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Hand Analyses 4th July, 2007
We managed to contrive an auction in which N-S arrive at the par spot of 2♠, making 8 tricks. But it’s easy to see how all sorts of different results might occur around your local Club. Here are a couple of other possibilities: - East might well have opened with a preemptive 3♦, we know that we would have done, this hand is all about Diamonds with not much in the way of defense. If East does indeed open 3♦, South will surely bid 3♠, at which point N-S are destined to go minus in 3♠ or 4♠ (North might raise to game). - In the featured auction, West might well Double 2♠, after all he can hardly have a better defensive hand (three likely trump tricks, shortness in Partner’s suit, maximum high-card strength). If this happens, East will surely pull the Double to 3♦, no doubt wondering at the same time why he failed to bid 3♦ originally. 3♦ will probably escape a Double, and will be down two.
As a matter of fact, if East ends up playing in Diamonds he could be held to 6 tricks: A♣, K♣, Club ruff, three Hearts are cashed, then a 4th Heart promotes a trump trick.
North had a classic rebid problem, and chose 2NT. Not ideal, of course, with no stopper in the unbid suit, but, as her side was playing that the 4th suit would be forcing to game, she decided that 2NT was the least undesirable option.
3NT is a dicey contract, but, thanks to the friendly Heart situation, it’s quite likely that 10 tricks will be made. Let’s say that East leads a Diamond, and that Dummy’s King is taken by West’s Ace. Back comes a Diamond to Declarer’s Jack, then a Heart to Declarer’s Queen, a Heart finesse, and the Hearts are good. The defense does better to lead a Club, that holds Declarer to 9 tricks.
It’s often a good idea to lead through Dummy’s second suit, so East might well start out the defense with the Q♠. Things could get interesting now, especially if East has a vivid imagination: Spade lead, won by Dummy’s Ace Low Heart and East flies with the Ace! Now, the defense continues Spades and Declarer’s entry is knocked out before the Hearts can be unblocked. Declarer can manage no more than 3 Spades, one Heart, two Diamonds, and 2 Clubs, and that will be down one, thanks to East’s great play. Spot the flaw in this logic? Yes, of course, if East can be so smart, then so can Declarer … when East rises majestically with that A♥, Declarer flamboyantly jettisons Dummy’s Queen! Now things are back on track for 10 tricks.
The featured auction turned out disastrously for them, but we don’t think that either E-W player did anything terrible to earn their zero. North’s Double was somewhat speculative, of course, no doubt partly induced by the opponents’ vulnerability, and the lure of the +200. Instead, they got the dreaded -730. North leads a Diamond, Declarer ruffs the second round and is overruffed, but now Declarer scampers home with 5 trump tricks in his hand, a Heart, a Heart ruff on the board, and two Club tricks.
Yes, this is our nomination for Flattest Board of the Week. 4♠ making 11 tricks.
We would not expect the field to have much trouble finding the 3NT contract, but how many pairs will actually make it? The auction is likely to persuade East to lead his top Club, after which Declarer has much work to do in the red suits, but precious few entries to the board. We don’t see how to make 9 tricks unless the defense goofs or unless Declarer finds this double dummy line of play: Club lead, won by West Club continuation, won on the board T♦, covered by the Jack (necessary) and Queen A♦ is cashed Q♦ is led (forcing a Dummy entry) and won by West’s King Club returned to Declarer’s King A♠ is cashed A Diamond won in Dummy K♠ is cashed Heart to the Eight and East’s King Q♠ is cashed Now, whether East returns a Spade or a Heart, Declarer has the last two tricks, and 9 altogether. In real life, expect down one or even two at most tables.
East’s preempt created a problem for both of his opponents, and we wonder how many of the N-S pairs will be good enough (or lucky enough) to get to 3NT after that 2♥ opening. In the featured auction South decided that her hand was not worth a Takeout Double (we agree), and North tried a stopperless 2NT bid, a reasonable gambit in the situation. For more both of these please see the Bidding Quiz.
The play for N-S is considerably simpler for N-S than the bidding. Whether East leads his Hearts from the top (not recommended with that holding), or his 4th best Heart, it will be 10 tricks for Declarer.
We’d expect at least half the N-S field, unable to diagnose their Heart stop, will play in 5♦, which turns out to be a sad contract. The fate of that contract is sealed on the third round of Hearts, promoting a trump trick for West. Then it becomes down two when the Spade finesse fails.
East added up his Cansino points (Spades plus HCP’s), got an answer that was less than 15, and chose to pass. This methodology has something to recommend it, as it recognizes the importance of the Spade suit on hands where the points are fairly equally divided.
Whether or not the Cansino-count is effective on this particular deal is difficult to assess. If East opens 1♣, the final contract is likely to be 2♠ by North, or 3♦ by West. Which side will go plus? 2♠ goes off if East finds a Spade lead, but we’d think that a Diamond lead is more likely. Now Declarer can manage 8 tricks … there are 5 trump tricks, a Diamond ruff, the A♣ for 7 ... the 8th trick occurs when East gets end-played. For example: Diamond lead won by West Trump shift Lose another Diamond Trump continuation Diamond ruff At this point, East is surely marked with the A♥ for his opening bid, so it would be futile to lead towards the K♥. A better plan is to exit with a low Club, hoping that East has the K♣ and Q♣ also. East wins the trick and must now surrender Declarer’s 8th trick, whether he leads a Club or a Heart.
How about 3♦? Again, a trump lead is best for the defense. Now, the only way that Declarer can come to 9 tricks is to take an anti-percentage play in Clubs, finessing against the JT instead of playing North for the Ace. So, in real life, down one on a trump lead. Suppose, instead, that North starts out with the A♠, and then, seeing the error of her ways, smartly shifts to a trump. Can Declarer make 9 tricks without taking the anti-percentage Club play? The play starts like this: A♠ cashed Trump to the King and Ace Spade lost to South’s King Trump won by Declarer Spade ruff At this point, Declarer must find a way back to his hand to draw that last trump. South (who passed originally) has shown up two Kings, and it’s safe to assume that she does not have both the K♥ and the A♣, but that she surely has one of them. The simple and obvious play is to lead a low Heart now, playing South for the King. Alas for Declarer, the K♥ is over the Queen, so North wins and returns a Club (or a Heart) locking Declarer in Dummy. Now, Declarer has no way to prevent the T♦ from scoring a trick. Down one.
We don’t see why he should, but Declarer can make his contract if he plays for the K♥ and the A♣ to be switched. After taking the Spade ruff, he plays the K♣. South can win the first or second round of the suit and return a Club (breaking open the Hearts would be fatal for the defense), but either way, North will be forced to win the third round of Clubs. Again, breaking open the Hearts would be fatal, so he returns a Spade. That is ruffed by Declarer, the last trump is drawn, and the 13th Club becomes the 9th trick.
After North’s invitational 3♣, South had enough to go to game. But which game? She didn’t know, so she tried 3♦, hoping that Partner could bid 3NT. It turned out that North had no Diamond stopper either, but she was able to show undisclosed 3-card Spade support. With such good Spades, South was delighted to try 4♠ in preference to the lower-scoring 5♣. Nicely bid!
As can be seen, the 7-card Spade suit and the 10-card Club suit both score 11 tricks. The N-S hands have the perfect ingredients for a Moysian (4-3) adventure: - Good trump suit - The shortness in the weak suit is in the hand with the 3 trumps, protecting against a forcing defense - A source of tricks in a side-suit
Yes, 3NT also makes, but only because Diamonds are kind enough to be split 4-4. 4♠ is the place to be and it gets N-S a well-deserved top board.
Well, if Board 4 is not the Flattest Board of the Week, then surely this one is. Making 11 tricks.
2♦ was a transfer to Hearts, and 2NT was a “super-accept” showing 4 Hearts. There are many different flavors of super-accepts available, for more on this please see the Bidding Quiz (and also the Convention Library). 4♦ was a “re-transfer”, setting the contract as 4♥, to be played by South.
Against 4♥, West will perhaps lead the T♣, and now, with the Hearts breaking, Declarer can count a Spade, 5 Hearts, 2 Diamonds, 2 Clubs and a Club ruff. That’s a total of 11. Deep Finesse assures us that a 12th trick is there somewhere. Can you see it? Yes, it’s in the Spade suit, and requires a bizarre play … after trumps are out of the way, lead a Spade towards Declarer’s hand, planning to finesse the Eight. West must split his honors, but now, on the 3rd round of the suit, Dummy will have 97 in front of West’s J3 and will be able to take a ruffing finesse. That’s the 12th trick. Of course, West’s opening lead may well be the J♠, clarifying the Spade situation and making the winning play obvious.
Afterthought OK, let’s revisit that Spade combination, and assume that West leads a Club, keeping the Spade situation a mystery. What is the best Spade play to score a second trick, without losing two Spade tricks in the process? - One possibility is to play West for Axx. A Spade is led to the Queen, then a Spade is ducked, and on the third round the Ace is ruffed out, setting up the King. This also works if West started out with Ax or the singleton Ace, plus when East has JT doubleton or singleton J or T. This all comes in at around 19%. - The other possibility is to finesse the Eight on the first round, the aforementioned “bizarre play”. Not so bizarre at all, it seems, that line of play requires both the Jack and the Ten with West, and that is a 24% chance.
What do you think of that 9-point opening by South? We rather like it ourselves, it’s too good to preempt, is close on the Rule of Twenty scale, and has also sorts of extras in terms of shape and fillers. As for North’s 3NT, N-S were playing that this showed three Hearts, a square hand and 13-15 HCP’s. Another reasonable way of handling the North cards would be to bid 2♦ and then jump to 4♥.
Playing in 4♥, West has a natural J♠ lead. When this holds, West leads another Spade, which is ruffed. Now, the standard safety play in the trump suit is to lead the T♥, planning to play low if West follows with a small card, thus guaranteeing no more than one loser in the suit. But one loser won’t cut it on this hand, because there are three side-suit losers. In fact, there are two good reasons why Declarer should simply lead a low Heart to the Ace: - This is the play most likely to bring in the suit for no losers (singleton King in either hand, a 26% chance) - If it turns out that trumps are 2-1 without a singleton King, then Declarer has an extra chance to make her contract … all she needs is for the missing Diamonds to be 4-3 either way and one of the Club losers will disappear. This even works if East started with 4 Diamonds and all 3 Hearts. Impeccable logic, but, alas for Declarer the recommended line of play results in down two when Hearts are 3-0, and West is able to ruff the third round of Diamonds.
Back to the bidding. Suppose that North had responded 2♦ instead of 3NT. Now, East might well throw in a lead-directing 2♠ bid, and find himself in 4♠ (no doubt doubled) when West takes the “sacrifice”. Some sacrifice, the contract is cold! Declarer will ruff two Diamonds on the board, setting up the suit, and that will be 10 tricks. Of course, it would be nice for the defense if they could stop one of those Diamond ruffs on the board and so they can. The line that follows is pure fantasy, but a lot of fun: Spade lead won by Dummy’s Jack Diamond, North plays the King, swallowing South’s Queen!! (Crocodile Coup) Spade return, North pitching the A♦!! Another Diamond won by North’s Ten Spade return This amazing N-S defense has stopped the second Diamond ruff on the board, depriving Declarer of the 10th trick. Does this mean that 4♠ is not really cold at all? It makes alright, if the defense can be so brilliant then Declarer should be allowed to counter by cashing the A♣, K♣, and exiting with a Club. This is the end position: North ♠ ♥ A63 ♦ J7 ♣ Dummy Declarer ♠ 7 ♠ A9 ♥ KJ4 ♥ ♦ ♦ 954 ♣ 7 ♣ South ♠ ♥ QT987 ♦ ♣ At this point, Declarer needs the rest of the tricks to make his contract. The defense has just won its third trick with a Club, and can arrange to win that trick in either the North hand or the South hand. If South is on lead, she must play a Heart conceding the 10th trick (Declarer must guess correctly, of course, and should do so if he considers North’s bidding). If North is on lead, she has the additional fatal choice of getting out with a Diamond, as those heroic ruff-preventing Diamond plays have only served to set up an end-play. OK, that’s the end of that fantasy!
Post Script Well, maybe not such a fantasy because we have just learned that an identical line of play occurred when this very same hand was played in an historic bridge over 200 years ago. Please follow the link.
After West’s 1♥, North had a choice between a feeble Pass, a skewed Double, and a shaded 1NT. There’s something to be said for and against all of these choices, but it seems that most roads lead a Spade partial. Those who got themselves perilously high in 3♠ can count themselves lucky that both black suits break and 9 tricks come home.
The final contract of 6♣ is neither wonderful nor terrible, and it’s not immediately apparent exactly where within that spectrum it lies. We wouldn’t fault South for taking that shot at 6♣, no doubt she was expecting longer and/or better Clubs.
On a double dummy basis 13 tricks are available on any opening lead. But, in practice, that won’t happen if East leads a major suit (as he no doubt will): - If East leads the T♠, Declarer plays low from the board. When the King wins the first trick, Declarer will later resort to the Club finesse and that will be down one. - If East leads a Heart, things are more promising for Declarer. Declarer wins and takes the immediate Club finesse. East wins the Queen, and now the fate of this contract is in his hands. He could return a trump, stopping the Heart ruff on the board, but that would be futile, Declarer needs to establish the Diamonds if she is to succeed, a Heart ruff is not relevant. How about a Spade shift? No, Declarer will win that with Dummy’s Ace, draw trumps, and take the rest when the Diamonds behave. Yes, indeed, the winning defense is to lead a Heart, forcing Dummy to ruff. Nice play! Now Declarer is stuck in Dummy with no convenient way back to her hand. Not with a Spade, that will concede the setting trick. And not via a Diamond ruff, that will strand Dummy’s lovely Diamond winners.
Back to the bidding, here are two thoughts: - What do you think of North’s 3♣ bid? Perhaps, having bid Clubs twice already, North might have tried 3♠ here. Partner will not expect a 4-card suit, that 2♣ rebid pretty much denies that. - As the auction actually went, after North bid 3♠ later in the auction, what would 5NT mean? An interesting question! Please see the Bidding Quiz.
Some pairs play that a new suit opposite an overcall is forcing for one round, others that it is merely constructive. Either way, North would make the same 2♣ call, and South would go to game in Hearts. Against 4♥, West leads a Diamond to East’s Ace, and returns the Q♦, giving Partner a ruff and requesting a Spade return. Declarer can be sure that the K♠ is offside, so he jumps up with the Ace. Can 11 tricks be made now? Yes, but only by taking a risky and immediate Club finesse against East (requiring also that Clubs are 3-3 if the Spade loser is to disappear). Is this a wise play? Here’s a cost benefit analysis: - If the Q♣ is with East and Clubs are 3-3, then we make an overtrick - If the Q♣ is with East and Clubs are 4-2 (either way), then we don’t make the overtrick, but at least we make the contract. - If the Q♣ is with West (unlikely, but certainly possible), or if Clubs are 5-1, then we are down in a cold contract. A tough choice when looking at just two hands!
Opposite a 15-17 1NT opening bid, it usually takes more than a 7-count to invite to game. Sure, East’s hand is positively bristling with fillers, but we still don’t think that it is good enough to make a move. So, we’d expect most E-W pairs to be in 1NT from the West side, missing their 4-4 Spade fit.
Against 1NT, North starts out with a Club, won by Dummy’s Queen. Now a Spade to the King, a Diamond to the King, and the Spade Ten from the board. Declarer is spared from a guess in that suit when South pops up with the A♠ and continues Clubs. Declarer has 7 tricks, and can play on Hearts for an 8th (or drop the Q♦ for 9 tricks, but that line is more likely to result in 7).
If E-W are playing Precision, or the Weak No Trump, the bidding will start 1♦ 1♠, 3♠, and that will probably be the final contract. This will be played by East, and a Club lead from South will look safer than a Heart (as indeed it is!). Dummy ducks and North’s King wins the trick. After the Club continuation, Declarer is short of entries to his hand, and will likely play a Diamond to his King, followed by the first-round finesse of the T♠. North wins this and leads back a Spade to South’s Ace. South exits a Diamond and Declarer is destined to lose at least 5 tricks, and 6 if he misguesses the Diamond.
As usual, Spades win the day in the part-score battle, and the question is “How many tricks can West actually make in 2♠?” Most routes lead to 8 tricks, but 9 might occur if North (quite reasonably) starts out the proceedings with the unfortunate opening lead of a Heart. Now, Declarer zips to 9 tricks as follows: Heart lead, won by Declarer’s Jack Diamond won by North’s Ace A♣, ruffed by Declarer Cross to the Q♦ Club ruff Over to the K♥ Club ruff A♥ is cashed Heart is ruffed by Dummy’s Ten, overruffed by South At this point, Declarer has 7 tricks in the bag, and, with the A9 of trumps over South’s K8x, is sure of two more.
East opened a chunky 3♣, and nobody else saw fit to step into the auction. Declarer has 9 tricks if he can guess the Spades correctly. Of course, Declarer will try to avoid that guess by playing on Hearts, hoping to establish a pitch. If so, South should win the first Heart with her King and play a low Spade, putting Declarer to the test. So, 8 or 9 tricks, depending on East’s guessing skills.
The lengthy explanation of the E-W auction is to be found in the Bidding Quiz, this is the Reader’s Digest version: - 2♠ was a DONT bid, showing a Spade one-suiter (yes, West rightly decided that this was a Spade one-suiter, not a major two-suiter) - East’s 2NT is a matter of partnership agreement, a game-try in Spades was the intent of this pair.
In the play it will be 10 tricks for all, and a good result for those who found their way to game.
Another light opening bid (see also Board 11), but the final contract is most reasonable. Alas, North has three sure Heart tricks and an Ace and finds a sporting Double. Down one.
Was South a wimp on this board? Probably so! She could have passed 1♥ smoothly, and converted North’s reopening Takeout Double into a Penalty Double. If it’s a part-score hand then +200 (or more) looks likely … if it’s a game hand then things are problematical, it could prove difficult to take the necessary 9 tricks to inflict a worthwhile penalty. For more on this, please see the Bidding Quiz.
The bottom line? Careful defense to 1♥ doubled does indeed collect the magic 800 (yes, it was kind of Partner to show up with the 9♥, and for East not to have a 6th Heart). But maybe West will bail out of 1♥ doubled and venture 2♦, a contract which is more difficult for N-S to penalize.
How does 3NT fare? It probably makes 9 tricks, as East is under constant pressure throughout the play. For example, if West starts out with a Diamond, East is end-played at Trick Two. He’ll probably guess to try the Q♣ next, but that will only set up a third Club trick for Declarer and her 8th altogether. Here’s how the play might go: Opening lead won by East’s A♦ Q♣ won by Dummy’s King Club to East’s Ten and Declarer’s Ace Club to East’s Jack Another Club, won on the board, Declarer pitching a Diamond Heart Nine, covered by the Ten and King Low Heart to East’s Queen East exits with the Q♠ (nice try!), won on the board Low Spade to Declarer’s Jack K♦ is cashed, East pitching a Spade Now, in the 3-card ending, Declarer is left with A76 in Hearts against East’s J52, and is sure of 2 more tricks and 9 altogether.
West’s 2♦ was New Minor Forcing, after which East showed his 3rd Heart. And 3♠? Yes, what else could that unusual jump be but a Splinter? Shortness in Spades was bad news to East, his KQx holding in that suit was about as unsuitable as it could be.
The Heart slam is less than 50%, but with the Hearts and Clubs behaving it makes with ease. In fact, if North fails to lead her A♠ on the go, Declarer can take all thirteen tricks. Finding the right opening lead is an inexact science, but some opening leads really stand out, and this is one of them … Dummy has a long Club suit, and Declarer’s Spade singleton is likely to go away if North doesn’t grab that trick immediately.
North may have only 11 HCP’s opposite a minimum opening bid, but she can hardly do less than go to game with that 5th trump and Club singleton. It turns out to be another doomed contract, at least if E-W defend accurately. East starts out with Clubs, Declarer ruffs the second round and draws trumps, cashes three Diamonds, and ruffs the 4th round. Now Declarer leads a low Heart from his hand, hoping that something good will happen. It doesn’t, West wins the trick and can safely continue Hearts. Down one.
Against 2♥, West will probably lead the unbid Club suit, and the success of the contract will depend upon Declarer avoiding two Diamond losers. Not too difficult, it seems, one of Declarer’s Diamonds can go on the K♠, and another on the 4th round of Clubs. But if East can make the difficult play of ducking two rounds of Clubs, he will give Declarer some entry problems. However, Declarer can counter with a well-timed sequence of plays: Club lead won by Declarer’s King A Heart to the Queen Heart back to the Ace Club to the Queen Another Club to East’s Ace A Spade to West’s Ace Now, Dummy has two black suit winners, but no way to reach them. No matter, because West has been end-played: - if West returns a Spade, then Declarer gets to Dummy after all - if West returns a Heart, one of his Heart winners evaporates - if West breaks open the Diamonds then Declarer never does score those two winners in Dummy, but instead scores a couple of extra Diamond tricks.
We can see this one being played in 3♣ by East or 3♥ by North, and neither of these contracts is likely to be successful. If East plays in 3♣, South leads a Heart, won by Dummy’s Ace. Now A♣ and a low Club won by North’s King. North does best to return a Heart, and that sinks the contract one trick.
3♥ by North can be down three if E-W do everything just right, but we’d expect down two to be the more usual result. Here are two possible lines of play: - East makes the mistake (at least on this hand) of leading Partner’s Diamond suit. North unblocks the King from her hand, giving her an entry to the board. East will shift to the A♣ and another Club which is ruffed, and now West plays A♥, K♥ and out a Heart. Declarer has that Diamond entry to the board for a Spade play, and that will be down two. - East starts out with the A♣ and another Club which is ruffed by Partner. Now, it’s down two at least, and whether the defense can achieve down three will depend entirely on East. His mission will be to deprive Declarer of a Dummy entry in the Diamond suit. If, in the play of the Diamond suit, North starts out with the King from his hand, then East must duck … and if North starts out with a low Diamond from his hand, then East must jump up with the Ace. Will it be obvious to do that? It should be! It would only be wrong if Declarer held Qxx in the suit, and that is simply not possible … West opened 1♦, and ruffed the second round of Clubs, he cannot possibly have opened a 3-card Diamond suit.
West decided that overcalling a 4-card suit was better than abject silence with such a good hand and soon found himself in a precarious 4-3 fit. But the layout is most Declarer-friendly and 9 tricks are likely to result. In fact, the only way in which the defense can conjure up a 5th trick is if North starts with Diamonds and South ruffs the third round with the Nine, promoting a second trump trick for the defense.
East’s 3NT bid showed substantial extra values, albeit with some of them wasted in the Heart suit, and West could hardly not bid a slam. Seeing no sensible way to investigate the grand slam, West bid the small slam directly. The play is simple as can be with 13 tricks available on a cross-ruff, and as usual when planning a cross-ruff, Declarer cashes his side-suit winners early in the play.
It’s not everybody’s style to open that West hand with a 3♦ preempt, but we rather like it. Alas for the bold preemptors, this one turns out rather badly, and N-S will cruise into 3NT, making 10 tricks (11 are possible but risky). Why is that so bad? Because, without the preempt, the auction might well go thusly: South West North East Pass Pass 1♣ 1♠ 2♥ Pass 3♣ Pass 3NT Pass Pass Pass Now, West can dutifully lead Partner’s Spade suit for -430, or he can branch out on his own and try a Diamond lead. Ouch for Declarer when the defense takes the first 8 tricks!
1NT contracts are usually difficult to analyze, but this one is easier than most. North has a pretty obvious Heart lead, and the play seems likely to develop as follows: Heart to the Nine, Ten and King Three rounds of Diamonds are cashed The fourth round of Diamonds is won by North Club shift won by Declarer’s Queen The last Diamond is cashed A Heart won by North’s Ace Now Declarer has 6 tricks and the defense will be forced to yield a 7th in one suit or another.
Another preempt, and another pair of opponents pushed overboard. All the cards are off for Declarer, and down two is the likely result. In fact, it might even be down three if North leads the Q♥ which is won by Declarer’s King, then the Diamonds are cashed and Declarer tries the Club finesse.
West was too good merely to rebid 3♣ so tried a cue-bid. This no doubt seemed like a good idea at the time, but it gave East an impossible bidding problem: - Clearly not 3NT without a Spade stop - East has already shown 4 Hearts, so no point in bidding 4♥ - Similarly, no reason to bid a 4-card Diamond suit - So, what else but Club support with a doubleton? Anyway, 5♣ is reached, down one when the Clubs are 4-1.
That West Heart suit is absolutely too good for a 3♥ bid, all the more so considering the vulnerability, so West starts out with 4♥. As can be seen a Club lead would be utterly disastrous, allowing Declarer to take all the tricks. Dr Goodlead said “I’m leading an Ace and the A♦ is less likely to blow a trick”. Then, when the good Doctor saw Dummy, and Partner’s play of the Ten, he pondered a while. “Is Partner encouraging from KTx or does he have KT doubleton? Then again, with that Club suit in Dummy, we are surely in a cash-out situation, in which case perhaps we should be giving count signals, meaning that we can eliminate KTx as a possibility. But is Partner on the same wavelength?”
It turns out that the hand is Doctor-proof, no doubt the A♠ will be tried at Trick Two, and whichever of the two suits North continues at Trick Three, the defense will get its 4 tricks. The question here is “Are you and your Partner on the same wavelength in this situation? Is it a time for attitude? Or for count?”
North’s 2♦ was a DONT bid, showing Diamonds and a major. It turns out that Spades is the place to be, so this hand would be a triumph for Cappelletti, whereby North’s bid would be 2♠ (Spades and a minor). Declarer gets 8 tricks in Spades, only 7 in Diamonds. No fireworks with which to end our Independence Day set of hands, this deal is no more than a damp squib.
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