Trump, and West has 8 of them. So, despite the shortage of HCPs, West is fully justified in taking a shot at 3NT, he needs so little from Partner. As it happens, 3NT is cold, thanks to the 4-4 Spade split. But South is not done yet, and doubles ... we suggest that this is primarily a take-out Double, though it's not a situation that many partnerships are likely to have discussed. In the circumstances, 5♦ seems like a reasonable shot by North.
It turns out to be quite a strange hand ... not only can E-W make 3NT, but N-S are cold for 6♦! East will lead a Club, ruffed on the board. Declarer should immediately take the marked ruffing Heart finesse. This allows her to ruff two Club losers and pitch the other one on a Heart. Having looked after all 3 Club losers, she then goes after the trump suit and scores 12 tricks.
Can N-S also make 12 tricks in Spades? No, but it takes good defense to beat it. The defense leads a Club, ruffed by South ... now, Declarer goes after Diamonds, and East must duck the first round ... on winning the second round of Diamonds, East continues Clubs, and now, thanks to that fine Diamond ducking play, Declarer cannot untangle all her winners ... making just 11 tricks.
A simple enough auction. True, E-W might get involved with some Spade interference, but they had better not get too involved, as 4♠ doubled is -500 and a zero.
In the play, everything is friendly for Declarer … the Club finesse works, and the other Club loser goes on the breaking Diamonds. +480.
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