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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.
Over 1♣, East had a choice between 1♥ and 2NT (showing the two lower unbid suits). We prefer 1♥ here, the suit is so much better, but there's also nothing fundamentally wrong with preempting the auction and also giving Partner a choice of suits. West’s 2♣ showed invitational values (or better), typically with Heart support.
In 4♥, Declarer will make 11 or 12 tricks. It all depends on the opening lead. Which one of Partner’s suits do you lead? It looks very much like a guess to us … lead a Spade and you are -680, but lead a Club, and it’s only -650.
North has 10 HCPs and 3-card support for Partner’s Heart suit, but she should curb her enthusiasm. As 10-counts go, this one is no great shakes, really not close to a limit raise. On the other hand, it’s too good to bid 1NT and then (over Partner’s 2♦ rebid) bid 2♥. So, even though the hand looks rather No Trumpish, we suggest a 2♥ bid here … if Partner makes a game try, we’ll offer 3NT as an alternative contract.
As it happens, North does well to bid just 2♥ here. South would accept any game try with her shapely 1-5-4-3, but the maximum on the hand is 9 tricks.
East may have been thinking about trying for game with that 15-count opposite Partner’s Weak Two. But, hopefully, not for very long, that would just be altogether too ambitious … inadequate trump support … and too many side-suit losers.
Looking at just the E-W hands, you can see that there are 2 Diamond losers, a Spade loser, and at least one Heart loser. Additionally, there is the danger of a Diamond ruff. Yes, 2♥ sounds high enough to us! However, it’s a most friendly hand indeed, the Hearts are kind, the Diamonds are blocked, the A♠ is favorably placed, and with the aid of a successful Club guess a colossal 10 tricks are possible. A triumph for the over-bidders!
This auction is another example of the No-Four-Card-Major-Left-Behind school of thought. Yes, West should certainly try for a 4-4 major fit after Partner’s 1NT opening, notwithstanding that pitiful Heart suit.
The resulting 3NT contract is both normal and hopeless! Look at the Spade mega-wastage, and the unfriendly Clubs. But, even if South leads a Diamond, and East guesses the Clubs right for one loser, that is still just 8 tricks. In fact, 8 tricks for down one might score quite well on this board.
North had a choice of opening bids here. 1NT? Or 1♣, planning a reverse to 2♦? 1♣ is unequivocally the way to go, that prime 17-count with a luscious KQTxx side-suit is just too good for a 15-17 1NT. East’s 1♦ puts the kibosh on any 2♦ reverse, and 3NT by North is the final contract.
Against 3NT, East leads a Diamond, won by Dummy’s Queen. Then, K♣, and A♣, and the losing Heart finesse. Declarer now has 10 tricks, and a surprise 11th materializes when the T♥ comes down on the third round. Is this an easy game or what? Well, actually it’s not at all easy (that’s why we play it!), and the question here is “In the aforementioned line of play, which defender fell from grace?” West followed suit impeccably, in our opinion, but East missed the chance for a fine play. When Declarer finesses her Q♥, East must duck! Now that 3rd Heart trick is but a wistful dream, due to a lack of entries, and 10 tricks are the maximum. Of course, Declarer could have saved a Dummy entry by taking the Heart finesse at Trick Two, before testing the Clubs. That's a better line, but it would still be fine play by East to duck the K♥ ... this gives Declarer a later Heart guess.
After East’s 2NT opening, West must surely have been tempted to go to game (via Stayman) … look at all those fillers! As it happens, 3NT does make, thanks in part to the 3-3 Spade break. Mucho matchpoints if you bid this one.
As it turns out, 6♥ is a pretty decent contract, but it’s mighty tough to get there. Perhaps, over 3♥, West could try a 4♦ cue-bid, but it’s much easier to find that bid when you are looking at all 4 hands. If, somehow or other, you managed to bid this slam, then it’s a well-deserved top.
In case you are curious, the chances of bringing in the Hearts are 73%, and the chances of bringing in the Clubs are 85%. As you need both of these to make the slam, the combined probability works out at around 62%. So, worth bidding ... especially as it makes!
West considered his hand too good for a 15-17 1NT, but ended up playing in No Trump anyway. It’s fair to say that both West and East bid aggressively on this one. West’s hand was not that good, and a 1NT opening would have been conscionable … and East went to game on little more than a leaky Diamond suit and a prayer. Nonetheless, both actions were reasonable, and it’s bidding like that which often leads to interesting contracts!
North will lead the Spade Ten, won by Declarer’s Jack. Next, the K♦ and a low Diamond, and things start to look up when the Q♦ appears on the second trick. Declarer uses the first Diamond entry to lead a Heart, and the Jack is covered by the Queen and King. North cannot continue Spades, that would give Declarer his 9th trick, so she is obliged to exit a Club, which Declarer must win. As luck would have it, when North gets in with the T♥ she has no more Clubs to get out with, so 3NT will make 9 tricks.
Of course, if East really thought his hand was worth game, he might well have bid 4♥ ... that also makes for much the same reason as 3NT … namely, that North has only one Club, leaving South entryless.
If you bid either game (and managed to make) you surely got something close to a top.
Nowadays, it's almost standard, when on opening lead against No Trump, to play that the lead of the Queen asks Partner to play the Jack if she has it. The most common situation is when opening leader has KQT9(x) ... by leading the Queen, when Partner does not drop the Jack, we'll know where it is and can avoid the mistake of letting Declarer score his Jack. The same logic applies with North's holding on this board, and we would lead the Queen here, too (not the Ten, as per the earlier analysis). Leading the Queen has added benefits on the actual hand, we might catch Dummy with the singleton or doubleton Jack!
Over Weak Twos, some players use “Leaping Michaels” to show two-suited hands … for example, in this auction, after 2♥, a leap to 4♣ would show Clubs and Spades. However, the bid shows a stronger hand than South possesses, so she should content herself with a 2♠ overcall.
In the play to 3♠ doubled, West will no doubt lead a Heart. Declarer takes this on the board, and leads the T♣, covered with the Queen, King, Ace. Now a trump lead from West, and Declarer can scramble 8 tricks for down only one ... -100 is not such a bad result considering that E-W can make 9 tricks in either red suit.
A well-judged auction by both sides, and +130 for N-S when 4♣ makes 10 tricks.
Would East have done better to bid a preemptive 3♥ directly over 2♣? We think that the hand is too good (and we don’t like that outside Ace one bit). And, anyway, if East does jump to 3♥, North will no doubt balance with a Double, and South will bid 4♣, thereby reaching the correct contract despite the preempt. The big danger of a 3♥ preempt (especially at this vulnerability) is that West might have a different hand to the one above, one which might persuade him to try a 5♥ sacrifice against 5♣ … imagine his chagrin when Dummy goes down and he sees that the A♠ is the setting trick against 5♣, while his 5♥ is down two or three doubled.
North didn't need to be a rocket scientist to escape from 2♠ doubled to 3♣, but E-W find their Diamond fit which is good for 10 tricks.
Against 1NT, the defense can establish 3 Spades and score their red Aces for 5 tricks, but it’s hard to see where a 6th trick is coming from (check out that lucky Club situation for Declarer). So, it looks as if all lines of play will lead to 8 tricks.
We highly recommend that you play Lebensohl over a Weak Two, doubled by Partner. Using this treatment, North bids 2NT (a relay to 3♣) to get out at the 3-level with a weak hand … with invitational values, North bids her suit directly. So, 3♣ in the above auction shows something in the 9-11 range, or thereabouts. Of course, South has a monstrous hand, and needs just the AK♣ to make a grand slam. Perhaps she was afraid that 4NT might be misinterpreted, so she decided to brush off the dust from a Golden Oldie. Yes, 5NT, the Grand Slam Force, asking Partner to bid 7♣ if she has 2 of the top 3 trumps.
That Grand Slam Force is a most useful tool once every couple of years. But we don’t mean to be sarcastic, it’s simply that the advent of Roman Key Card Blackwood and Exclusion Blackwood has greatly reduced the convention’s frequency of use.
How do you play 3♠ by North in this situation? Is it preemptive? Or a Splinter? Either’s fine, today’s North is clearly part of the Splinter group, as are we. South’s hand was spectacularly improved by this information, encouraging her to make a slam try of 4♣ despite quite modest values. That 4♦ bid was Minorwood, a variant of Roman Key Card Blackwood that can be used when a minor suit is agreed. 4NT showed 2 Key Cards without the Queen, and West bid the slam. 12 easy tricks on a combined 24 HCPs. Very nice work by the pairs that bid this one.
West's 2♥ was Michaels, showing Spades and a minor, and North’s 2♠ showed at least invitational values and a Heart fit. South had enough to bid game opposite a limit raise, but tried 3♦ along the way, in case North had a good hand ... then, when North bid 4♣, South felt justified in bidding 4NT, Roman Key Card Blackwood. North’s 5♠ response showed 2 Key Cards and the Queen of Trumps. A mistaken bid? No, not at all, North has extra trump length, and can tell that her side has at least 10 trumps, making the Queen an unnecessary luxury (most of the time) … in these circumstances, North is allowed to claim ownership of the Q♥.
12 tricks are easy enough, and bidding the slam will be a good board, we doubt whether more than half the field will bid this one.
In the featured auction, some aggressive bidding by N-S gets them to 3NT and +400. But, we doubt whether this result will occur often (if at all!), we'd expect an assortment of part-score contracts, mostly in Diamonds (which makes no fewer than 11 tricks).
With the HCPs about equally divided between the two sides, it's N-S’s 9-card Heart fit that outbids their opponents' 8-card Spade fit.
In 3♥, North makes 9 tricks easily enough … 5 Hearts, 2 Diamonds, a Diamond ruff, and the K♣.
As West, in the balancing seat, would you (or did you?) push on to 3♥? We wouldn’t advise it, at least not when vulnerable, and in this case it’s destined to be doubled, down one or two with normal play.
2♠ will make 8 or 9 tricks, depending on the opening lead. If East leads the J♣, he’ll be able to give his Partner a Club ruff later, and that will be 8 tricks for Declarer. But, if East, not unreasonably, leads Partner’s Heart suit, then it’s 9 tricks … true, West can win the A♥ and shift to a Club, but Declarer simply pitches her Club away on Dummy’s K♥ and is able to overruff in Clubs, if need be.
Against 3NT, on a Heart lead, South has some communications problems. See Play Problem.
Some players avoid wherever possible opening 2♣ with a two-suited hand, as would we when the first suit to be bid naturally is a minor. But here, after 2♣ and the customary 2♦ “waiting”, we can bid 2♠, and will probably be able to show our second suit at the 3-level … in other words, as an economical auction seems likely, this looks like a reasonable 2♣ opener to us. 5♣ in the above auction was a 1430 response to Roman Key Card Blackwood.
In a pairs game, it would be ideal if West could arrange to play in 6NT, but that’s hard to achieve, so 6♠ is the next best thing. However, at teams, one would want to be in 6♦, which is a safer contract in which a 4-1 Spade break may be overcome.
South has a decent hand, but not one that is good enough to try for game opposite a Weak Two. Actually, not even close.
Even 2♠ is plenty high enough, but Declarer can scramble 8 tricks if she plays on Clubs early. Actually, it’s quite likely that East may oblige Declarer by leading Clubs on the go, as the other leads look most unappealing.
There’s a saying in bridge that “the 5-level belongs to the opponents”, meaning that it’s rarely right to bid 5-over-5, there’s so little margin for error. And there’s another piece of common advice, that once you have preempted you normally keep your mouth shut for the rest of the auction unless Partner asks your opinion. Our West was obviously not big on conventional wisdom because he flouted both of these precepts when he preempted with 4♠, and then pushed on to 5♠ over 5♥. And he paid the price when this went down 3 doubled for -500 against their non-vulnerable game.
However, let’s not be too unkind to West … he does have an extra Spade, and a void in the opponents’ suit … and he was most unlucky that Partner had the useless AK♥, which he would have gladly traded for, say, the Q♦. Of course, many Easts would have doubled 5♥, and that would have been even worse … 11 tricks and -650.
Simple auction, but an interesting Play Problem.
South passed originally over their 1NT, no doubt getting ready (somewhat optimistically) to lead her 4th best Spade against 3NT. However, after the transfer she decided that enough was enough and she jumped in with 2♠, going down 2. Of course, this was just a Double away from a disastrous -300, but neither East nor West felt able to apply the ax … it’s tough to double those low-level contracts with no trump tricks.
Of course, South might well have bid 2♠ directly over 1NT. Now, how do you play a Double by West? Is it an out-and-out penalty Double? General values? Take-out? Please see the Bidding Quiz for more on this.
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