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Hand Analyses 15th August, 2007
West did well not to push on to game, perhaps he had seen his Partner’s non-vulnerable overcalls before. For once, East’s overcall is most sound, and E-W’s combined 26 HCP’s would normally be enough to make game a good proposition. But both 3NT and 4♠ are poor contracts indeed, the hands fit together most poorly.
How do E-W fare in Spades? Surely the defense will lead Diamonds, and after that Declarer needs to bring in the trump suit for one loser. That requires either King doubleton or King tripleton or JT doubleton with North, less than a 40% proposition, and on the lie of the cards it’s 9 tricks only.
3NT is an inferior contract to 4♠, but, perversely, 3NT is the contract that makes. Let’s assume once more that the defense starts with Diamonds. That gives Declarer his 7th trick, then the 8th and 9th come from major suit finesses. But some of the routes to 9 tricks are strictly double dummy (try Diamond lead to the Ace and a Club shift, for example), we don’t see many making 3NT contracts in this board’s future, unless it is with some obliging defense.
Is your partnership on a sure footing when it comes to 1♦ 2♣ auctions? If not, please see the Bidding Quiz.
Playing in 4♠, what are Declarer’s options in the Spade suit? Most of the time she will lose two tricks in the suit (or even 3 on a bad break), and the best chance for just one loser is to lead low towards the King hoping that East started with AQ doubleton (just a 3% chance). Anyway, that doesn’t work and Declarer loses two Spades and a Diamond. Here’s how the play might go: Heart lead to Dummy’s King Spade to Declarer’s King Spade to East’s Ace East exits with a Heart (Dummy pitching a Diamond) Diamond to the Queen and East’s Ace Now East has no Spades to lead so does best to return a Diamond. Declarer’s King wins this, and she now cashes winners and cross-ruffs, allowing West to take his trump winner at his leisure.
A Delightful Swindle Perhaps you had a different auction and somehow arranged for North to be Declarer. Now, the JT75 of Spades are in the closed hand, and Declarer has a better (and far more enjoyable!) way to avoid two Spade losers. He should play low from Dummy’s K632, hoping that West started with Qx. If so, 99.9% of the Wests on this planet will play low, the Jack will force the Ace, and the Queen will fall under Dummy’s King on the next round. Pretty neat, eh? This play is almost guaranteed to succeed whenever West started with Q4 or Q8 or Q9 (three holdings) whereas the “percentage play” of low towards the King only works with one holding (AQ with East). And swindles are always so much fun, don’t you think?
We cannot see a good reason for any of the combatants to get involved on this hand. And, if there is an outbreak of bidding, we predict that the side that buys the contract will go minus.
What do you think of that 2♥ bid by North? Not exactly text-book perfect, is it? Vulnerable, second seat, and rotten suit are the obvious flaws here. We confess that we would indeed bid 2♥ here anyway, but that’s just a personal style. Actually, we would upgrade the suit to only semi-rotten, the Ace counts for a lot in perilous fits.
Moving on to East, his 4NT was for the minors according to the partnership agreements, for more on which please see the Bidding Quiz. Alas, for E-W, the hands are a complete misfit and 5♣ down two will be the final result, mercifully undoubled we would expect.
If East plays this in 1NT it won’t be much fun. South leads a Heart and now Declarer must arrange an end-play just to avoid down two and the dreaded -200. Here is how the play might go: Heart to North’s Queen Heart to Dummy’s Ace Spade Jack is run around to South’s Ace Three Hearts are cashed, Declarer pitching a Spade and a Diamond Diamond to the King and Ace Diamond to South’s Queen Club to Declarer’s Queen A♣ is cashed Club to South’s King Now, with just two cards left, South is forced to concede the remaining tricks to Dummy. That’s down one, and as good as Declarer can hope for.
Of course, there will be some Souths who will save East from this miserable fate. They’ll jump right in over 1NT with their characterless and vulnerable 12-count, and will play it in 2♥, mercifully undoubled. Now it will be South, not East who is struggling to avoid that -200. Declarer is woefully short of Dummy entries and her best line is to postpone the decision in trumps for as long as possible: J♠ covered by Q, K, A Exit a Spade West plays a Spade, Declarer pitches a Club (good play) West exits a Diamond to East’s Eight (good guess!) and Declarer’s Queen Declarer exits a Diamond East cashes a second Diamond East cashes the A♣ A Club to
South’s King
Let’s assume that you play Jacoby Transfers. Do you also play Texas Transfers? If so, then 1NT 4♥ would be a transfer to Spades. So far, so good, but what is the difference between these two auctions? West East West East 1NT 1NT 2♥ 2♠ 4♥ 4♠ 4♠ In the first auction we got to 4♠ slowly via Jacoby, in the second we went there directly through Texas. A common treatment is for the slow Jacoby auction to be a mild slam try, and for the Texas auction to show interest only in game.
The actual West hand is good enough for a mild slam try, and the next question is “Should East accept the slam try with that hand?” It’s certainly tempting with those 4 trumps, but we don’t think that another bid is warranted with that minimum hand. Remember, it’s very much a “mild” slam try, East needs something really good to bid again.
N-S have two cashing Hearts, of course, but South is more likely to start out with the J♦. Now Declarer has 11 top tricks plus the possibility of a 12th if the Clubs behave. There’s no reason why Declarer should not rattle off all his trumps and both his Diamond winners before playing on Clubs. It may not be obvious to South (with the East hand hidden) that she must keep all her Clubs, and if she fails to do so that will be Declarer’s 12th trick.
A straightforward enough auction. East leads the A♥ which is ruffed by Declarer. There are 10 tricks in the black suits, and a Diamond trick should make 11. However, Declarer is in danger of losing control in the face of repeated Heart leads. On the actual hand, with trumps a friendly 3-2, she must guess the Diamond correctly for that 11th trick. Will she? She probably should! East leads the A♥ and West discourages, so surely East has AK♥ and probably AKQ♥. In that case, the A♦ figures to be with West. So, Declarer ruffs that opening lead, draws trumps, crosses to Dummy with a Club and leads towards her Diamond holding, planning to fly with the King if West plays low. That’s 11 tricks.
In the featured auction, West cleverly bids North’s Diamonds and similarly East bids South’s Spades, allowing E-W to snuggle up in a cozy 1NT contract. North will lead Diamonds anyway, which Declarer must win in his hand. Now, it’s AKQ♠, followed by a low Club towards the board and a silent prayer that the A♣ is with North. The prayer is answered and it is 7 tricks.
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