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Hand Analyses 17th January, 2007
Would you open the North hand? Those 11-point hands with 5-4 distribution certainly pass the Rule of Twenty but this one does not pass the rule of common-sense in our opinion, too many flaws, please see the Bidding Quiz.
In the E-W sequence, how do you play East’s 2♠ bid? The two most common interpretations are: - Weak: Typically 5-4 in the majors … East was hoping that Partner had a 4-card major and when that turns out not to be the case, he elects to play in 2♠ - Invitational: Same type of distribution but with a better hand.
Our own preference is for the latter treatment, but in fact we’d bid the hand the same way using either method! If East is using the invitational approach then his sequence is a slight overbid, but worth trying anyway as it maximizes the chances of playing in the right major.
In 2♠, notwithstanding the 5-1 trump break, Declarer can scramble 8 tricks easily enough. He has 5 side-suit tricks, and the K♠, and a Club ruff for 7 tricks, after which the brute strength of his J98 against South’s AT65 will be good enough for one more. It turns out that Diamonds is the place to be (worth 10 tricks) but that’s not going to be found after the 1NT opening.
N-S might have competed in Clubs, either via a dubious opening bid by North or a DONT bid by North, and once they have found their fit they are likely to push on to the 3-level, perhaps via this auction: West North East South Pass Pass Pass 1NT 2♣ Dbl 3♣ ?? East’s Double was Stayman, and E-W are now destined for a bad board unless West can be a hero twice over. First, he must speculatively double 3♣. Then, when East leads a Club (as prescribed by the auction), West can cash a second Club if he likes but must then shift to Hearts, ensuring that Partner does not get end-played in the majors later on … down two for an heroic +300 and a top board!
South leads a Spade to North’s Jack and Declarer’s King. One route to instant defeat is for Declarer to play AK♦ and out a Diamond, losing two Diamonds, two Spades, and the A♣. As North is the “danger hand” it’s surely better to play on Clubs first by crossing to the A♥ and running the 7♣. When this holds, Declarer continues Clubs until North wins his Ace. At this point, it seems natural enough for North to persist with Spades, allowing Declarer to score a second trick in the suit, and 10 altogether … the way for the defense to hold Declarer to 9 tricks is for North to shift to the Q♦, allowing the defense to set up their 4th trick in Diamonds, before Declarer gets his 10th trick in Spades. Not an obvious shift, by any means.
Back to the bidding. If you are wondering why East did not rebid 1♠, it was because the E-W pair were playing Walsh-style. Using this method, West would not bother to bid his Diamond suit if he had a 4-card major, unless his hand was of game-forcing strength. So, East can safely suppress his own 4-card major, safe in the knowledge that Partner cannot have a major unless is going to bid again over 1NT.
North’s 4♠ was a discouraging bid, the Principle of Fast Arrival at work. How much would North need to make a more encouraging 3♠ bid? That’s a partnership choice, of course, our own style is that we would not bid 4♠ with any hand that contained a first- or second-round control … yes, even holding ♠ xxxx, ♥ xxxx, ♦ x, ♣ xxxx we would show some signs of life (on this hand via a 4♦ Splinter). If that was the N-S style in the featured auction, then South would have no qualms about passing 4♠, notwithstanding her 26 HCP’s.
In 4♠, West does best to lead a trump, and Declarer can now count 10 tricks. She has no entries to the board for the Diamond finesse, but gets her 10th trick by playing Diamonds from her hand and scoring a ruff on the board. Can Declarer do better? Yes, but only by risking the contract. Try this exotic line of play: Win the trump lead Lead the K♣, West ducking (otherwise it will be twelve tricks!) Low Club to West’s Ace Trump continuation Cash A♦ Lead the Diamond Queen to East’s King! This line of play risks everything on the player with the K♦ not holding the last enemy trump. Making 11 tricks as the cards lie, but only 9 if East had owned the last trump.
Congratulations to West on finding that trump lead! On a Heart lead, for example, Declarer can play along similar lines as described above, making 11 tricks without risking the contract.
Pretty cautious bidding by East, he might well have gone straight to game with that hand. Despite that, and the fact that Opener has a maximum with a good fit for Partner, 4♠ has no chance if North leads her singleton Heart, setting up a ruff for the defense. Is this one of those hands where we wish that we were not playing transfers and that we had been able to play this one from the East side? Actually, no! If South is on lead, she can start with the T♣ … if Dummy’s Ace wins that trick, the defense can get a Club ruff … if Declarer lets North win the opening trick, then a Heart shift gets the defense a Heart ruff (though North might well misguess and try to give Partner a Club ruff at Trick Two).
Drury has to be one of the most useful of conventions, we use it opposite a third seat opening (or fourth) to show a fit and a decent hand and to check on the soundness of that opening bid. But, is it on in competition? That’s up to the individual partnership, our own preference is “Yes!”, so, in the featured auction, North’s 2♣ showed Spade support and some values. But, with or without Drury, surely all N-S pairs will zip into 4♠.
If E-W are clever enough to cash their Clubs on the go, they’ll no doubt score 3 tricks, the singleton K♠ being the third. But we would expect most Wests to lead the Q♥ and the play could unfold tragically (for the defense) thusly: Q♥ lead won by Dummy’s Ace K♥ pitching a Club A♦ and ruff a Diamond Club, alertly won by East’s King (though to no avail) Spade shift won by Declarer’s Ace (making sure of the 2nd ruff) Diamond ruff, felling the King Now, Declarer gets back to hand with a ruff, draws trumps, and scores a whopping 12 tricks!
It’s tough to see how N-S can get to the Club slam. North does not have much of a hand, but she does have the right hand … Spade shortness, fitting Diamond honors, and a 4th trump. Congratulations and a top board to any pair that bid this great slam.
How about East’s bidding? Most players will open an AK, A hand, but then he was in an awkward situation after Partner’s Negative Double and North’s 3♣ bid. He wants to show the show the Spade fit (or “likely Spade fit” we should say, West does not promise 4 of them), but does not have the values or the distribution to go to the 3-level. We think that 3♠ was a brave effort, which is a polite way of saying that we would pass 3♣ and hope that Partner can come back in with another Double.
Imaginative Defense Department: Yes, 3♠ by East was perhaps a bit much, but it will go unpunished. However, suppose that South bizarrely doubles 3♠. How do N-S get the 6 tricks and +500 that they need to compensate for their non-vulnerable game? No problem! South underleads his AK♣ getting Partner in to give her a Heart ruff … now she underleads the AK♦ twice to get two more Heart ruffs!
2NT will be a miserable experience for North! Let’s say that East leads a Spade, or a Heart followed by a Spade shift at Trick Two. Declarer’s does best to take her 5 tricks and settle for down three, but she might futilely set up a Club winner instead, cashing the AK and conceding the third round of Clubs. Now, on the run of the Spades she will be squeezed … she’ll pitch the established Club and a Diamond, but on the last Spade she will be forced to part with either a high Diamond or a high Heart, either of which will hold her to just 4 tricks.
North had an awkward choice after 2♥, but fortunately Professor Oddbid came to our rescue. That strange-looking 3♣ was his idea, and we have set out his logic for this in the Bidding Quiz. But like it or not, 3♣ managed to propel N-S to the so-so 3NT contract.
It’s natural for East to lead a low Heart, which offers Declarer some temporary hope. Now, if East has the A♦ and the Q♣, this contract is making. Dummy’s K♥ wins the first trick (West must play the Three, he cannot spare anything higher) and at Trick Two Declarer calls for a low Diamond. West alertly hops up with the Ace and shoots back the T♥ … Declarer may cover this, blocking the suit, but East has the A♠ entry and the defense scores 4 Hearts, plus two Aces, for down two. Unlucky, Professor!
After West comes in with a Double, the winning call for East (at least in theory) is to pass and collect a paltry penalty of +100. But the Pass hardly looks attractive with that hand and we prefer the slight overbid of 2NT, which is where West will play it.
South’s opening lead could quite reasonably be Partner’s suit or one of her own suits. Here’s what happens in each case: - After a Diamond lead, North wins and shifts to Hearts, but it’s too late, Declarer scores a Spade, a Heart, 2 Diamonds and 4 Clubs, for 8 tricks and +120 - After a Spade lead, Declarer prevails by playing on Diamonds, and the defense must be careful not to let Declarer make 9 tricks (they must set up their Spade trick before Dummy’s Heart is established. - After the killing Heart lead, Declarer is in distinct danger of losing 7 tricks for a disastrous -200. We hate to give you a Play Problem where the dispiriting objective is to achieve an average minus by not going down two, but that is exactly what we have done here … please go to Play Problem # 119 to see if you can salvage 7 tricks and avoid a zero.
We wondered what Dr Goodlead’s opening salvo would be, so we called up our old friend and, instead of imperiling our looming deadline with his customary lengthy deliberations, he was for once straight to the point. “Not a Diamond, that’s for sure, so I lead a Heart, at least I can defend this to an irate Partner in the post-mortem … 4th best from my longest and strongest, my dear fellow, it’s in the first Chapter of Opening Leads 101, perhaps I should buy you a copy”.
System Note: Many partnerships extend their use of Lebensohl to cover the Partner of the Doubler of a Weak Two bid. It’s a recommended treatment, but like all gadgets it has a wrinkle or two. One such wrinkle is that some players who use Lebensohl here do not use it when the Double of the Weak Two is in balancing seat, finding the natural treatment more useful. So, we have no way of knowing whether today’s featured East is a neophyte who does not know Lebensohl from a hole in the ground or a sophisticated Super-Scientist who plays Lebensohl except opposite balancing Doubles.
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