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Hand Analyses 24th January, 2007
North’s square 8-count is not enough for an invitation and neither of the E-W players have any reason to get involved. Against 3NT West leads a low Spade to the Ace, Declarer ducks the second round, then wins her K♠. She can now cross to the Q♦, lead a Heart to the King, then lead a Club towards the board, winding up with 8 tricks.
Last week we had a couple of boards where it paid to open 1NT holding a 5-card major. But not on this board. If South opens 1♥ instead, she’ll no doubt end up in 2♥, and will score 9 tricks. For example: Spade to the Ace Spade to Declarer’s King Three rounds of Diamonds, pitching a Spade Heart to the King Club towards the board, but West hops up with the Ace Club to Dummy’s Queen Heart to East’s Ace Club ruff If West is dozing during the defense and fails to play that A♣ then it will be 10 tricks, of course.
We don’t mind admitting that we have no idea whether it is better to pass 2♣ or bid 2♠. But be assured that we did not make our indecision lightly, there was much thought involved: - We’d expect North usually to have 6 Clubs in this situation, but there is no guarantee on that. - We can be sure that Partner has a maximum of 2 Spades, she has learned that it is important to “support with support”, especially so when there is a major involved. - Then again, our Spade suit is rather fine, the 5-2 or 5-1 fit does not rate to be a disaster. - However, Partner’s hand might not be so useful in Spades, all those little Clubs won’t be scoring tricks. - On the other hand, it is matchpoints, and majors score higher than minors … - … but they only score higher when the contract actually makes.
Alright, enough of that, make your own pick. If you chose 2♠ you will likely be the winner on this board. We’d guess that West will lead the Q♦ against that contract, and now it’s an easy matter for Declarer to score two Diamonds, a Diamond ruff, 4 trumps and the K♥ for 8 tricks. Nicely bid!
Next, suppose that you bid 2♠ and West found the unspeakably diabolical start of A♠ and another Spade. Rats! There goes the Diamond ruff in the short hand, and you are back to 7 tricks. Where’s the eighth? The only chance is a large slice of luck in the Diamond suit. After finishing trumps, you lead a Diamond towards the board … West must split his honors and you win the King, then run the Ten around to West’s other quack … now with the fall of the Nine from the East hand on the third round of the suit, the Eight sets up! Nicely played!
Finally, if South lets Partner play it in 2♣, she is destined to go down one, which does nothing to convince us that 2♠ is the “right” call.
South’s 10-point opening and North’s minimum 1NT almost talked E-W out of their game, but they finally stumbled into 3NT.
For the play in this one, please see Play Problem # 121.
South might have bid 1NT, suppressing the 4-card Spade suit because of the square hand, for more on that please see the Bidding Quiz.
Against 2♠, West might try a Heart opening lead, won by East’s King. Then a Heart to the Ace, Spade finesse to West’s Ace and the J♦ shift won by Declarer’s Ace. Because of the ruff threats, Declarer does best now to lay down the A♠, and when the Queen drops she is just a Diamond guess away from making 9 tricks.
Double Dummy Department Deep Finesse tells us that this contract can be held to 7 tricks, and here is the winning defense: J♦ opening lead, low from Dummy, won by the Ace Club to West’s Ace Heart shift to East’s King East cashes the K♦ Heart to Dummy’s Ace Spade to the Jack and West’s Ace Diamond ruff Heart ruff.
Against 4♠, East will lead a minor, probably the 9♦. West will win the A♦, and will conclude that Declarer is unlikely to have 5 Diamonds on this bidding, and that Partner’s Diamond lead is more likely to be top of a sequence. So, West will shift to the K♣, hoping to establish a Club trick. But all to no avail, it’s 11 tricks for Declarer on any defense.
Should West have got involved in the bidding? Please see the Bidding Quiz.
East’s 1♣ opening bid initially keeps South out of the auction, but she later competes up to 3♣, mercifully undoubled. It turns out to be one of those hands which is embarrassing for both sides after South goes down 3 tricks. South wonders “Why did I bid so much?” (though we don’t blame her, she needs next to nothing from Partner to make 8 or 9 tricks but did not even get that much), and E-W wonder why they did not double (it’s far from obvious that they should).
North has a most difficult hand to bid and in the featured auction she flouts conventional wisdom … after preempting with 4♥ she would normally be expected to keep quiet for the rest of the auction, but here she ends up taking another call. Not exactly kosher, perhaps, but she was in an awkward situation. For more on this fascinating hand, please see the Bidding Quiz.
Declarer makes 11 tricks in her Heart contract. If the defense leads the K♠, they will score a Club and a Spade … if West makes the unlikely lead of the A♣ he can give Partner a ruff, but that comes at the expense of the Spade trick, so it’s 11 tricks either way.
Trap for the Unwary Suppose that we are declaring some number of Hearts. West leads the K♠ which we win with the Ace. We can see that we will make 10 or 11 tricks, depending upon whether Hearts are 2-2 or 3-1. So, now we cash the AK♥ and let’s suppose that they split 3-1. Does that mean it’s 10 tricks? No, alas, we have just been unwary! We cannot get back to our hand to take our Diamond ruffs on the board. The opponents will get in before we can get back to our hand and they will cash their outstanding trump and deprive Dummy of one of its ruffs, holding us to 9 tricks. To avoid that ignominy we must ruff a Diamond at Trick Two, cross back to hand on a trump, and ruff another Diamond. It’s one of those simple plays that are sometimes overlooked in the heat of battle.
Perhaps that 3♠ limit raise was something of a stretch, the hand would be much more appealing if that singleton K♦ were in a longer suit. For example, put it in with the Hearts and 4♠ is a fine contract indeed. As it is, the A♣ must be on-side, and, with trumps 3-1, Declarer must somehow build a Heart trick. North will not have a stand-out lead, and might well try the T♥ … two Hearts are cashed by the defense, then a third round which Declarer ruffs high … trumps are drawn and the Club situation saves Declarer’s bacon.
Bergen Note Playing standard methods, we’d say that the East hand is something between a 2♠ bid and 3♠ bid, and that’s exactly what the Bergen constructive raise is. Playing Bergen raises, opposite a 1♥ or 1♠ opening bid, bids of 3♣ and 3♦ are used to show 4-card raises … one is a 4-card “constructive” raise (just below a limit raise, so East’s actual hand here would qualify) and the other a 4-card limit raise. Using the method, West would be borderline as to whether to go to game or not opposite a constructive raise.
We like the E-W auction (please see the Bidding Quiz), even though the final contract may be somewhat perilous. To see how East makes 3NT on a Spade lead, please see Play Problem # 122.
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