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Hand Analyses 23rd August, 2006
That 2♦ preempt, followed by West’s boost to 3♦, puts N-S under some pressure, and it’s easy to see how some pairs might get to the sub-par contract of 4♠. In the featured auction, did N-S misbid? We don’t think so … South’s overcall was not gilt-edged, but it’s not a good idea to pass hands like that, unless you enjoy being pushed around by the opponents … as for North’s decision to go to game, we couldn’t agree more, but see the Bidding Quiz for more on North’s second bid.
Even though the N-S bidding passes muster, the resulting 4♠ contract is not a thing of beauty! However, it does have chances, and, as the cards lie, E-W must defend accurately to beat this one. West will lead the K♦ and East will contribute the Jack, which denies the Queen, and, with a singleton in Dummy, should be taken as Suit Preference for the higher suit ... basically, East is trying to tell West that it is safe to shift to a Heart. This shift is the winning defense, it's necessary to knock out those Dummy entries in order to kill the suit. Declarer will win the Ace (he may duck the first round of the suit), and play on trumps ... when West gets in he must attack Dummy's other entry, which is the 4th trump, and the way to do that is to lead a Diamond, forcing Dummy to ruff. Now, Dummy's trump entry has been used up before the Clubs can be set up and enjoyed.
A straightforward auction to a surely universal 4♠, where the division of the spoils will depend solely on South’s opening lead. Lead the K♦ and hold them to 11 tricks … or lead the J♣ and watch them score 12 tricks. Is it at all obvious to lead the K♦? We don’t think so! Here are some thoughts on the matter: - the J♣ is the lead which is less likely to blow a trick at Trick One, because the sequence is more solid … it’s also the lead that is less likely to set up tricks for the defense, because the suit is longer (more chance of enemy shortness), and our high cards are smaller (need more help from Partner); - conversely, the K♦ lead is more attacking, more likely to defeat the contract, and more likely to blow a trick in the led suit.
Playing matchpoints, we confess that we would lead the J♣ … a semi-attacking but safe lead, and the lead which seems less likely to hand the opponents an overtrick. But, playing in a team game, where there is less concern about overtricks, and more emphasis on beating the contract, we’d make the more risky K♦ lead. So, alas, playing in the Wednesday Pairs we’d be -480 for an average minus, hopefully you did better.
Bergen Postscript: Playing Bergen Raises, as West, what is your call? More specifically, is this a preemptive raise or a constructive raise? Yes, indeed, it’s a constructive raise, too good for preemption. There are many 6-counts which are just fine for a preemptive 3♠, but the 5-4 shape and those 2 valuable high cards make this hand too strong.
East’s hand is so good that, opposite a constructive raise, he might be tempted to make a slam try of 4♣, but will then subside when West bids 4♠, denying red suit controls. Oops! This sequence might tip the scales for in favor of a Diamond opening lead … not good!
As a potential opening bid, South’s hand squeaks by on a Rule of Twenty basis, but it has a few negatives … that wasted singleton Jack, the two red dangling Jacks, and an astonishing lack of fillers. Nonetheless, we’d open 1♠ anyway, it’s hard to resist such a lovely suit, especially when it’s in Spades!
Anyway, we suspect that the most common start will be as per the featured auction. Now the question is … “Should North take some kind of balancing action?” Yes, we think so. North was extremely close on the previous round of bidding to making a stronger call, her hand is within a whisker of qualifying for a limit raise bid of 3♣ over their 2♣ (some would say that it does qualify). Does this mean that North should balance here with a 3♠ bid? No, we’d prefer a Double here, which basically says “I don’t have an extra (fourth) trump for you, but I do have a good hand, make an intelligent decision, please”. As South, with no defense worth mentioning, bids 3♠ she might well be wondering why she opened this wretched hand!
But all’s well that ends well, and, on all imaginable lines of play, 3♠ is destined to go down one trick against the opponents’ making 3♣. And how many tricks for E-W in Clubs? 9 tricks is the limit, provided that South shifts promptly to a Diamond before Declarer gets a chance to set up a pitch on the Hearts.
Any E-W pairs who stay out of game on this one will score very well indeed. In the featured auction, East showed admirable restraint, he might well have gone to game with 12 HCPs and all that good stuff in the unbid suit.
The play in Diamonds might go thus … Club lead to the King and Ace and ruffed, Spade to the King, K♣ and Q♣ (pitching Hearts), Heart to the Jack and Queen, etc. After this start Declarer is headed for 10 tricks.
3NT is not the worst contract we’ve ever seen, but it’s certainly not a good one … and on the actual adverse lie of the cards it turns out to be quite atrocious and is headed for down two or three.
Good aggressive White vs Red bidding by E-W on this one! West’s 2NT was the “Unusual No Trump”, showing Spades and Diamonds, of course. Over 2NT, North had no worthwhile action … no extras, no support, and a suit not worth rebidding at the 3-level. Then, East’s preemptive jump to 4♦ really put South on the spot.
What do we suggest with the South hand over 4♦? Our first thought is that we wish we were playing against less difficult opponents. But, after cursing the peskiness of E-W, we must choose between Double and 5♣. What does Double mean? It shows a hand with values that knows not what to do. Could it be a plain old-fashioned don’t-you-dare-take-another-call penalty Double? We don’t think so … the opponents have a big fit, South has yet to limit her hand, she needs a way to say “I have a good hand but no obvious direction”. Yes, we’d double, but at this vulnerability 5♣ is awfully tempting.
Let’s assume that you approve of South’s value-showing Double of 4♦. Now the spotlight shifts to North. She might be tempted to try 4♥ (a winner!) or 5♣ (also a winner), but most likely she will guess to pass, and the fate of the matchpoints will depend on the play of the hand.
Playing in 4♦ doubled, can East scrape up the 7 tricks required for a good board? Please see Play Problem # 61.
Both East and West must have had an uneasy feeling about this auction. West, with that shortness in their suit, was no doubt tempted to Double, but his hand was just not good enough. And East, with 3 Aces against non-vulnerable preemptors, must have been tempted to double 4♠.
However, West must find a highly improbable Heart lead on the go to beat 4♠ … then, later in the play, East must underlead his A♦ in order to get West back in to cash the established Heart … expect this defense at one table in a thousand. More likely, the defense to 4♠ will start with the K♦, at which point the contract can always be made … but only with good play by Declarer, please see Play Problem # 62.
Not a very exciting deal. North’s 2♦ was a reasonable guess, but her reward will be down one for -100 instead of their 2♣ making for -90.
System Note: We’ve had a couple of complaints that we never mention Flannery in The Wednesday Game. Well, here’s our chance to rectify matters. South has a perfect Flannery hand here … 4 Spades, 5 Hearts, and an opening hand not good enough to reverse, let’s say 11-15 or 11-16. Flannery players use a 2♦ opening bid to show this specific hand type, trading it for the Weak 2♦. The convention is less popular than it was 20 years ago, but it still has many devotees.
How does Flannery work out on this particular deal. Perhaps not particularly well, as it happens. After South opens 2♦, North will choose 2♥ … now Double by East is best played as a 3-suited take-out (notwithstanding that South has shown 4 Spades), and West will probably pass, more in hope than with any bloodlust. 2♥ is destined for down one or two, but North will no doubt attempt a rescue in the 4-3 Spade fit … now East will double, and if West passes (he may not be happy about 2♠ doubled, but he can also see nowhere to go) then that will be 200 for E-W and a top board.
A few “might haves” on this auction: (a) East might have upgraded his 14-count to a 1NT opening … it’s nice to have all those Aces, but perhaps a Ten or two was needed to qualify; (b) West might have looked at his square and oh-so-NTish hand and responded 1NT instead of 1♥ (we would have done but we wouldn’t argue too strenuously with 1♥ either); (c) East might have passed 1♥ but did not want to give the opponents too easy an entry into the auction; (d) South might have thrown in a 2♠ “pre-balance” over 2♥, notwithstanding the putrid suit. (e) North might have balanced with a Double when 2♥ got around to her (non-vulnerable, we think she should have done).
Too many imponderables on this hand, let’s just say that going plus by either side is likely to be a reasonable result.
Now here’s a real Rule of Twenty opener. We’re taking about the East hand, your classic 5-4 11-count with all the values working. No doubt about this 1♥ bid! The remainder of the auction was straightforward enough, with West showing a 6-card Spade suit and invitational values with his 3♠ bid.
Against 3♠ what would you lead with the North hand? Leading away from Kxxxx against suit contracts is a pretty hazardous occupation, but it is the unbid suit and the other leads all look quite unattractive. So, let’s say that North does indeed lead a Club … now, as West, how would you play 3♠? Please see Play Problem # 63.
That 2♠ bid was Fourth Suit Forcing … usually, this convention does not require a jump in the 4th suit, but this particular sequence is the exception. As played by most partnerships, over 1♥, a bid of 1♠ would be natural (and, as it’s a new suit by Responder, it’s forcing, though not necessarily to game) … and the featured 2♠ bid is artificial and forcing, typically to game.
Hopefully there’s no doubt about what the 4NT bid meant … invitational, not Blackwood.
Walsh Note: If you play Walsh-style, your auction was slightly shorter … 1♣ 1♦, 1NT 4NT. The final contract will be the same, the opening leader will be the same, and yet things will be quite different! In the Walsh auction, Declarer’s pattern remains more of a mystery, never a bad thing!
Some partnerships play East’s Redouble of the Negative Double as showing the Ace, King or Queen of Partner’s suit, the so-called Rosenkrantz convention. The alternative treatment is for it simply to show a good hand … we don’t suggest that you use the Redouble here merely to say that you have Hearts, if you have them you can just raise the suit.
East has a Redouble regardless of whether he is playing Rosenkrantz, and he also has a Double the next time to show a good hand. Of course, West’s hand is far from good, and with nowhere to go he bids 2♥, a contract which turns out to be plenty high enough.
Against 2♥ the defense starts with AK♠, and a Spade ruff. South does best to get out with a trump, and West can now pull off a pretty end-play … he wins the Heart return in his hand, crosses to the K♥, and leads a Diamond … South must win this and now she must concede the 8th trick whichever minor she returns.
Against 3NT, West leads a low Diamond, the sequence being not quite strong enough for the lead of the Jack (JT8x or better is usually required), and East makes the good play of the Queen. South is forced to take the first Diamond trick, for fear that the opening leader started with AJxx or ATxx. Next comes the winning Heart finesse, the fortuitous fall of the Q♥, at which point Declarer can count 9 top tricks (5 Hearts, 1 Diamond, 2 Clubs and only 1 Spade due to the blockage). Declarer has 3 lines of play that she might consider: Line A: Cash the 9 winners and give up … this line of play will result in 11 tricks if the Q♣ is doubleton. Line B: Go for broke by overtaking the K♠ with the Ace and trying the Club finesse … of course, this leaves Declarer wide-open in Spades, so 11 tricks when the finesse works and an ignominious down two if the finesse loses. Line C: The opening lead of the 4 suggested that Diamonds were 4-3, in which case, after cashing the Hearts, Declarer can cash one high Club and the K♠, and exit a Diamond … the defense scores 3 Diamonds, but now must let Declarer score the second Spade or else give her a safe Club finesse.
We like Line C, which offers a safe play for the overtrick, although, on the actual lie of the cards, Line B scores a dangerously earned top.
Holding only two Diamonds, West’s Double was far from perfect but surely better than passing or overcalling 2♣. North’s 2♣ was a natural bid (but see Note below), after which East understandably competed to the 3-level, going down one in 3♦.
If North is allowed to play in 2♠, West will lead the A♥, and now a Club shift beats the contract one trick. The Club shift might not be obvious, though, West might decide to stop Diamond ruffs in Dummy by shifting to a trump … no matter, the defense gets a second chance for its Club ruffs when East gets in with his K♠, provided that West has retained two red suit entries.
System Note: After South’s third-seat opener, many partnerships play Drury, and the question is whether Drury is still on over the Double. We’d suggest that it is still on, in which case North cannot bid 2♣ naturally as she did in the above auction.
South was skating on thin ice for a while! Her 3NT was not unreasonable, as good a guess as any in the circumstances, then, when she bailed out into 4♦, she was in -500 territory (against a 420 or 450 game), but West reasonably let her off the hook with his 4♠ bid, making 11 tricks unless South finds the improbable Diamond lead.
Another imperfect take-out Double, this time it is North who has the doubleton in an unbid suit (see also Board 13). East might well have redoubled instead of bidding 1NT, both bids seem reasonable enough. East did indeed redouble the next time around, showing a good hand. 3♦ was destined to go down at least one, but East could see a 9-card Heart fit, so naturally enough he competed to 3♥. The losing decision, as this is also down one.
We encountered this situation in the Wednesday Game a few weeks ago … after the Forcing NT, when North has the values for a jump shift she has a gadget at her disposal, the so-called Power Relay. Using that method, North’s 2NT was artificial, asking Partner to relay to 3♣ … then Opener’s 3♥ showed a four-card suit (the more direct 1♠ 1NT, 3♥ would show 5-5) and, of course, a very good hand.
This little gadget doesn’t prevent N-S from playing in the poor 3NT contract. West will probably lead a Club and the best that Declarer can do is score 2 Spades, 3 Hearts and 2 Clubs for down 2.
SAYC Note: The Power Relay is not a part of SAYC, and the auction will commence 1♠ 1NT, 3♥ ... now, Responder will have to choose between 3NT and 4♥ (Opener may have 5 Hearts in this auction). The winning guess is 4♥ which goes down just one! But it seems very much like a guess to us.
After West converted that balancing double of 2♥ into a penalty double, North might well have run to 3♣, but that would have been no better.
In the play of 3♣ (probably doubled) Declarer can manage no more than 7 tricks. The play in 2♥ is more complicated, but is seems that the defense should be able to score 3 Spades, 2 Diamonds, and at least 2 Hearts. So, -300 or -500 in either contract if E-W are aggressive enough to double. If this is what happened to you then you were unlucky, it was a case of the wrong hand against the wrong opponents.
East might have opened 1♥ in preference to 1NT for either one of these reasons: (a) Some players prefer not to open 1NT with a 5-card major … please see our Link on this subject; (b) Some players might consider a 17-point hand with a 5-card suit as too good for a 1NT opening … well, sometimes it is, but this hand has no fillers and we’d have no qualms about 1NT here.
Against 1NT, South leads a Spade and the defense cashes 3 Spades and loses the 4th round. Declarer must find two pitches on the play of the Spades … he can afford to part with a Club, but the second pitch is more problematic. Here are the choices: Either: Pitch a Heart, relying on the Diamonds to provide the 7th and maybe the 8th trick. Or: Pitch a Diamond, putting the contract at risk, hoping that 8 tricks can be made thanks to a 3-3 Heart break.
The odds are strongly in favor of relying on the Diamonds, but sensible play is not rewarded here, the way to 8 tricks is to rely on the 3-3 Heart break.
A straightforward auction, and even though 5♦ is cold whereas 3NT can be beaten, we’d guess that virtually the whole field will be in the inferior No Trump contract.
Will West find the deadly Club lead? Perhaps he should, he can always shift at Trick Two if it seems appropriate. Making 8 or 11 tricks depending on the lead.
Suppose that you find the winning Club lead … do you lead the Ace or the King? There are various possibilities, but the most common style is this: Lead of the Ace: Asks Partner to unblock an honor, and, failing that, to give count. Lead of the King: Asks Partner to give attitude. On the hand above, we would lead the King, and Partner can afford to play the Queen, making it clear that the Club suit is running (or else we are tragically in the process of setting up Declarer’s T76432 suit!).
Precision bidding by both sides! North can scrape up 9 tricks in Diamonds by using his trump entries to the board to play on Clubs twice … West has an easier time of it in Spades, making 9 tricks routinely.
Although West took the winning action, that 3♠ bid was far from obvious, there was no certainty that his side had 9 trumps, it might well have been right to defend 3♦. But, this time fortune favored the brave … not only did Partner have 4 trumps, but there were 18 total tricks for just 17 total trumps.
Clearly, after East’s 1♥ opening, West is taking this to game. However, after the 2♠ bid, we wouldn’t bid 4♥, we’d reserve that for more distributional hands with less defense. By bidding 3♠ along the way we create a force, creating more options for partnership co-operation if the opponents compete further (more specifically, a Forcing Pass situation is created).
Two schools of thought concerning that 3♠ cue-bid: - It always shows a fit with Partner’s suit; - It doesn’t necessarily show a fit, could just be a good hand without direction, or one that is trying for 3NT.
Both methods are playable, we happen to prefer that the cue-bid guarantees a fit. Playing the other way seems more likely to create a confused auction and/or a rebid problem for Opener. OK, suppose that the cue-bid does guarantee a fit … what is Partner supposed to do with a good hand and no fit? The options are to bid a new suit, or make a Negative Double, or bid some number of No Trump. It seems to us that this should be enough non-fit bidding options to allow the cue-bid to guarantee a fit. End of commercial.
4♥ is a decent contract but not a claimer. Hearts need to be 2-2 (allowing the 10th trick to come from a Club ruff) or Clubs need to be 3-3 (in which case the 10th trick comes from the 13th Club). As it happens, the Hearts don’t produce, but the Clubs do, so it’s +420 for E-W and what should be a rather flat board.
Here we have the same Fourth Suit Forcing start as Board 10. After 1♥, West is way too good to jump to 4♥, so he goes via the 4th suit … then West’s 3♥ set the trump suit. Or did it? No, we don’t think so, at this point Hearts are no more than a polite suggestion … West might well have 3-card Heart support and be wondering whether the 4-3 Heart fit will play better than 3NT. After 3♥, East’s 3NT says “Yes, my Spades really are quite adequate for a No Trump adventure” (but see the Bidding Quiz for another interpretation), to which West’s 4♥ says “I was always planning to play it in Hearts and I have a pretty good hand, otherwise I would have bid 4♥ some time ago”.
It’s easy to see how some pairs might bid the Heart slam. Perhaps West’s hand was worth one more try, and East may have a minimum hand in terms of HCPs but his values are quite slammish. If North leads a trump, for example, in order to come to 12 tricks Declarer should ruff two Diamonds on the board, and then hope that the J♠ comes down … in order to bring this about, Declarer will need to ruff a Club for an entry back to his hand, so he also requires trumps to be 3-2. All in all, a perilous slam, though we’ve all been in worse.
On the actual lie of the cards, even 5♥ is likely to go down. North leads a Spade, and gets a Spade ruff when South alertly plays the A♠ on the first round of trumps in order to shoot back a Spade for Partner’s ruff. Now, South still needs to find an 11th trick, and, as before, the obvious way to achieve that is with two Diamond ruffs … only 10 tricks, though, when South overruffs in Diamonds. The only route to 11 tricks is the rather improbable line of taking one Club ruff, drawing trumps, and cashing the Spades, squeezing North in the minor suits. An improbable line of play, albeit elegant!
If you find the N-S auction a little unconvincing, then we wouldn’t argue! South certainly had a difficult rebid after 1♥, and might well have guessed to bid: - 2♥ A slight underbid, perhaps, but a Heart part-score might well be the perfect spot, given that robust Heart support and Spade ruffing value. - 1NT Another slight underbid, and also misdirected with that small doubleton in the unbid suit - 2NT Definitely not! - 3♣ Far from perfect, too … a slight overbid, and the Clubs are not so great either! Added to which, Partner might be 4-4-2-3, which would truly be a quite revolting development.
We think it’s a close choice between 2♥ and 3♣. If South chooses 3♣ then North will zip into 3NT pronto … if South chooses 2♥, then hopefully North will eke out a 2NT bid, pronto or otherwise, which will be enough for South to bid the game.
Did anyone open 1NT with the North hand? We don’t mind that bid, and it certainly solves all problems on the actual deal.
Walsh Addendum: In a Walsh-style partnership, the auction 1♣ 1♦, 1♥ implies a distributional hand for Opener, so now that 3♣ rebid by Responder is more appealing, and will get N-S to 3NT in no time flat.
A routine auction to a precarious contract. South will presumably lead a Spade … Declarer wins the 3rd round, and gets the good news in Diamonds. Now Declarer can count 9 tricks, and could try for more by taking a Heart finesse. Even though this happens to work, it also jeopardizes the contract (we’ve had a couple of those already in this set!). A safer line of play, after winning the 3rd round of Spades, is to rattle off 6 Diamond tricks, Declarer pitching Clubs … then if the Q♥ comes down there’ll be 11 tricks, otherwise 9. On the run of the Diamonds, however, South will be under some pressure … she must come down to 4 cards and she may not realize that 3 of them must be Hearts, and that she should therefore pitch her Spade winner (or A♣ once the K♣ is pitched from Dummy). North must help out South by pitching a low Heart at the earliest opportunity, making it clear that she can offer no help in that suit.
The bottom line is that sensible play brings in 9 tricks, and that the risk-the-contract line of play brings in 11 tricks … just as in Boards 11 and 18, in fact, where the kamikaze line also worked well.
N-S got carried into a “momentum slam”, both players having slammish values but neither of them having much in the way of extras. For more on this auction, please see the Bidding Quiz.
The bad news is that the hands fit badly together thanks to the Heart wastage, and the slam has no play on a Club lead. The good news is that many Easts (ourselves included) would lead a Heart against 6♠. Oh, dear! Minus 980 and zero matchpoints!
SAYC Note: The same basic auction, except that the Blackwood response is 5♦, of course.
West’s 3♣ was New Minor Forcing, an attempt in this case to find either a 5-3 Heart fit or a 4-4 Spade fit … note that the common style is for East’s 2NT rebid not to deny a 4-card Spade suit in this auction.
It seems normal for South to lead a low Spade against 3NT and, with the Hearts coming in, this is the only lead that can hold Declarer to 11 tricks. However, will North find the Club shift at Trick Two so that the defense gets its two tricks before Declarer cashes 12? Looking at that monstrous Dummy, North will see the definite danger that Declarer can do just that … then again, North can also figure out that Partner has 5 or 6 HCPs, so might well have the A♥ and QT♠, making a Spade return the way to go. We wish you happy guessing as North on this one!
SAYC Note: SAYC does not have New Minor Forcing at it's disposal, which creates something of a problem. After 1♦ 1♥, 2NT, West will be in a dilemma. If he bids 3♥, will Partner expect 6 of them? If he bids 3♠, will Partner play him for 5 Hearts? It's not a comfortable situation, and one of the reasons why New Minor Forcing is such a popular convention. Anyway, we'd bid 3♥ here, expecting our trusty Partner to bid 3♠ if he has 4 of the suit, and otherwise to choose between 3NT and 4♥. The end result will no doubt be the same 3NT contract.
Ouch! No doubt North had a feeling of impending doom as soon as West reopened with that Double. It was too late, of course, to substitute a takeout Double for that 2♥ overcall, and the bottom line to this auction is -300 for N-S. Was North wrong to overcall 2♥, was a takeout Double the better bid? No, we don’t think so, except on this layout, of course!
South was stuck for a bid at her second turn, and we rather like her actual choice of 3♦ … true the support is not what it might be, but this should be an 8-card fit, and at least 3♦ conveys the general values of the hand and gives her side a chance at reaching 3NT if North has the right type of hand with something extra.
As usual, North has nothing extra and 3♦ is the final contract. With double-dummy play it’s possible to make 10 tricks, but normal play loses a trick in each suit, for +110.
West chose to balance with a Double … did he have an alternative? That depends upon how you play a cue-bid in this situation … for more on this please see the Bidding Quiz. In the meantime we’ll live with the Double and analyze the auction bid by bid: 1♥: Hearts, of course, and not enough to make a value-showing jump, therefore less than about 9 HCPs. 2♠: 1♠ here would show a good hand, let’s say a 4-loser hand which needs precious little from Partner to make game … if 1♠ shows such a good hand, then it seems logical that 2♠ is even better, and forcing to game. 3♦: Still looking for a fit … 4♦: … and we’ve found one! If there’s any potential doubt about 4♦ being forcing then South should just bid 5♦ directly. 5♦: No reason to go to slam on these values.
It turns out that 5♦ is being played from the wrong side. Diamonds by East makes just 11 tricks if South leads a Heart (it’s not obvious that she will), whereas 6♦ by West can always make 12 tricks … all that is required is a ruffing finesse in Spades (pretty much guaranteed to succeed), and another Spade ruff to set up the suit. +1370 will be a terrific result, of course.
Against 1NT, West leads a Diamond, and gleefully runs the suit for the first 5 tricks. East must take care to hang on to his Clubs, of course, and the end-result will be down one.
The K♣ is led, and the lucky Spade situation brings in 8 tricks. Yet again, Declarer has a kamikaze line of play for an overtrick … after winning the second Club, cashing one Diamond and running the Spades he can finesse the Diamond, making 9 or 10 tricks if this works, but down one when it doesn’t. Or, if Declarer really insists on risking his contract he has the alternative line leading towards the K♥. Anyway, normal play brings in 8 tricks.
If West leads a Heart, Declarer will hopefully call for the Queen, and the defense cashes 4 Heart tricks on the go. What should East pitch on the 4th round? He’d love a Spade shift, but cannot afford to signal directly for one … he cannot afford a Diamond, so will pitch the 5♣, which should look low enough to deter a Club shift. Now, if West shifts to a low Spade, and Declarer calls for the King from the board, she is up to 6 tricks and has arrived at the moment of truth … should she just take her 6 tricks, or should she try for 7 or 8 by taking the Club finesse (in which case she will end up with just 5 when the finesse loses)? Perhaps the Club pitch by East should serve as a warning sign, but human nature being what it is we suspect that most players here would take the Club finesse and go down two.
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