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Hand Analyses 31st January, 2007
West’s 1NT was in the 15-18 range, and North intended her Double to show extra values, but there is also another commonly used treatment for more on which please see the Bidding Quiz. After the Double, East had nowhere to go, and apprehensively passed. South did not have enough to leave the Double in, so she bailed out to 2♦, fortuitously catching Partner’s second suit.
It’s an easy enough matter for Declarer to score 9 tricks in a Diamond contract, she simply loses the three obvious black suit tricks, and concedes a trick to the A♥ to establish Dummy’s two tricks in that suit. Is there a way to make 10 tricks? Yes, but only if West started with Axx of Hearts and if trumps are 2-2 … if that’s the case then the A♥ can be ruffed out. However, pursuing this slim chance risks making only 8 tricks, as in this line of play: West cashes A♣ and K♣ Third round of Clubs is ruffed on the board Heart ruff Cross on a Diamond Heart ruff Cross on a Diamond Now, if trumps are 3-1 (presumably West has the 3), Declarer does best to concede a Heart, but then the lead of a 4th round of Spades establishes a 5th defensive trick, one way or another. Suppose next that trumps are 2-2 and Declarer continues her pursuit of 10 tricks … she leads another Heart from the board and ruffs it, which works out great if the Ace comes down, but more often it won’t, and again the defense will come to a 5th trick. All in all, that pursuit of the 10th trick is just not worth it, better to settle for a certain 9.
After a routine Transfer sequence, the defense will take 5 or 6 tricks against the 2♠ contract. Which it is will depend on South’s opening lead. The only way to 6 defensive tricks is for South to start out with a Club, which allows N-S to score their 4 major suit winners, and the K♣, and the Diamond ruff. We don’t see any good reason to make that Club lead, we’d probably lead a trump or maybe a Diamond, either of which hands Declarer his contract.
Although the N-S hands have but a combined 18 HCP’s and no real fit, it turns out that even 4♠ is not such a terrible contract, requiring no more than a Heart finesse (and, on some defenses, with Diamonds 3-3, not even that). What makes the hand for N-S is the way that the minor suits mesh together … swap around North’s Clubs and Diamonds, and now even 2♠ is too high!
Anyway, we’d expect most tables to play this one in 2♠, making 9 tricks when the Heart finesse fails, and the only question here is whether East might have ventured a balancing action, and, if so, what? Please see the Bidding Quiz.
No arguments with this straightforward auction. What would you lead as South against 4♠? Surely this one is a no-brainer, the T♥ is a stand-out, both safe and attacking. It also has the added benefit of being the only lead that beats the contract, setting up two Heart tricks before one of them can be pitched away on minor suit winners. Down one!
A simple enough auction, with 9 tricks available to Declarer. Let’s say that West leads a Spade, and that the defense forces out Declarer’s King. Next the A♥ is knocked out, the defense cashes their Spades, and East shifts to a Club, won by Dummy’s Ace. Now, Dummy’s Q♦ is run around, the Diamonds come in and it’s 9 tricks.
Yes, in the play of the Diamond suit, Declarer had a chance to show off her flawless technique. If Diamonds are 3-2 (with the K♦ onside) then, when Declarer is in Dummy for the first and last time, it is sufficient to run the Q♦ in order to pick up the suit. But suppose that East has K9xx … now there’s nothing to be done, Declarer can score but 3 Diamonds in the absence of another board entry. Finally, suppose that East has Kxxx and West has the singleton Nine. This is where that flawless technique pays dividends! Dummy’s Q♦ is led, East ducks, and Declarer unblocks the Jack! This costs nothing in the 3-2 case, but, if West contributes the singleton Nine on this trick, the thoughtful unblock gets its just reward … now the Eight can be run around, and the whole suit is picked up.
Quite a raunchy preempt, considering the vulnerability, we could very easily do without this one. With or without the preempt, North will end up declaring 4♠ and this makes 11 tricks with ease.
North wisely declines the invitation to game, East leads a Diamond, and Declarer is struggling. Double dummy she can get out for down one, but it’s easy to see how she might wind up down two with normal play.
West has a 4-loser hand which is good enough for a jump shift rebid, but with such a disparity in the suits, he decided to go slow with 1♠. But, either way, 4♠ should be reached, and North will no doubt lead a Heart, leading to this line of play: Heart lead to Dummy’s Ace Q♠ finesse which wins Spade to the Ace, North showing out Cash A♣ K♣ ruffed by South Heart continuation, ruffed by Declarer Declarer continues to play on Clubs and ends up with 11 tricks, losing just two trumps. Can the defense do better? Yes, but only with the improbable opening lead of a Diamond, prematurely knocking out one of Declarer’s entries and making it impossible for him to handle the bad trump break and also set up the Clubs. A Diamond lead holds Declarer to 10 tricks.
Walsh Addendum With moderate values, Walsh players bypass the Diamond suit whenever they have a major to bid, and that would lead to this briefer auction: West North East South 1♣ Pass 1♠ 2♥ 4♠ Pass Pass Pass As usual, the Walsh auction is less informative to the opponents (usually a good thing!) but on this occasion it does not influence the outcome … still a Heart lead, still 11 tricks.
N-S were playing “Inverted Minors”, whereby 2♦ is forcing and showed invitational values or better and denied a 4-card major. South’s 2♥ showed nothing extra, nor even a Heart suit, it was merely telling Partner she had values in the suit.
Against 3NT, West has a normal enough Spade lead which gives Declarer and easy route to 11 tricks thanks to the minor suit finesses. She just needs to get the Heart suit right for 12 tricks.
West’s Spade lead gave Declarer an easy route to 12 tricks, but actually 12 are possible on any lead. Suppose that West cleverly leads a Club, giving nothing away. Now Declarer cashes all of her minor suit winners, ending in her hand (and pitching a Spade on the 5th Diamond). This is the end position: Dummy ♠ 985 ♥ AT ♦ ♣ 9 West East ♠ KJ6 ♥ KJ6 Immaterial ♦ ♣ Declarer ♠ AQ ♥ Q92 ♦ ♣ A At this point, Declarer has 10 top tricks, but the play of the last Club generates two more! If West pitches a Spade, Declarer cashes the A♠ and exits a Spade … this builds a Spade trick and end-plays West in Hearts! If West instead pitches a Heart things are no better … this time, Declarer cashes the A♥ and exits a Heart, which builds a Heart trick and end-plays West in Spades!
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