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Hand Analyses 18th July, 2007
South’s 2♦ was Michaels, showing the majors. East’s 5♦ was a close decision, he had enough defense and enough trumps to be a nuisance in 4♥, then again he also had enough offense to ensure that 5♦ would not be down more than one. In fact 5♦ would make if West were void in Hearts (quite possible on the auction) or if West had A♠ or K♠.
It turns out that West does not quite have the right hand and that 5♦ is down one trick. But that’s fine for E-W as 4♥ turns out to be a lucky make. Against 4♥, East leads the A♦, ruffed on the board. Now a Heart to the King and Ace, at which point should test the Spades by running the Nine. When this holds, she plays another Spade, and can now pick up both major suits for 10 tricks.
West might well have supported Partner’s Spades immediately, instead of introducing his own Heart suit, and it’s easy to imagine half the field playing in 4♥ and half in 4♠.
Those that play in Spades will be the lucky ones. Well, maybe. South lays down the A♦ and here’s how the play might go: A♦ ruffed on the board Heart to the King Q♦ (good play!) covered by the King and ruffed on the board Club ruff T♦ which South should duck Diamond ruff Club ruff Three rounds of trumps are drawn Now, if Declarer takes the Heart finesse, he makes all 13 tricks. And if the finesse loses he makes but 10 tricks. Of course, Declarer took quite a few risks to make those 13 tricks … he needed 3-2 Spades, and he needed to guess the Hearts right. A more middle-of-the-road approach would be to cash the A♥ after taking the second Diamond ruff which is likely to be good for 12 tricks even if North ruffs.
If West plays in 4♥, North leads a Diamond which Declarer ruffs. Now the best that Declarer can do is to take one Club ruff on the board, and draw trumps (guessing correctly) for 11 tricks.
Obligatory False Card Suppose that North had held JTx of Hearts. Then she has the chance to make a so-called “obligatory false card” by playing an honor on the first round of trumps. This is termed “obligatory” because it is the only play that gives Declarer a chance to go wrong (by finessing when the suit was 3-2 all along). Yes, Declarer can always play a second high Heart before committing to the finesse, but on the actual hand that was not possible due to the entry situation. Nor would it be possible in a situation such as this: 43 A5 KQ9876 JT2 Here, the Ace is played and South must be sure to play the Jack or the Ten, offering Declarer a losing option.
Good bidding by N-S, we would say. South stretched her hand into an invitational raise based on shortness in the enemy suit and those nice Clubs, and North went in the other direction based on her nasty Diamond holding.
Against 3♥, East leads the J♦ to the Queen and Ace. West must avoid shifting to the Q♠, that would blow the defensive Spade trick, so let’s say that he continues with a Diamond. Should Declarer ruff this on the board or win the King in her hand? The best line appears to be to ruff it on the board, then cash the A♣, pitching the K♦. Now a Spade to Ace and a Heart towards the board. East pops up with the Ace, and now Declarer is sure to make 9 tricks provided that she takes a deep Spade finesse and avoids a second Spade loser. Note the importance of playing one round of Spades before using up Declarer’s K♥ entry to the board … without that precaution it would be impossible for Declarer to avoid two Spade losers.
4♥ looks like the normal spot, and the question is whether N-S will get their Club ruff to beat the contract. Let’s say that South starts out with a Spade won by Declarer (North should play low). When South shows out on the second round of trumps, Declarer’s best chance is to leave those trumps out and play on Clubs in the hope that N-S fail to (or are unable to) negotiate a Club ruff. The best chance is to lead the first round of Clubs from the board giving North the chance to sleepily play low. Anyway, making 9 or 10 tricks, depending on the defense.
South’s 2♠ bid put West on the spot, and he chose to overbid somewhat rather than to sell out feebly to 2♠. That 3♠ was Lebensohl, the so-called “Stayman without a stopper”, after which E-W came to rest in a rather poor 22-point 3NT contract.
3NT may be a most poor contract, but it does have the virtue of being cold, thanks to the lucky lie of the Diamond suit. Let’s say that South leads the K♠ and that Declarer ducks. Declarer won’t know it yet, but he has 8 winners and the 9th could come from various sources, depending upon South’s play at Trick Two: - If South persists with Spades, the extra Spade is the 9th trick. - If South shifts to a Heart, Declarer has the timing to play on Clubs for the 9th trick, and this also brings in a 10th trick. - If South shifts to a Club, it’s 10 tricks again. - Strangely enough, it’s the Diamond shift at Trick Two which might prove to be Declarer’s undoing. First, consider what will happen if Declarer is left to tackle Diamonds himself. He’ll lay down the A♦, get the good news when the King drops, and finesse twice against South’s Jack. But look what happens if South shifts to a Diamond at Trick Two. Declarer could play low from the board, picking up the entire suit as before, but he also has a losing option, he might be tempted to play the Ten from Dummy, hoping that South has erred grievously and led a Diamond from Jxx in her attempt to reach Partner and get a Spade through Declarer. That Diamond shift was a Greek gift.
North decided that her mangy 8-count was not good enough for an invitation, a good assessment when one considers that, even opposite South’s maximum 17-count, 3NT is not much of a contract.
Against 1NT, West might reasonably make the attacking (and dangerous) lead of a low Spade or the safer (but less dynamic) lead of a low Club. Let’s start with a Spade lead to East’s Jack and Declarer’s Ace. Now Declarer does best to send a Spade right back, setting up a second trick in the suit, and 8 altogether when the Diamond finesse loses.
Next, suppose that the opening lead is a Club. Declarer wins on the board, loses the Diamond finesse, and Clubs are continued. Declarer can set up a second Spade winner, which would be her 8th trick, except for the minor detail that the defense gets their 6 tricks first (2 Spades, 2 Hearts, a Diamond and a Club). So, in practice, the safe lead of a Club holds Declarer to 7 tricks.
Opening Leads vs No Trump – Part 1 If you happily hit upon the best opening lead of a Club in the above hand, which Club did you lead? Fourth best is the most common opening lead against No Trump contracts, but some pairs make an exception when the lead is from 4 small (or sometimes 5 small), and start with their second highest. The purpose of this is to inform Partner that the lead is from a weak holding and that he should not expect an honor from the opening leader.
Opening Leads vs No Trump – Part 2 Against No Trump contracts, how strong does a KQ sequence have to be for us to lead the King? Here are some cases: - KQJx or KQJxx? Yes, we’d lead the King from these sequences. - KQ98x? We had that sequence on Board 5, and that too is strong enough for the lead of the King. - KQ9x? This one is scraping the bottom of the barrel, we’d lead the King here. - KQ8x? With this holding, or anything weaker, we’d start with a low card. Of course, against a suit contract, we’d lead the King from any KQ holding.
It’s easy to see how some E-W pairs might bid more on this one, but with the Club finesse losing and with two Heart losers, it turns out that 8 tricks is the maximum in Hearts. East had some choices on this one, please see the Bidding Quiz.
Against 2♥, North leads the Q♠, and South should overtake with the King to avoid blocking the suit. But, in practice, the unblock is not necessary, either way the defense scores two Spades, two Hearts, and a Club.
South decided that her hand was not good enough to bid 2♥ initially (it isn’t), but that it was too good for an immediate preempt, so she started with a Negative Double and then bid Hearts all the way up to the 4-level. We’re not convinced that the 4♥ bid was warranted, but it certainly works well on the actual hand.
Playing in Hearts, with the K♥ well-placed, Declarer has the three Aces to lose and must also take care of those potential Diamond losers. West will likely start with the A♣, followed by a shift to the K♥. Now, Declarer leads a Diamond from the board and East must grab his Ace just to hold Declarer to 10 tricks. If East smoothly ducks, then Declarer’s King wins, then a Diamond ruff, a Club ruff, and on the second Diamond ruff East’s Ace smoothly flutters to the table. 11 tricks for Declarer in that case.
How do E-W fare in a Spade contract? We see 9 tricks in E-W’s future, but only with careful play. Let’s say that South leads a Club, an obvious singleton. Declarer needs a Heart ruff on the board, but if he goes for it immediately he’ll suffer a Club ruff. Conversely, if he draws two rounds of trumps first, and then plays a Heart, North will draw Dummy’s last trump. The winning play is to draw just one round of trumps, and then to play a Heart. Far from obvious.
Remarkably, South here is in an almost identical situation as on the previous board, and finds herself with a similar hand, one that is not good enough to bid 2♥, but too good to preempt. Again, the Negative Double offers a middle course. West’s 3♠ was preemptive, North’s 4♥ a reasonable guess, as was South’s 5♥. For more on the N-S auction, please see the Bidding Quiz.
5♥ turns out to be a fine sacrifice, down just two tricks while 4♠ is cold for 10 tricks.
It’s customary to use the Jacoby 2NT only when we have 4-card support for Partner’s major, but, as West, we wouldn’t have a great problem with using it here with just 3-card support. After all, we do have an exceptionally good hand that seeks to investigate a Spade slam, and no long suit of our own to bid, so why not? However, this is probably a minority view, so we prevailed upon our featured E-W to give us a more mainstream Two Over One auction instead.
East’s 4♥ was a cue-bid, his 5♣ was a 1430 response showing 1 or 4 Key Cards, and 6♥ was a Specific King response, showing the K♥ and denying the minor suit Kings.
On lead against 6♠, South might well lead a low Diamond. This will give Declarer a nervous moment as he plays low from the board, praying that the lead was not a singleton. When it turns out not to be, it’s 12 easy tricks. Without the Diamond lead, Declarer will tackle the suit himself by double finessing against South, with the same result.
What does all this mean? Here’s our best guess: - North’s 2NT: In the absence of competition, a 2NT bid opposite a Weak Two is normally some sort of game-going or game-invitational bid, such as Feature-asking or Ogust. Is it still on in this situation? No reason why it shouldn’t be, are you and your Partner on the same wavelength here? - East’s 3♥: East is too good merely to compete to 3♠, so he makes the more encouraging cue-bid instead. - South’s Pass of 3♥: South has a pretty miserable 2♥ bid, no reason why she should bid again, nor should she encourage partner by doubling. - West’s 3♠: West is not good enough to bid game here. True, he has nice distribution, but it’s that distribution that made his earlier 10-point overcall acceptable. - North’s 4♥: A fine sacrifice as it happens, both sides can make 9 tricks in their major. In fact, if West’s opening lead is the unfortunate Q♦, then 4♥ will make.
For the third time in this set, East overcalls 2♣ and South has a hand with a long major, but insufficient values to bid the suit directly. Yet again, the only suitable action is a value-showing Negative Double.
Against 4♥ South leads a Diamond, which Declarer ruffs. Now Declarer’s safest play is to cash the A♥ and then play the J♥. North wins this, but Declarer cannot be stopped from making 11 tricks.
It turns out that N-S have a rare Red vs White sacrifice in 5♦, this contract goes down only one. North might have done better to have preempted initially, but starting out with 4♦ (or even 5♦) opposite an unpassed Partner could well have been wrong, taking N-S past 3NT.
After South’s Forcing No Trump, North improvised with 2♣, and later tried for game. 2NT is a perilous contract and Declarer will have her work cut out to score 8 tricks. Even making just 7 tricks will be hard work and we’ll leave it up to the reader to speculate how the play might go.
North would have done better to start the proceedings with a 1NT opening. Not everybody likes to do this with a 5-card major, but we have no such misgivings, we believe that it makes the subsequent auction simpler. Opening 1NT here would certainly work well. Either it will allow N-S to play in a more manageable 1NT contract, or else West will get the urge to chime in with 2♠ (doubled for an 800 penalty), or else West will show a major two-suiter and 2♥ will be doubled for a 500 penalty (the defense will do well to lead a trump on this auction).
South’s preempt almost pushed E-W overboard. That 3♦ forced West to overbid slightly with 3♠, after which East felt entitled to make two slam tries, first with 4♦, then with 5♠. But West was having none of it, it was hard for him to have a worse hand than he did, with those weak trumps and likely wastage in the Diamond suit.
Against West’s Spade contract, North will no doubt lead a Diamond, won by Declarer. Then a Spade to the Queen and South’s Ace, and a Diamond back. Declarer wins that, crosses on a Club, and leads another Spade, finessing the Ten. When North shows out, Declarer cashes the J♣, ruffs a Diamond, and runs the Clubs. South can ruff in when it suits her but that will be her last trick. Plus 450. Phew!
Suppose, in the above line, after winning the second Diamond, Declarer crosses to the board with a Heart, which South ruffs. South next shifts to a Club, which to Declarer will be a most surprising development. And a most revealing development too, now, surely, South is marked with the missing Spades, otherwise he would have returned a third Diamond for North to ruff. So, Declarer guesses the Spade situation correctly and gets the same +450. Another “Phew!”
East makes a sub-minimum overcall, he might well have preempted with 3♣ at this favorable vulnerability, but reasonably resisted because of the outside Ace. East’s Redouble announced a decent hand rather than something in Clubs, then he made one more try for game before subsiding in 4♣ when West was unable to bid 3NT.
Playing in 4♣, North leads the K♥, then a low Heart to South, who plays a third Heart. Now, the sensible play for Declarer is to pitch his Spade loser, allowing North to ruff. 10 easy tricks.
Next, let us suppose that E-W charge into 5♣. As before, the defense commences with a Heart attack. How do you propose to make 11 tricks? Please see Play Problem 174.
A Diamond part-score is the place to be on this hand, and it looks like 9 tricks to us on almost any line of play.
Did any Easts open 1NT? We are ardent advocates of opening 1NT with a 5-card major (see also Board 13), but far less so when we have a 6-card minor. For us, at least, it just doesn’t seem to work well. This hand is a case in point. If East opens 1NT, West will transfer to Spades, and that contract is likely to be down one.
System Note It may not seem immediately relevant, but how do you play your super-accepts after a Jacoby Transfer? The Wednesday Game has been advocating the following schema, after, let us say, a start of 1NT 2♥: - 2NT is a super-accept (as in 4-card support) and a good hand - 3♠ is a super-accept and a medium hand - 2♠ is permissible with 4 Spades and a reprehensible hand (let’s say square and quacky and minimum) We’ve been peddling this method for some time now, on the grounds that it is uninformative to any opponents who may be sneakily eavesdropping into our auction, it doesn’t give away any information about our side-suits. But it does raise the question, what does this auction mean? 1NT 2♥ 3♦ According to the aforementioned rules, it’s not a super-accept. So what is it? Well, why not 6 Diamonds and 2 Spades? If that was our agreement, then we might be less disinclined to open the East hand with 1NT. Food for thought.
What are your methods opposite Partner’s overcall? The two most common methods are: - A new suit is non-forcing but constructive, the Overcaller is encouraged to bid again with anything more than his usual collection of junk. Let’s say, as a general yard-stick, that Opener should bid again with 10+ HCP’s. As always, point-counting is just a part of the process and judgment is encouraged. This treatment requires that, with a really good hand, Overcaller’s Partner is required to cue-bid or jump in a new suit in order to keep the auction alive. - A new suit is jolly well forcing (for one round), and the Overcaller is required to take another call, however reprehensible his initial bid might be.
West obviously always intended to take this hand to game, so clearly he is part of the “jolly well forcing” set. When he couldn’t get Partner to bid No Trump, he settled on the 5-2 major suit fit. This works rather well. The defenders lead Hearts, Dummy ruffs the third round, three rounds of trumps are drawn, and now, thanks to the onside K♣, 10 tricks will materialize. Plus 420 will be a very good board indeed for E-W.
A simple enough auction, both E-W players took a slightly rosy view of their hands and the game in Hearts was reached. It’s only a moderate game, there are three cashing tricks to be lost, and the Diamond Queen must be caught. And there is one more danger. Suppose that North leads the Q♦ in search of a ruff. Now, Declarer must win in Dummy, cash the K♥, and overtake the Q♥, risking defeat if trumps are 4-1. But all’s well that ends well, at least for Declarer, and on the Q♦ lead Declarer actually manages 12 tricks!
It may seem odd to open 2NT with 5-4 in the majors, but it looks reasonable here, please see the Bidding Quiz. It’s a Declarer-friendly layout. Whatever the opening lead it will be 11 tricks and +450.
System Note Those pairs that play Puppet Stayman will have a little dilemma on this hand if North chooses to open 2NT. After the Puppet bid of 3♣ what is North supposed to do? Should she show her 5-card Spade suit? Or should she bid as if she has two 4-card majors? We would do the latter, it seems better odds to keep both majors in the picture. And if South is bidding Puppet purely with the intention of finding a 5-3 Spade fit, then hopefully 3NT will play equally well. Or, to put it another way, we’d rather risk missing a 5-3 than a 4-4 major fit.
West was quite aggressive with his jump to 4♠, he might have merely invited giving East the chance to guess wrong and preserving the West options in the post mortem. As it was, West went to game alone and unaided, and was vindicated by a friendly lie of the cards. With trumps 2-2 and the A♣ onside it was an easy matter to make 10 tricks on any lead. However, the computer bungled the opportunity to provide us with a really instructive play hand, so we have decided to take the law into our own hands. In Play Problem 175 the E-W hands remain the same but the N-S hands have been jiggled around somewhat to reward only the most accurate play by Declarer. Are you up to the challenge?
Cautious bidding by East perhaps, he might well have gone to game with that hand. But, even with West’s big Heart fit the game is only around 40% to succeed (needs 2-2 trump break). This time East’s wimpishness is rewarded when trumps are 3-1.
Would you open the East hand 1♠? Or 3♠? Or 4♠? We much prefer 1♠, it’s just about good enough and we hate to preempt with an outside Ace when there is a good alternative. After the 1♠ opening, West gets to the grand slam in a hurry. 5NT was the Grand Slam Force, asking for 2 of the top 3 trump honors. East had two of them and zipped into 7♠, where it’s an easy 13 tricks and +2210. If you were playing this one in a team game, that would be a fine result, there are no extra IMP’s awarded for scoring 2220 instead of 2210. But, of course, at matchpoints it’s a different story altogether, we’d love to get those extra 10 points, it’ll make a big difference in the score. And there is also the consideration that 7NT is actually a safer contract, there’s no chance of it getting derailed by a ruff of the opening lead.
One way to get to 7NT is for West to bid 4NT (Roman Key Card), and when Partner shows two Key Cards with the Q♠, 7NT is obvious. That works well on the actual hand, but suppose Partner shows just one Key Card. Now we have no idea whether the missing Key Card is the K♠ or the A♥ and we have a guess on our hands. Is there a solution? Please see the Bidding Quiz.
Is anybody wondering whether North is asleep? Yes, indeed, at this vulnerability, with all that distribution she should be bidding a lot and bidding it as quickly as possible. Please see the Bidding Quiz.
Against 3NT, East leads the K♥ or Q♥ (see below), and Declarer holds up for a couple of rounds, severing communications lest West has a Club trick. After Declarer wins the third round of Hearts, it’s all down to the Club suit, and when the Queen falls it’s 10 top tricks for Declarer.
Opening Lead Agreement Against No Trump contracts it’s become common practice for the opening lead of the Queen to request Partner to drop the Jack. If Partner does not have the Jack, he is requested to give count. That Queen lead is ideal from a holding such as KQT9(x) and saves the opening leader from the embarrassment of a Bath Coup if Declarer has AJx. Of course, we’d hate for Partner’s drop of the Jack to cost a trick, so we need a pretty strong holding if we are to lead the Queen. Is KQT86 strong enough? Yes, we think so. We won’t be thrilled if we persevere with Hearts and find that Declarer has A9xx, but on balance the Queen lead rates to work well.
Well-advised restraint by South in this Fourth Suit Forcing auction, she might have gone overboard once the Spade fit was found. But there were plenty of warning signs, please see the Bidding Quiz.
Against 4♠ what would be your lead with the East hand? There are arguments against leading all four of the suits: - A Spade? We’ve all been warned about those singleton trump leads, and that admonishment is all the more valid when the opponents have a 4-4 fit, as they surely do here. The danger, of course, is that it will save Declarer a guess, or, even worse, allow Declarer to pick up a holding that would have scored a trick in the normal course of events (for example, JTxx) - A Heart? With Hearts on our left there seems no future in leading from length, we’d prefer this lead if we had shortness in the suit. - A Diamond: The suit has been bid on our right, this lead seems likely to help Declarer and do nothing for the defense. - A Club? It’s often a good idea to lead the 4th suit, but not on this auction where Declarer has announced strength in that suit.
Well, if we don’t have an attractive lead, why not make a deceptive lead? That’s Dr Goodlead’s philosophy, and he had no hesitation whatsoever in planting the 8♥ on the table. “More deceptive than the Nine”, he opined. It’s not a bad idea, is it? Partner will be in on the secret that we don’t really have Heart shortness, after all he will distinctly recall that an auction had recently occurred. Does this lead help at all? Probably not! It looks as if Declarer should lose the black Kings and score up 11 tricks.
We’ve had some “restrained” and “cautious” bidding this week (see also Boards 21 and 24), and here we go again. Should West bid again after his initial Double? He does have 17 HCP’s, considerably more than he has promised. But, even so, we like the restrained caution of his actual Pass, for more on which please see the Bidding Quiz.
It turns out that 2♥ is quite high enough. There are two Club losers, the possibility of a second Spade loser, and the small matter of the missing Q♥. No doubt South will lead a Club, after which North’s defensive strategy should be plain enough. She’ll cash a second Club and lead a third Club, knowing that if Partner has any Heart above the Five the defense will get an upper-cut. That turns out to be the case, Declarer overruffs, plays A♥ and another Heart, won by North’s Queen. A Club comes back and Declarer ruffs high, draws the last trump, and will surely lose two Spades, not having the benefit of Hand Records. Making only 8 tricks and a triumph for good defense by North. And for West’s admirable restraint in the bidding, of course.
South no doubt considered bidding 2♠ over 2♦, but the values are minimum and the suit so miserable, and being vulnerable there is also the specter of the dreaded minus 200 if Partner has only 3 Spades.
Playing in Spades, Deep Finesse will have you believe that 10 tricks are possible. We’ll leave it to you to figure out how on repeated Diamond leads, but our guess is that, with normal play, 9 tricks will be the end result.
South’s 3NT bid was somewhat aggressive, no doubt it was the T♦ that made her do it. Pass might well have worked here, South was lucky to catch Partner with such a good maximum. In fact, we know quite a few players who would have opened that North hand 2NT!
Against 3NT (or 2NT) East will lead the Club Ten or Nine (depending on lead agreements), North wins with the Ace, finesses the J♠ successfully, runs the T♦, and eventually scores 3 Spades, a Heart, 4 Diamonds and a Club. Making 9 tricks.
South’s Double was based on the agreement that N-S were playing Equal Level Conversion (ELC). Normally, when we double and then bid a new suit we are showing a really good hand, but this sequence, at least for the ELC crowd, is an exception. For more on ELC, please follow the link.
After East’s balancing Double, West would have done well to pass, collecting 200 on a part-score hand. Instead, he guessed to bid 2♥, a contract that we’d expect to make 8 tricks in real life.
These 9-point openings are cropping up with alarming regularity in the Wednesday Game. Nonetheless, we think that East’s hand is full value for that 1♥ bid, so much so that, when Partner cue-bids 2♠ we would make the encouraging bid of 3♦. Yes, we really like our hand! But when Partner bids 4♣ we have to say “Enough is enough!” If Partner couldn’t bid 3♠, surely we have Spade losers and slam is not on.
Against 4♥, South manages to find the Spade lead and it is 10 tricks for all Declarers.
We would certainly open that extremely distributional (and defenseless) South hand with a 4♠ bid. West’s Double is generally played as penalty-oriented, but East is allowed to use his discretion. East has no reason to think that his side can make anything at the 5-level, so he discreetly passes in the hope of a juicy penalty.
Just how juicy is that penalty? It should be 500 but that requires good defense by West. No doubt West will start out with a red Ace, here’s what might happen: - If West guesses to start out with the A♦, he’ll see the need to stop the Diamond ruff and has two ways to get the treasured 500. He can underlead the A♥ to Partner’s King for a Spade lead through Declarer … or he can play the J♠, praying that Partner has the Nine and that he will get his two Spades anyway. Can Partner help? Maybe, maybe not. With a singleton on the board in the led suit, East is entitled to give suit preference and a high Diamond would show something in Hearts. Alas, the play of the J♦ would also blow a trick in the suit, so East does best to play the Six and hope that Partner can figure it out. - If West starts with the A♥, he has little option but to shift to the J♠ if he wants to collect 500.
So, poor South is likely to suffer for her 4♠ opening, but we like to think that she will remain “bloody, but unbowed” and will make the same bid next time that this hand comes up.
We heartily approve of West’s 3♦ preempt, but then again we also liked South’s preempt on the previous board and look what happened there. Here, West has that lovely favorable vulnerability in his favor, and in next to no time N-S find themselves defending 5♦ doubled for plus 300, when they are rock-solid for a vulnerable slam in either major. It’s hard to see how N-S could reasonably have bid differently. North’s 4♦ created a force, and South’s Pass of 5♦ was intended as encouraging. But even so, who could fault North for not bidding on with a minimum hand, rotten trumps, and wastage in Diamonds? So, a triumph for the preemptors and a counterweight to Board 30!
Expect 8 or 9 tricks here, whether E-W play it in Spades or N-S in Spades. An unexciting finish to a great set of hands.
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