|
Hand Analyses 10th January, 2007
3NT by South will no doubt be the universal contract, and much will depend on the opening lead … Declarer has two tricks in each suit, and (with the Club finesse losing) is searching for a 9th. Nobody would lead a Diamond on this auction, but there is something to be said for each of the other suits and we’ll look at them in turn.
The 9♠ lead looks relatively safe and we might well catch East with a good Spade holding sitting over Dummy’s 4-card suit. Alas, it turns out quite disastrously, handing Declarer a third Spade, and 9 tricks altogether. Even so, careful timing is required: 9♠ covered by the Ten, Jack and Ace Club to the Ten and Queen Heart to the Jack, and Queen, Dummy ducking (necessary if Hearts 4-3) Low (!) Heart to the Ace Club to West’s Ace Heart to Dummy’s King Spade finesse Knock out the A♦ Fortunately, the A♦ is not with the long Hearts and that’s +400 for Declarer.
West might well choose an opening lead of a Heart, but not the Ten! Partner has a maximum of two Hearts on this auction (South will not have a singleton), so it won’t be possible to pick up the J♥ if it’s in Dummy. Therefore, if we must lead a (dangerous) Heart, we’d lead the fourth-best Seven, hoping that East has the Jack, or that East has a high honor and South the Jack. Not that it makes the slightest bit of difference on this hand, any Heart is equally disastrous, giving Declarer her 9th trick.
At IMP’s we would certainly lead the A♣, it looks like the most promising chance of beating the contract. It also seems highly likely to blow a trick, a major deterrent at matchpoints. Here, the lead works like a charm! It attacks the enemy’s strongest suit, but gives up nothing. Suppose that West cashes A♣, passively continues a Club to East’s Queen, and East reasonably shifts to the T♦. Declarer wins, and can still count only two tricks in each suit. The 9th must come from a Heart finesse or 3-3 Spades, both of which fail. Along the way to defeat, it would be nice if Declarer could show off her fine technique by cashing a Spade, ducking the second round of the suit, later cashing a third round, and then, if the Spades do not break, trying the Heart finesse (this sequence of plays is the best way of combining chances in the suits, better than the immediate Heart finesse which gives Declarer only one chance). But entries do not permit the luxury of combining chances so Declarer must choose one suit or the other. A simple Heart finesse is 50%, and a 3-3 Spade break is only 36%, but here Spades gives Declarer a better chance because some of the 4-2 breaks also work (for example, Jx or Qx with East), bumping the odds to over 60%. Anyway, it’s all academic! That deadly opening lead of the A♣ will surely set the contract one trick.
Double Dummy Note: Yes, on the opening Club lead, the contract can still be made, but only by the unlikely play of leading the Ten of Spades from the board! East must cover, then the Nine falls on the second round, and Dummy’s Eight and Seven force a third trick in the suit. A winner here, but highly anti-percentage!
South was happy to let her partner play in 1NT, but was not about to let the opponents play in 2♠. In the circumstances, 3♦ was a reasonable shot, and that’s where matters rested. The play in 3♦ is most straightforward … K♠ lead won by the Ace, draw trumps, play on Clubs, eventually setting up the 13th Club for a Heart pitch. Making 5! The only way that the defense can hold Declarer to 10 tricks is if West leads Hearts on the go, establishing the defense’s Heart trick before the Clubs are set up … a most unlikely defense!
Back to the bidding. We had an editorial dispute about East’s role in this auction. “What role?” you ask, “He didn’t play one!” Precisely, but perhaps he should have done! East does have a pretty miserable hand, but he is White versus Red with 3-card support, and we hope that he was at least tempted to bid 2♠ over 1NT and then having failed to do so, that he was further tempted to try 3♠ later. If he had succumbed to one of these temptations he would have given his partner a chance to show off his Declarer skills, please see Play Problem # 117.
Normally, with a weak hand and 8 Clubs, a preempt of 4♣ would be enough, but here it is White versus Red, which is usually a good excuse to kick it up a notch. North did well not to bid 6♣, that would have been a shot in the dark. 5♣ makes just 11 tricks when West finds the obvious K♥ lead (and probably also if West doesn’t find that lead, unless South is a compulsive gambler and decides to risk her contract for an overtrick.
Suppose that South opens just 4♣. Now, as West, we would hazard a Double (and we use the word “hazard” advisedly), and, one way or the other, N-S will end up in the same 5♣ contract.
North almost has a perfect hand for Roman Key Card, if Partner has two Key Cards and the Q♠ that may well be enough. But there is one small snag … if Partner has 3 small Hearts there will be an inescapable loser in the suit. One possibility is for North to trot out Blackwood and, given the right answer, to take a shot at 6♠, banking on the Q♥ or doubleton Heart with Partner. The featured North went the cue-bidding route, for more on which please see the Bidding Quiz.
Nothing to the play, East leads his 4th best Diamond and it’s 12 tricks.
In E-W’s Two Over One style, West’s first bid was the Forcing No Trump. Forced to say something, Opener’s prescribed rebid with that 4-5-1-3 shape is 2♣, but we really couldn’t bring ourselves to make that call. That magnificent 5-card suit looks almost like six, surely more descriptive than rebidding those moldy Clubs.
With 11 opposite 11, 2NT would usually be plenty high enough, but here Declarer has all of the Tens (the unsung heroes of so many NT contracts!), to say nothing of that most obliging major suit distribution.
South leads a Spade and Declarer’s Ace takes South’s King. Now when the Hearts break 3-3 Declarer can count 9 tricks. There are some obscure lines which might lead to 10 tricks (see below) but we predict 9 at most tables.
With careful play, North can be put under pressure in the end-game. We are not convinced that the following line should be attempted in actual play, but the ending is most pretty and well worth a look: Spade to the King and Ace Finesse the Spade Ten Club to the Jack and Queen Spade return, won by the Queen Cash 5 Hearts, pitching 3 Diamonds from Declarer's hand On the run of the Hearts North must find two pitches and is squeezed in three suits. The first pitch of a Spade is painless enough but the second pitch will be fatal to the defense. Here is the position, with one Heart left to play: North ♠ J ♥ ♦ K7 ♣ 93 Declarer Dummy ♠ ♠ 3 ♥ ♥ 6 ♦ QT6 ♦ 2 ♣ A4 ♣ T8 South ♠ ♥ ♦ AJ9 ♣ K6
When Dummy's last Heart is played, North is done for: - If North pitches a Spade, Declarer gets another Spade trick - If North pitches a low Diamond, she gets thrown in with a Diamond … now she can cash a Spade, but must then concede two Club tricks at the end - If North jettisons her K♦ (nice try!), a Diamond towards the Queen scores the extra trick - If North pitches a Club, Declarer leads the Club Ten from Dummy to score 2 Club tricks. It's a variation of the Guard Squeeze.
“Down one is good bridge” they say, which is no doubt why N-S competed to 2♠. And perhaps why East went on to 3♦. Also down one!
5NT was the Grand Slam Force, a bid that we get to use only two or three times a year. Here it puts in one of those rare appearances, as North makes the asking bid about Partner’s trump holding … West is being instructed to bid 7♠ if he holds two of the top three trump honors.
Against 7♠, suppose that North optimistically lays down the A♥. Now Declarer has 13 tricks provided that the Diamonds break 3-2, but it’s not a good idea to rely on that. So, at Trick Two, Declarer lays down the K♠ and gets the news about 4-0 trump break, finesses a Spade, ruffs another Heart, cashes AK♣ (pitching a Diamond), ruffs a Club, draws trump, and claims 13 tricks. Ruffing the second Heart was an unnecessary precaution on the actual lie of the cards, but still the correct way to play the hand.
Suppose next that North has more respect for East’s bidding, and does not start with the A♥, but instead tries a minor suit card. Nice lead! But Declarer can still prevail, he’ll give up on Heart ruffs and ruff out the Clubs instead, eventually scoring: 4 rounds of trumps 2 Club ruffs in his own hand 3 Club tricks (AK and the long Club) 4 Diamond tricks
After the E-W transfer auction fizzles out, South may have been tempted to balance with 3♣. That would be quite a bold effort on such a shapeless hand, but might work out quite well on the actual deal … it’s unlikely to get doubled (down two), so West must save the day by bidding on to 3♠. Should he? Perhaps. He doesn’t have the 4th Spade, but he does have almost half of his HCP’s in the suit, and a ruffing value in their Club suit.
Playing in Spades, Declarer makes 9 tricks easily enough. If the defense attacks with trumps, trying to stop the Club ruff on the board, then Declarer counters by going after Hearts at Trick Two. And if the defense starts with Clubs, then Declarer does get his Club ruff.
This board will afford some tables with the opportunity for a coffee break. It turns out that it is N-S who need to get into the bidding, they are the pair that can actually make something. South may well try a light 3rd seat opening, which will probably get them to 1NT for +90. And if South does open, and E-W compete to 2♥, then you can be sure that North will be doubling her vulnerable opponents in search of the magic +200 (she may well get +500!).
After West's 1NT opening, East did not have quite enough to make a game invitation but he was planning to use Stayman anyway, with the intention of passing West's response whatever it was. But North got in the way with a 2♣ DONT bid, showing Clubs and another suit. Now East’s Double was Stayman, for more on which please see the Bidding Quiz.
2♦ will usually make 8 tricks unless the defense makes the mistake of setting up Declarer’s 13th Heart before they set up their own Spade tricks, in which case it will be 9 for Declarer.
As it happens, N-S can make no fewer than 10 tricks in Clubs and yet they defended 2♦. Where did they go wrong? Well, maybe they didn’t! It’s not always possible to get to the winning contract … North did plenty just by getting into the auction and South has a weak and square hand with no reason to go to the 3-level vulnerable. Anyway, 4♣ is a lucky contract … trade the red Kings and the black Queens between the E-W hands and defense gets six tricks against a Club contract, not three.
North could have gone either way with his 12-point hand … invite with 2NT (an invitation which would have been graciously declined) or just bid game.
3NT is a touch-and-go affair. West leads the T♣, won by Declarer’s King. If the K♦ is onside and the suit breaks 3-3 or 4-2 with the doubleton Nine, then 9 tricks can be made. Another possibility is the on-side A♥ to compensate for a losing Diamond finesse. But there are problems untangling Declarer’s tricks, and the simple line seems to be to cash a second Club, cross to A♠ and run the Q♦. West does well to duck, so the best that Declarer can now do is to cash the Club, and run the J♦. This leads to a speedy down one. There are other more successful lines, of course, but they do not seem particularly convincing to us.
Notwithstanding the vulnerability, it would be somewhat feeble for North to sell out to 2♠, and we like North’s balancing Double, even though it is not without risk, especially against trigger-happy opponents.
Against 2♠, West could try leading the A♣, hoping to arrange for a Club ruff. All works as planned when East has the A♥ as an entry to give West that ruff, but this is a most friendly defense indeed, leading to 9 easy tricks for Declarer (trumps are drawn in two rounds and the Q♥ gets ruffed out).
The defense does better not to get their Club ruff. Let’s say that West leads a Heart won by East’s Ace … now a Diamond shift won by West (South playing the Ten), and a trump shift after which normal play should lead to 8 tricks only (though, once again, an extra trick is available double dummy).
A few points on the auction: - East’s vulnerable 1♦ overcall was a little ragged but not completely crazy - South’s Double showed both majors (the most common treatment nowadays, but there was a time when it was common for 1♥ or 1♠ to show a 5-card suit, and therefore the Negative Double could be made with just one 4-card major) - West’s 1NT was around 8-11 HCP’s (it’s advisable to play higher range than one would opposite an opening bid) - North’s Double showed a good hand, no doubt around 18-19 given the failure to open 1NT originally)
It looks as if the defense might have 5 easy tricks, via 3 Spades, a Club and a Diamond, but one of them will go away if East leads a minor suit. Suppose that East avoids that trap and leads a trump. Declarer might try leading a Spade now (the Eight would be most likely to create confusion in the defensive ranks), looking for all the world like someone who is trying to organize a ruff or two in his hand. West wins, naively continues trumps, North exits the J♠, and now West is on auto-pilot and exits a third trump. Oops! Now North exits with another Spade and suddenly East is end-played in the minors. He did well not to lead one originally, but his Partner’s sleepy defense has forced him to do so in the end-game. But full marks to North for giving West a chance to go wrong … if she had merely drawn trumps before playing on Spades West would have had no option but to shift to a minor and collect the defense’s 5th trick.
West could have used Michaels here over 1♥, cue-bidding 2♥ to show Spades and a minor. But that would not have been a good idea, the Spades are just so much better than the Clubs, both longer and stronger. So, instead, West decided to bid Spades, Clubs, Spades, being quite prepared to bid unassisted all the way up to 3♠ if necessary. A worthy plan but it almost became derailed when East (reasonably enough) passed 3♣. South (also reasonably) saved the day (for E-W!) by bidding on to 3♥ and letting West bid Spades again.
In Spades, the most fortunate trump position allows 10 tricks to roll in.
“Law of Total Tricks” purists might cringe but there is something to be said for a 1♥ overcall instead of the Double. After all, Partner is a passed hand, E-W might well end up defending, and in that case a Heart is the lead devoutly to be wished. Yes, West’s 2♥ was quite a stretch! North’s Double was a Support Double (3-card support for Spades). How about East’s 3♥? Purely obstructive, with a hand that wanted to try for game there were various other bids available (cue-bid or Redouble, to be more precise).
E-W were out of their depth at the 3-level but N-S had no way of knowing. Sometimes down two is also good bridge, at least if the opponents don’t double. It turns out that N-S can make 10 tricks in Diamonds, and, somewhat surprisingly, are even cold for 3NT. So, 3♥ down two for -100 will be a terrific E-W result!
Well, here we are at the halfway point of this set and this is already the 11th part-score! The good news is that there are some actual game contracts just around the corner.
Would you have invited with the West hand? We don’t think so, it’s not much of an 8-count, that doubleton KQ♠ is a most unattractive feature.
On this uninformative auction most players would start with the T♥, we suspect, a reasonably safe-looking lead, and also a potentially attacking lead. Who could ask for more? Well, certainly not Declarer, he’ll love the lead and wrap up 8 easy tricks (he’ll win the Heart with the Jack, exit with the Q♥, and later finesse the Heart Eight).
We like 4♠, plain and simple. North does not have an over-abundance of defense (except against Hearts!) and he does great offense, to say nothing of good trump fillers. We’d say that the lack of an 8th Spade is nothing more than a trivial detail! In fact, we would rather open 1♠ than 3♠.
Against 4♠, East will no doubt lead the K♦. It seems that North is destined to score 10 tricks one way or the other, one line being: K♦ opening lead, winning the trick Spade shift, won by Dummy’s Ace Heart misguessed, the Jack losing to the Queen Spade back, Dummy’s Jack overtaken by Declarer Draw the last enemy trump Club finesse A♣, pitching a Heart Now a Heart lead towards the King secures the 10th trick.
North had an awkward problem when 1NT got back to her. She had a good hand and did not want to sell out to 1NT, but Double did not look particularly appealing with a singleton Diamond. In the circumstances, 2♣ was a reasonable enough guess, intended as natural even though the suit was already bid by the other side. Having shown some restraint in the previous bidding, South could conceal her 6-card Spade suit no longer. North invited game and South declined.
On the lie of the cards, game is possible, but we would bet that the pairs who managed to get 10 tricks and +170 will score better than average. Here’s a line of play for 10 tricks: Spade lead, won by Dummy’s Ace Cash A♥ Ruff a Heart Lose a Diamond to East K♣ (knocking out Dummy’s entry before long Heart set up) won by the Ace Heart ruff Diamond ruff Heart ruff Diamond ruff Heart winner, ruffed and overruffed The defense can stop Dummy from scoring that second Diamond ruff by returning a trump at Trick Five, but that leaves a Club entry on the board which can be used later to reach the established long Heart. In that case, Declarer scores one less trump trick but wins an extra Heart trick as compensation. Ten tricks either way.
North’s 3NT does not show any specific point range, just a good hand with lots of tricks (invariably a long minor). East leads the T♥, and that is the end of that … down two when the defense scores 4 Hearts and two Aces before North can run her Diamonds.
We don’t fault North’s bidding here, but things would have worked out better if she had rebid 3♣ … now South is pretty much end-played into bidding 3NT and from that side the contract turns out to be cold … West leads a low Heart, won by East’s Queen, but now the suit is blocked!
A straightforward auction to the obvious spot, and played from the right side. On the previous board, with Jxx opposite Ax in our weak suit, we found out that it was preferable to declare from the Jxx side. But here, with JTx opposite Ax, it is far preferable to declare from the Ax side! One line of play for 10 tricks: Spade lead to the Jack, King, Ace Cash the top Hearts Lose a Heart Win the Diamond return with the Ace Low Spade (risky but reasonable) to South’s Queen Yes, playing that second round of Spades risked the contract but was a reasonable way of playing for the overtrick, it would only backfire if North started with ♠KQ and if she had chosen to false-card at Trick One with the K♠. Of course, this play would be almost risk-free if N-S are playing “2nd highest from four small” leads and South’s opening lead had been the Two.
Double Dummy Note: Deep Finesse says that Declarer can make 11 tricks, and so he can, but only in most obscure fashion. Declarer wins the Spade, leads a Heart to the Ace, low Heart to South’s Jack (keeping North off lead to avoid Diamond shift), Q♠ is cashed, then out a Spade, and on the run of the Hearts South is squeezed in the minors!
SAYC Note: Opposite the 1♥ opening SAYC players will have an easy 2♦ bid, and the auction might proceed as follows: West North East South 1♥ Pass 2♦ Pass 3♣ Pass 3♦ Pass 3♠ Pass 3NT Pass 4NT Pass Pass Pass 3♣ is game-forcing, 3♠ is trying for 3NT, and 4NT is not Ace-asking, simply a hand with substantial extras.
East’s Double was a so-called “pre-balancing Double”, please see the Bidding Quiz.
3♣ is not a happy contract, made even unhappier by the fact that 2♠ was destined to go down one trick. The best that Declarer can hope for is 8 tricks, and even that could take some doing. For example, on a Spade lead: Spade to the Queen and the Ace Ruff a Spade Heart to the King Ruff a Spade Exit a Heart to South’s Ace A♣ Club to Dummy’s King Exit a Heart to North’s Jack Another Heart cashed, Declarer pitching a Spade Declarer has postponed the Diamond guess as he tries to get a fix on the opponents’ hands. By now, North will have shown up with just 3 HCP’s (QJ♥), and probably needs the A♦ for her 2♠ bid (with ♠ xxx, ♥ QJxx, ♦ Qxxx, ♣ xxx she would surely have used a Forcing No Trump auction to slow things down). So, when North now leads a crafty low Diamond, Declarer rises confidently with the Ace and gets out for down one.
This transfer auction is likely to be repeated many times, and the end result will be 8 or 9 tricks. The dangerous-looking Club lead is the winner … West later gets in with the A♠ and can get to Partner’s hand twice for Club ruffs. We don’t think that this will happen at many tables and would expect to see more +140’s than +110’s.
It turns out that E-W can make 3♥, but it was difficult for them to get into the auction. But making 3♥ turns out to be an interesting Declarer problem, please see Play Problem # 118.
North’s 3♣ was forcing (for one round), not an attempt to play in Clubs. Ostensibly, it was a game try, though in fact North was always going at least to game, and was actually harboring fond hopes of slam. However, she gave up when South replied only 3♥.
The play in 4♥ could be quite subtle. Suppose that East’s opening lead is the Q♦, won by Declarer’s King. Declarer can score 12 tricks if she can guess to drop the doubleton off-side Q♣. Is there any good reason why she should? Maybe. There are only 11 missing HCP’s and East no doubt has most of them for his vulnerable overcall. But that’s still pretty slim evidence, no reason why East could not have 9 HCP’s and West the Q♣. Time to accumulate more evidence. After winning the first trick, Declarer draws three rounds of trumps, ending in her hand and leads a low Spade to Dummy’s Ace and out a Spade, won by West's Queen. This information reduces East’s maximum point-count to 9, and if he doesn’t have the Q♣ then he’ll be further reduced to 7. We’d say that the odds now favor playing for the drop of the Q♣ rather than playing for the on-side Q♣ with a 3-3 break (the break is necessary for the 12th trick).
West’s raunchy Weak Two got punished when East boosted it up a level and South was able to pass North’s second take-out Double. The defense gets 7 easy tricks via ♠AK, ♣AK, for +500, enough to beat those N-S pairs who bid game, but not the few who might bid and make a slam.
Suppose that West goes quietly for a change and declines to open 2♥. It’s unlikely that N-S will get to 6♦, and they probably don’t want to anyway, it’s less that 50% (needs some luck in Spades and Diamonds). The result at most tables will surely be 4♠ making 11 tricks.
This one looks like +420 for N-S all around the room. True, 3NT makes the same 10 tricks, but nobody bids that when they have a 9-card major fit.
Is North allowed to bid 3♥ in this situation? Probably not, that 2♥ bid shows weakness, South could have inquired about Hearts via New Minor Forcing with invitation values. Even so, North must have been sorely tempted with her super-maximum!
Against a Heart contract, the defense cashes three rounds of Clubs and shifts to a Spade. Declarer’s best line now appears to be to cross to hand with a trump and finesse the T♦, which sets up the Diamond suit for 9 tricks. On the actual lie of the cards, the Diamonds would also set up by playing a Diamond to the King because the J♦ comes down in 3 rounds, but this is an inferior line of play.
East might well have bid game on this hand but his 12-count is somewhat diminished by that doubleton ♣AJ, that Jack would be more useful in the trump suit, of course. East’s caution was both right and wrong … right when you consider that a Club lead beats 4♠ … wrong when it turns out that North might well lead the K♥, setting up this line of play: K♥ lead, won by Declarer’s Ace Cross to the A♦ Spade to the King and Ace North cashes the Q♥ Belated Club shift won by the Ace Q♠ cashed Run the Diamonds, pitching a Club Making 10 tricks! Yes, North could have done better by ducking the A♠, holding Declarer to 9 tricks, but that play would look most foolish if it turned out that Declarer had the K♣ instead of the Q♠!
East was close to a slam try on this hand but wisely chose to settle for game. Against 3NT North leads a Heart, and Declarer can count 9 sure tricks … three in Hearts and two in each of the other suits. There is the prospect of an extra trick or two in any one of the following ways: - In Spades by leading towards the Jack, gaining an extra trick in the suit whenever the Q♠ is with North or the suit is 3-3 (combined 70% chance) - In Diamonds by cashing the Ace and leading towards the QJ, gaining an extra trick in the suit whenever South has the King or the suit is 3-3 (69%) - In Clubs if the suit is 3-3 or North has QJ or South has singleton honor (56%)
Declarer does not need to be armed with the precise probabilities to realize that Spades and Diamonds are more promising than the Clubs when it comes to building the 10th and maybe 11th trick, but alas for Declarer it turns out that the longer shot Club suit is the only one that works. We’d be a trifle sympathetic if Declarer embarked on this unlucky line of play: Heart lead won by the Jack Cash A♦ Low Diamond to the Queen, craftily ducked by North Low Spade to the Jack and Queen Heart to Dummy’s King Low Diamond, South shows out and Declarer says “Rats!” Yes, despite holding a combined 32 points, Declarer has held himself to a mere 9 tricks. Obviously, he could have got a 10th by playing on Clubs instead but that was anti-percentage. However, we did say a “trifle” sympathetic, but no more than that because if Declarer had foreseen the danger of that devilish Diamond duck he would have made one more trick … he should lead twice towards the QJ♦ without cashing the Ace first … this stops North from being able to cash two Diamonds and gives Declarer the chance to try Clubs as well, as in this line: Heart lead won by the Jack Low Diamond to the Queen, again craftily ducked by North Low Spade to the Jack and Queen Heart to Dummy’s King Another Diamond, which North must win Diamond continuation won by the Ace Spade to the Ace Losing finesse of the T♣ Now Declarer has lost two tricks, and has 9 winners … there’s nothing extra coming from the 4-2 Spade suit, but the 3-3 break in Clubs provides the 10th trick.
Double Dummy Note: Actually, it was possible to score a 3rd Spade trick, but only in most obscure fashion. In a strangely similar fashion to the Spade suit on Board 1, the extra trick is made if East bizarrely leads the J♠, covered by the Ace … now the King drops the Nine, and the 87 are good for one more trick!
A simple auction to a normal contract, but with every card off-side this one is going down big-time. North’s misery might unfold thusly: J♦ won by Declarer’s King Losing Heart finesse Club shift, the finesse losing to the King Club to Declarer’s Ace Cash A♠ Cash three rounds of Hearts Losing Spade finesse West cashes A♦ Now, a Club and East claims the rest! Down three! It was too bad for Declarer that the E-W hands were not reversed. If they had been, then she would score 11 tricks instead of just 6!
We’d have to say that West’s game try of 2NT was pretty marginal, at least for a pairs game, and the parlous final contract reflected that optimism. But this time fortune favors the brave when trumps break 3-2 with the Ace on-side, the Diamond finesse works, and the AJ♣ are where they need to be. Making no fewer than 11 tricks on a hand where we’d expect half the field to miss game.
Even though they did not get to the magic spot of 3NT, we would have to say that N-S acquitted themselves rather well in the featured auction. North’s first Double was penalty-oriented, announcing that she thought her side had the balance of power. The second Double was more optional in nature, a balancing Double made in the hopeful expectation that esteemed Partner would make the right decision. South did indeed make a reasonable decision by bidding 2♥ (2♠ would have worked, too, but the real winner of 2NT was not feasible without a Diamond stopper) as defending 2♦ doubled would be good for just +100. South reasoned that North would be unlikely to place her with 4 Hearts, with such a hand South would no doubt have bid 2♥ on the previous round of bidding.
In 2♥ the defense will normally score a trick in each suit, but there is a double dummy line of defense to get a 5th trick … low Diamond opening lead and Spade shift, setting up a trump promotion on the 3rd round of Spades.
It turns out that 3NT also makes, thanks to the fortunate lie of the cards, but even playing in just a No Trump part-score for +150 will no doubt score well for N-S
Nowadays, many pairs (such as those who play DONT) do not have a penalty Double of 1NT available, which may be just as well on this hand as it will remove the temptation from North to make a poor bid! No, we do not like a penalty Double of 1NT here, it’s not quite good enough. Anyway, E-W should have an uninterrupted auction to 2NT or 3NT via Stayman. In fact, in the featured auction, both players were quite close to bidding 3NT … East with his 9-count was borderline between inviting and bidding game directly … and although West was minimum in terms of HCP’s, he did have 3 Aces (cards which are short-changed in the 4-3-2-1 point scheme) and a couple of lovely Tens, and should at least have thought about accepting.
Against 2NT or 3NT, North will lead the K♥, South will encourage with the Eight, and Declarer will duck. Now, North must continue with a low Heart to avoid blocking the suit, but will it be obvious that Partner holds the Ten? Yes, it should be! The missing spot will be the Five … Partner would not encourage with 85 doubleton, and she cannot have the singleton 8 because Declarer has denied a 4-card major. So, a low Heart at Trick Two is clearly the right play.
At Trick Three, North has another decision to make when a low Diamond is led towards the board. To split or not to split? North knows that Partner probably has exactly one HCP (Declarer likely has 15 for his bidding) and it might be the J♦ … how embarrassing if that Jack were singleton! So North smoothly plays low, the Ten wins the trick, next comes A♦, then a Diamond to North’s King, followed by the cashing of the Hearts. Now North is end-played in the black suits … even if she gets out a low Spade and Declarer misguesses by playing low, there’s no escaping the squeeze when the Diamond is cashed. A pretty end to an interesting set of boards!
© BES, Inc All Rights Reserved | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Home Hand Analyses Bidding Quizzes Play Problems System Library | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
