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Hand Analyses 7th February, 2007
N-S almost stole the pot on this one after South’s light (but not that light) third seat opening. But full marks to East for jumping into the fray at the appropriate moment, and likewise to West for having the self-restraint to pass throughout when holding by far the best hand at the table (at least in terms of HCP’s). For more on the E-W auction, please see the Bidding Quiz.
Against 2♠ South will no doubt lead a Diamond and Dummy’s Ace takes the first trick. Then a Spade to the Ace and another to North’s King. At this point North has a clear Club shift which holds Declarer to 9 tricks … if North is negligent the Club loser goes away on the Diamonds and that will be a well-earned zero for N-S.
At any other vulnerability South would likely have opened 4♥, but Red vs White 3♥ seems like enough to us, and it also turns out to be plenty high enough to cause E-W considerable inconvenience. West’s Double is obvious enough, likewise East’s 4♣, but then what? What does that cue-bid of 4♥ mean? West is trying for slam opposite a hand which has yet to show any values at all (that 4♣ bid promised no points, just Clubs). Our featured East wimped out in 5♣, but perhaps she could have tried 6♣. Not an easy slam to bid in the face of the enemy preempt.
The Club slam is such a good contract that it does not even get derailed by the 5-0 trump break and the losing Diamond finesse. South leads the K♥ won in Dummy, then the A♣ reveals the trump news. Abandoning trumps, Declarer takes the losing Diamond finesse and ruffs the Heart return. This has promoted a natural trump trick for North, but that disappears thanks to a Trump Coup. All that is required is for Declarer to cross to the A♦, come back on a Spade and run the Diamonds … if North ruffs in her trump trick disappears, so she pitches Spades (as does Dummy). Then Spades are cashed, and Declarer’s last high Club. In the three card ending, the lead is with West, North has 954 of Clubs, and East has JT8 of Clubs. Declarer leads a Spade, and North must ruff in ahead of Dummy, losing her trump trick. What the Trump Coup has effectively done is to allow the Club finesse to be taken indirectly. Well done, indeed, if any pair bid that Club slam and then found the Trump Coup!
East might well have bid 2♦ over 1NT, it’s still Michaels in that position, but instead he elected to bid his longer Spade suit first.
Against 4♠, South leads the A♦, and then on the appearance of Declarer’s Queen, shifts to a Club for want of better. At this point, Declarer must establish the Heart side-suit for no losers, and, as is so often the case, best strategy is to tackle the side-suit before drawing trumps. So, Declarer puts his Club Dummy entry to good use by taking the winning Heart finesse … then A♥, ruff a Heart high, and draw trumps … if Hearts had been 4-2, Declarer would have just enough trumps to ruff Hearts high twice, and still cope with the 3-1 trump break.
South’s Double was strength-showing, and West transferred to Spades. 2♠ is an easy enough contract to make, Declarer losing a trick to each of the 5 Key Cards … the potential second Club loser can be parked on the third round of Diamonds.
It was as well that E-W were playing that transfers were on over a Double, because, with West declaring 2♠, North has an obvious T♣ lead which nips 2♠ a trick. Another reminder that it’s generally beneficial for the strong hand to play the contract.
Diabolical Lead Department Yes, 2♠ can be beaten even is South is on opening lead. She must lead a low Club (or the Jack), and then get a Club through Dummy (East) when North is in with the A♦! Not a defense that will be found in real life.
Our own experience is that jumping in over their 1NT with shapeless hands is a hazardous occupation, so we would not fault West’s Pass. Not that 2♠ would necessarily be wrong, it’s very much a matter of style. We are programmed to check our own vulnerability before we jump into the auction, but let’s not forget the opponent’s vulnerability. On this particular hand, a Pass by West has an extra way to win … as the opponents are red, if we can set them by two tricks we’ll beat any part-score we might make. Depending on West’s decision, he’ll end up declaring 2♠ or defending 1NT. In either case he’ll have an opportunity to excel in the play of the hand.
If West declares 2♠ he must guess the trump situation correctly. To see how he turns that guess into a practical certainty, please see Play Problem # 124.
If West defends 1NT he can make a quite beautiful (and difficult) play if he is absolutely at the top of his game. West leads the 8♠ (no, the beautiful play comes later) to East’s King, back comes a Spade to West’s Jack, then the A♠ felling Declarer’s Queen. Now is the time for the terrific play … West leads the Two of Spades, deliberately blocking the suit. East has no choice but to win this 4th round of Spades and make the deadly shift of the Club Ten, setting up at least 3 Clubs to go with the 5 Spades. Great defense for down two and +200! Any other defense and Declarer has 7 tricks.
Those Spade bids created a problem for North and at her second turn she had no sensible bid available. Sure, she could have cue-bid 4♠ but that would just be delaying matters. And what would 4NT be here? Ace-asking or Roman Key Card? Some partnerships play that it is always Key Card in the agreed suit, and if there is no agreed suit (as here) then 4NT is Key Card in the last bid suit (Clubs here). Anyway, 4NT wouldn’t help much either so North makes the practical bid of 6♣. Sometimes (often even) science must go out of the window. There’s nothing to the play in 6♣, it’s a claimer.
Just as on the previous board, E-W did a lot of bidding on slender values, and again they caused problems for N-S. South would have loved to show her second 5-card suit over 2♥ but was afraid that bidding 3♣ would overstate her hand. If she had been playing the Good-Bad 2NT she would nave had no such qualms! Please see the Bidding Quiz.
Against 5♦ West leads the J♥ won by Declarer’s Ace, and the question is this: “Should Declarer take the Spade finesse in order to pitch his Heart loser?” Assuming that the Clubs can be ruffed out, if she doesn’t finesse the Spade she’ll make 11 tricks … if she takes the winning Spade finesse it’s an overtrick … but if she takes a losing Spade finesse she’s down one in a cold contract! In practice, if South leads the Q♠ at Trick Two, then 99% of bridge players on this planet will cover with the King and the problem is solved. So, even though the evidence (from the bidding and the opening lead) strongly suggests that the K♠ is with West, if West heroically plays low on the Q♠ we would chicken out and go up with the Ace, playing to make our contract and giving up on the overtrick.
The classic Responsive Double situation is in an auction such as: West North East South Pass Pass 1♦ Dbl 3♦ Dbl This Double shows both majors (with just one North would bid it). It’s also common to play North’s Double in the featured auction as Responsive, and in this situation (with only two unbid suits) it’s more analogous to a Negative Double. So, using that analogy, South should confidently expect her Partner to have 4 Spades, and her 3♠ bid was a reasonable enough guess for the final contract.
Against 3♠, if West leads a Club the defense gets 4 fast tricks, but if the defense starts by cashing Diamonds the Diamond ruff in the short hand will be Declarer’s 10th trick.
E-W were playing Texas Transfers as well as Jacoby, and so were able to make a distinction between going to 4♥ directly (via Texas), or going there indirectly (via Jacoby). For more on this, please see the Bidding Quiz, for the time being let’s just say that West’s decision to use Jacoby and then jump to 4♥ was, by partnership agreement, a slam try. East was happy to cooperate, and, after some cue-bidding had established that there were no suits with two quick losers, the good slam was reached.
What would you lead as South? The cue-bidding was quite informative, with West showing a control in Clubs and East showing a Heart card and implying a Diamond card. With that in mind the most promising lead for South appears to be a Club through Dummy’s strength. This turns out to be the only lead which is likely to hold Declarer to 12 tricks as Declarer will play low from the board, not wishing to stake everything on the Diamond finesse.
Considering how informative was that cue-bidding, East might have been better advised to eschew science and bash straight into slam. Now, South has no idea what to lead and if she chooses a Spade or a Diamond it will be 13 easy tricks … well, fairly easy, there are some finesses to be taken along the way.
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