|
Hand Analyses 3rd January, 2007
A tame start to the New Year! West makes his first, but no doubt not his last, light opening bid of 2007, and North arrives in 3NT via a transfer sequence (playing “systems on” after a 1NT overcall).
Against 3NT, East leads the 7♥, “top of nothing”. Put yourself in the West seat. What do you play at Trick one? - if you cover the Ten with an honor, you will hand Declarer 3 Heart tricks, which may be enough to take her to 11 tricks; - if you play small, Declarer will be able to score just two Hearts, but the downside for the defense is that she scores those two tricks without having to lose one.
It turns out that the winning choice is to play an honor at Trick One, making sure of a Heart trick for the defense, and two altogether. If West plays low at Trick One, Declarer makes a surprising 12 tricks … 2 Spades, 2 Hearts, 5 Diamonds and 3 Clubs.
Next, let’s look at the Diamond suit. Declarer leads the Q♦ which holds. What should Declarer do on the second round of Diamonds? Lead the Jack hoping to pin the doubleton Ten in the West hand? … or lead a low Diamond, hoping for doubleton King in the West hand? Either could work, but the percentage play is to lead the Queen. Why? Because with Kxx of Diamonds East is unlikely to cover … with Kx of Diamonds he probably will in order to promote Partner hoped for Ten (as in the actual deal).
Here’s another skimpy opening bid, this time by South. There’s nothing intrinsically wrong with a partnership style which opens these marginal hands, but here are a couple of corollaries to that style: - When South opened 1♥ with this minimal hand she did so based on her 5-4 distribution, and it follows that her second bid should be to show that second suit, rather than to rebid 1NT. Don’t think the Diamond suit is worth bidding? Maybe not, but in that case the hand was not worth opening! - Facing a Partner who opens light (with hands like the South one), we need a little bit extra to bid game … on the actual deal, North has a decent 12-count, but we would not stretch this to game opposite a frisky opener, we would merely invite.
2NT is quite high enough and 8 tricks are likely to be made on either a Club or a Diamond lead, when Declarer gets the Hearts going.
A difficult hand for N-S! The first five bids were simple enough … that 2♥ was Fourth Suit Forcing, let’s assume to game … then South’s 3♣ confirmed at least 5-5 in the minors. Now North is in a truly awkward situation. No suit has been agreed, North has extras, and South may or may not have extras … does this hand belong in Clubs, Spades, or No Trump? … in game or in slam? We discuss this in more detail in the Bidding Quiz, for the time being let’s just say that 3♥ was intended as a temporizing bid.
West will no doubt lead the Q♥ against 3NT, and South will figure that she is just a successful Club finesse away from making 12 tricks. However, the Club finesse loses and then Diamonds break 5-1 and that holds her to just 10 tricks.
West did well not to get too excited with his square 10-count, and E-W came to rest in a cozy Heart part-score, making 9 tricks. But it was unfortunate for N-S that North was taking a nap during the auction. Yes, we like a 3♣ preempt with that beefy (well, almost) 6-card suit and nice shape. Here’s what is likely to happen:
West North East South Pass 3♣ 3♥ Pass 4♥ Pass Pass Pass
After that 3♣, it’s hard to fault the E-W auction, the preempt just bounced them into a hopeless game.
Another light opening and another restrained sequence by Responder. With 5-5 shape and 12 HCP’s opposite an opening bid, one would usually be going to game somewhere or other, but South’s hand is Aceless and has apparent wastage with that singleton K♠. In 3♦ there are 4 obvious losers, so staying out of 3NT or 5♦ will be rewarded with a good board.
A nice 2NT bid by East … as a passed hand this bid can hardly mean anything other than the minors, and that enables E-W to settle into a comfortable Club partial.
Against 3♣, North leads a Heart, ruffed in Dummy. Declarer plays on Diamonds immediately, and it turns out to be 10 tricks when both minors behave.
The first time around East declined to double with minimum values and only 3 Spades, but he could hardly resist balancing with a Double of 2♥. With that extra Heart South was always going to push on to 3♥ and was quite right to bid it immediately, rather than give the opponents a chance to find their own fit.
The N-S hands fit well and 10 tricks can be made, the defense being unable to stop two Spade ruffs on the board … even a Heart opening lead does not help, as West is unable to get back in to lead the third round a trumps.
How to bid those opening hands which are 4-5 in the minors has become a recurring theme in The Wednesday Game and we go there once again in the Bidding Quiz, which is where we also explore the N-S sequence.
4♠ is a fine contract. There are two Aces to be lost and the real question is whether or not Declarer can muster up 11 tricks. Two lines present themselves: - Set up the Diamonds … this will require 3-3 Diamonds or doubleton Jack and trumps 2-2, more adverse splits will be impossible to handle. - Try two ruffing finesses in Clubs, making 11 tricks when West has both the Ace and the Queen. If there was any doubt as to the better line that disappears the moment West leads a low Heart, to East’s Jack and Declarer’s Queen. Now, East is marked with the A♥ and J♥, which leaves just 12 enemy points unaccounted for … surely West needs them to justify the opening bid and will hold ♣AQ. So, Declarer wins the Q♥, leads the K♣ covered by the Ace and ruffed, crosses back on a trump and takes another Club ruffing finesse, for 11 tricks.
Over 1NT, North might have been tempted to bid 2♥, and that would work out rather well on the actual deal. But, it’s a dangerous bid with such poor Heart spots and with East likely to be sitting over with 4 of them, so we don’t fault North for passing.
Against 1NT North will no doubt lead a low Spade, after which Declarer knocks out the A♣ and takes 7 easy tricks. Deep Finesse tells us that it is possible to beat 1NT, do you see how? Yes, North must find the astonishing opening lead of the K♥! This pins Declarer’s Queen and allows the defense to score 4 Hearts, 2 Spades, and a Club.
Suppose that West passes the Double, trying for a penalty. How does 1♠ doubled fare? It’s possibly down two which would be a fine board for E-W except for one small detail. North will not play it there when she can try another 5-card suit … she’ll bail out to 2♥, hoping that this is not a case of out of the frying pan into the fire. She gets lucky when Declarer shows up with 3 Hearts, and 2♥ produces 8 tricks. And even if North decides to take her lumps in 1♠ doubled, she may well get out for down one
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
