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Hand Analyses 29th August, 2007
West’s 3♠ was preemptive, and preemptive is a fair description of the West hand, with its good offense and non-existent defense. But is 3♠ enough? Please see the Bidding Quiz. The way that the auction went, East did not feel comfortable making a “five over five” sacrifice, there was too much potential for -500. So, E-W sell out to 5♣.
Against 5♣, East leads the A♠, then smartly cashes a Heart, and that is the end of that hand. Making 11 tricks.
South’s 3♦ bid bounces her opponents into a hopeless game. We don’t fault West for his minimum Takeout Double, but perhaps East could have bid just 3♥. True, he has 11 HCP’s, but it’s a quacky collection with square shape and that K♦ does not seem to be pulling full weight.
The game maybe hopeless looking at all four hands but it does have practical chances. For example, South leads the Q♦ which is won by North’s Ace. Looking at West’s Dummy, it is 100% clear for North to shift to a Spade, but will she be up to leading a low Spade? If North makes the mistake of playing A♠ and another Spade, then the third Spade loser disappears, and now the contract can be made if only Declarer can pick up the trump suit. The way to do that is to cash the A♥, and run the Ten, playing North for J9xx. Does South’s preempt make this a realistic play? Perhaps. At the moment of truth, Declarer will figure South for 7 Diamonds (from the bidding) and 2 Spades (because three Spades were not cashed). It also seems likely that South would have started out with a singleton Club if she had one, so let’s give her at least a couple of those. All this suggests that South started with one or two Hearts, making it pretty much an even money guess which way to play the Hearts.
Count Signaling Note If Declarer is reasonably certain that South would have led a singleton Club if she had one, and if the defenders are known to be compulsive count signalers, then it might be an idea to cash the A♥, and then, before the crucial second round of trumps, to cash Q♣ and A♣. North may routinely high-low, and if this signal can be trusted, then South is known to have started with 2-1-7-3 distribution and the trump suit played accordingly. The moral of this story is that it pays to mix up your defensive signals, at least when you are sure that Partner will not be misled.
North’s response was the Jacoby 2NT, showing a 4-card raise and game-going values. South showed Heart shortness and North bid the discouraging 4♠, and that was the end of that. In 4♠ there are two minor finesses to be taken, one works and the other doesn’t, so that is 11 tricks.
The E-W auction gets too high, but who is to blame? Please see the Bidding Quiz.
Against 4♥, North leads the T♦, which Declarer wins in hand. He runs the J♥ which South should cunningly duck! Now, Declarer plays another Heart, and realizes he has been duped when North shows out. South plays three rounds of trumps and now Declarer can do no better than score 2 Spades, 2 Hearts, and 3 Diamonds, so that lethal cocktail of overbidding and crafty defense results in three vulnerable undertricks.
West will surely get to 4♥ one way or another, and at any other vulnerability South would no doubt bid on to 4♠. But “Red vs White” that would be altogether too risky.
Against 4♥, North leads a Spade, won by Dummy’s Ace. The worst that can happen to Declarer is to lose a Heart, a Diamond and a Club, but Declarer will want to do better than 10 tricks. One possibility is to guess the Diamond correctly, and it’s not inconceivable that the Club loser will be spirited away on the 4th round of Diamonds. After winning the A♠, Declarer loses a trump to North’s Ace, and Spades will likely be continued and ruffed by Declarer. Now it seems normal enough for Declarer to draw trumps and attempt to guess the Diamond, making an 11th trick if the guessing is good.
North has an easy run of it in 3♦, losing just 3 tricks in the black suits. But the defense must grab those tricks (or at least the Club tricks) right away, otherwise one of Declarer’s Club losers will disappear on the Hearts.
Any thoughts on East’s bidding? We would classify it as somewhat pusillanimous, please see the Bidding Quiz.
As can be seen, E-W can make a load of tricks in Clubs (10 to be precise) and are very close to making game in Spades. All that is required for 4♠ to make is a 3-2 split in trumps.
South would have been forgiven if she had chosen to pass that square 12-count, but we hesitate to argue with an opening bid that contains two Aces and a King. South’s second bid was a Support Double (showing 3-card support), and again we would not argue with a Pass here. Just because South is playing Support Doubles does not mean that she is obliged to use one use one every time she has 3-card support, there should surely be a certain amount of discretion when Opener has a particularly miserable hand, as here.
2♠ is a perilous contract, with normal play Declarer will lose a trick to the singleton Q♠ after it will be touch-and-go for 8 tricks. But good defense beats the contract, as follows: East leads the A♥ Another Heart to West’s King The third round of Hearts is ruffed by Declarer A Spade is led to the Jack and the West’s Queen Another Heart (good defense!), Declarer pitches a Club, East a Diamond, Dummy ruffs K♠ ducked by East (more good defense!)
This wicked defense has left Declarer in the following predicament: Declarer ♠ T8 ♥ ♦ KJT ♣ QT West East ♠ ♠ K7 ♥ 9 ♥ ♦ Q76 ♦ 5 ♣ K65 ♣ J932 Dummy ♠ ♥ ♦ A982 ♣ A75 In the end position, Declarer needs 5 of the 7 last tricks, with the lead on the board. Declarer has two ways to proceed, and they both lead to defeat: - If she tries to get back to her hand with a Club, West jumps up with the K♣, and now the 5th Heart is ruinous, enduring that the defense gets two more trump tricks and 6 in total. - If she gets back to her hand with a Diamond finesse, and then loses to the K♠, East will exit with a Club, and Declarer is up the creek and paddleless. She cannot duck the Club (West wins and leads a Heart for a trump promotion), and if she wins the A♣, and tries to get back to her hand (to draw the last trump) then East will ruff.
Pity poor North for running into such a fine defense. Are you wondering why Deep Finesse says that 9 tricks are possible in Spades if played “double dummy”? Well, obviously that singleton offside Q♠ will have to be dropped, after which there is a rather neat squeeze against West. The play commences with 3 rounds of Hearts, a Spade to the King, Diamond finesse, Spade to the Jack (East craftily ducks), and another Spade to East’s Ace, leaving this position: Declarer ♠ T8 ♥ ♦ KT ♣ QT8 West East ♠ ♠ A7 ♥ 7 ♥ ♦ Q76 ♦ 5 ♣ K65 ♣ J932 Dummy ♠ 9 ♥ ♦ A98 ♣ A74 The lead is in Dummy, and, despite the blocked Diamond position, Declarer can make 5 of the remaining 7 tricks, as West is put through the wringer. Dummy’s 9♠ is led, to be won by East, but along the way West has some discarding problems: - If West pitches a Heart, East will win the A♠ and shift to a Club. Now the threat of West winning the K♣ and playing a Heart back (for a trump promotion) has gone, so Declarer can simply play low from Dummy and get his extra trick that way. - If West pitches a Club, East will win the A♠ as before, but this time Declarer must hop up with the Ace, take another Diamond finesse, and draw the last trump. West’s last three cards will be ♦Q7 and ♣K, so Declarer just leads a low Club and the King comes crashing down, setting up Declarer’s Queen for the 9th trick. - If West pitches a Diamond, the Diamonds are good and again it is 9 tricks.
West does not quite have game-going values in his own hand but might have been tempted to open 2♣ anyway. 4♠ turns out to be a fine contract, needing nothing more than 3-2 in the trump suit for success. Let’s say that the defense leads Clubs and that Declarer ruffs the second round. Now, Declarer plays a Spade to the Dummy’s King, North playing the Queen (or Jack). Now the percentage play in the trump suit is to run the T♠, playing South for the missing honor and following the so-called Principle of Restricted Choice. That Principle is not a success on the actual hand, holding Declarer to just 10 tricks.
East has a very nice hand, one with only 4 losers, but we don’t think that it is quite worth a game-forcing jump shift to 3♣. We’d bid just 2♣, and then when Partner gives a preference to 2♠ we’d make another try. The most descriptive way to do that is to bid 3♣, simultaneously describing our shape and our game aspirations. Of course, West has none of that and slinks back to 3♠, having no expectation whatsoever that his side will make this contract.
3♠ is indeed a miserable contract. Dummy is bereft of entries, and as a result there are two Spade losers, two Diamond losers, and a Club loser. Down one.
Over 1♣, North could make a case for a feeble Pass, a tentative 1♠ or a full-blooded 2♠. Full-blooded is likely to work best on the actual hand. Over 2♠, East has a bidding problem without a satisfactory solution, here are his unpleasant alternatives: - Pass, which is not a comfortable option with 10 HCP’s opposite an opening hand - 3♣, about right on values, but rather lacking in the Club department - 3♦, again OK on values (considering that East is already a passed hand), but it overstates the Diamonds somewhat. - 2NT, the stopperless No Trump could be right. - Double, not exactly ideal with only 3 Hearts, and small ones at that.
There’s small choice in rotten apples, as someone once said, and we think that Double has the least degree of rottenness. But any of the five could work well or badly on any given Wednesday.
Anyway, whatever East guesses to do over that bold 2♠ preempt, we’d expect N-S to buy the contract in 3♠, mercifully undoubled. 3♠ is a precarious perch, in danger of down two for the dreaded -200, but it gets out for down one (and a good board), thanks to the 2-2 trumps and the on-side A♦ (so that Dummy’s K♦ provides a Heart pitch).
Against 4♥, East leads the A♠, and Declarer ruffs the Spade continuation. Trumps come in for one loser, and that will be 10 tricks for what one would expect to be an average board. Well, perhaps a little better than average for N-S, it’s never a bad thing to bid the best game and score the maximum number of tricks.
Opposite the 1NT overcall N-S were playing “systems on”, so 2♣ was Stayman, South’s plan being to play in 2♥ or 2♠. If North responded 2♦, then 2♥ would be “Garbage Stayman”, telling Partner to pick her better major. As it happened, North had a major suit of her own, tempting North to make a game try. Fortunately for her, she yields to the temptation, and the partnership gets to game.
It turns out that 10 tricks are possible in Spades, despite the 4-0 trump break. Declarer is able to cross-ruff the hand, scoring 3 side-suits tricks and 7 trumps as follows: Club lead won by the Ace Heart losing to West’s Jack Club ruff Exit a Heart Club ruff Diamond to West’s Ace Club ruff Heart ruff Cash the K♦ At this point East is down to his 4 trumps, but when Declarer leads her last Diamond, East must ruff in front of Dummy’s QT, and it’s sayonara to any remaining hopes of a trump trick for the defense.
It would be a bit rich for West to make a vulnerable 3♠ call with that rotten suit, but we would certainly say that the 7th Spade justifies interference with 2♠. Once E-W start bidding Spades it seems likely that N-S will end up in 5♦, which makes. Some optimistic souls might even get to 6♦, but that fails when the Club finesse loses.
Suppose that West remains silent during the auction, and North declares 3NT, after this uncontested auction: 1NT 2♣, 2♦ 3♦, 3NT Pass. As East, what do you lead? A 4th best Club? That will be 11 tricks for Declarer and a zero for the defense. Or do you lead the K♠ and grab 7 fast tricks and a top? Good luck guessing that one right! But perhaps it’s not so tough. Fresh from his Canadian vacation we gave the problem to Dr Goodlead. He thought it was a no-brainer K♠ lead. “It’s the suit that needs the least help from Partner, and it’s less likely to blow a trick than a Club lead. Two good reasons, eh?” So there we have it.
Here’s another possibility. The auction is, once again, uncontested but this time North is more scientific, and tries 3♥ over 3♦, in case there is a playable 4-3 Heart fit. The full auction would be: 1NT 2♣, 2♦ 3♦, 3♥ 4♥, Pass. This seems like a mighty fine contract, looking at just the N-S hands. Of course, if the defense leads Spades, Declarer will let the second Spade win, preserving trump control (if they lead a third round the short hand can ruff), scoring up 11 tricks and a top board. Nice going, N-S! It would be unfair, tragic, and highly unlikely for East to defeat the contract with a Diamond lead ruffed, Spade underlead to East’s Queen, and another Diamond ruff. In the fullness of time the defense gets a Club and that is down one. But expect plus one far more often.
Adventurous bidding all around! We like all of the bids in the featured auction, which is not the same as saying that they are all crowned with success. In fact, our two favorite bids turned out to be the least successful: - What do you think of South’s 4♦ Splinter? Only 7 HCP’s, but there is the extra trump to consider. And we have a couple of side-suit controls, so this is not a hand that we are afraid of defending. We’d certainly hate to preempt with a hand that has an outside Ace and King. So, we say “Yeah!” for the Splinter even though it gets the N-S pair one too high (let’s qualify that with a “maybe”, see below). - What do you think of West’s 5♦ sacrifice? Well, against perfect defense, 4♠ will not make, so in theory this is a phantom sacrifice. But forget about theory, it looks like the right bid to us, and in practice there will be some N-S pairs who make 4♠.
How does 5♦ doubled do? There are three Aces to be lost and, with the Club finesse winning, it will be down one or two, depending upon the play of the Heart suit. Normal play is to finesse the T♥ for down two. Abnormal, anti-percentage but successful play, is to take a “backwards finesse”. The T♥ is led, covered by North, and then, later in the play, Declarer finesses against South’s Nine. Why is this anti-percentage? Because it requires two cards to be right (J♥ with North, 9♥ with South), whereas the straightforward finesse of the Ten requires just one card to be right (J♥ with South).
Next question. How does 4♠ fare? Deep Finesse says that this contract is down one. But Deep Finesse can see all the hands and his (or hers or its) play is therefore double dummy perfect. Our real-life West is not so lucky, he can see just two hands. Can he overcome this handicap and beat 4♠? Please see the Defense Problem.
South’s 3♦ was preemptive and quite a bold effort (as in foolhardy?) considering the adverse vulnerability. East has values for a second Double, and West does not have enough to bid the game.
It turns out that 4♠ makes, but how good a game is it? Not very, we would say, it needs a Spade finesse for starters. Also, a 4-1 trump break might be problematical. Anyway, we’ve all been in worse games, and if you bid and made this one then you certainly scored a high board.
Against 3♥, West leads the K♣, won by Dummy’s Ace. South might be wishing that she had reached game, but those thoughts are dispelled when the trumps are 5-1. Now, with 3 trump losers she leads that luck in the Spade suit just to make 9 tricks.
Some pairs might stumble into a poor 3NT contract, played by North. But with a lot of luck and some good play, this one can be brought home, please see the Play Problem.
The play in 2NT is hard to predict. East leads a Spade or a Club, both of which give up a trick, and then later in the play the defense is forced to give up at least one more trick. It looks like 8 tricks or thereabouts.
Nice bidding by South we would say, looking beyond her mere 12-count and correctly evaluating her 5-loser hand. The final contract of 4♥ is not a sure thing, but it does have good chances. How would you play this one? Please see Play Problem # 187.
East was close to bidding 4♥, and the good news for our featured E-W is that the 4♥ game is not very good, while the bad news is that it happens to make. Suppose that North leads the T♣, won by Dummy’s Ace. Now it seems like the most natural thing in the world to take the trump finesse. Natural, perhaps, but also a mistake. Let’s say that the finesse wins, after which it is a simple matter to lead towards the K♠, praying for an onside Ace, and if that K♠ proves to be an entry then the Heart finesse can be repeated for 10 tricks. That’s all very well, but here are a couple of reasons why this is not the best line of play: - If North has ♥Kxx she might craftily duck the first round of Hearts, so that, after getting back to the board with the K♠ and repeating the finesse, Declarer will have ended up wasting both of his Dummy entries on a fruitless mission. - If South has the A♠, then there will only be one entry to the board, and one finesse won’t be enough to pick up ♥Kxx in the South hand.
Yes, the correct play at Trick Two is to take the Diamond finesse, playing for the extra trick which needs only one finesse, and which is immune from a crafty North duck. When that works it’s 9 tricks for sure, when the A♠ is onside it’s 10 tricks, and then there is even a chance of 11 if the K♥ is onside doubleton.
As luck would have it, taking the Heart finesse at Trick Two provides the same 10 tricks as the correct line, which is a shame, it would have been nice to see virtue rewarded for a change.
This set has provided us with an unusual number of poor games which happen to make. Here we have the other side of the coin, a good game which may go down if West is clever enough to find a Club lead. Declarer wins the A♣, loses the Spade finesse, the defense takes two Clubs, and later get their 4th trick when the Heart finesse fails. It was pretty rotten luck for Declarer that not only did the defense find the right lead, but also that the major suit Kings were both offside.
Can Declarer do better? Yes. Just as on the previous board, Declarer must take the right finesse first, and here the right finesse is in Hearts, because at least when this one loses it is in to the safer West hand. Now, when the Heart finesse loses, Declarer has a chance to shake a Club loser on the third round of Hearts. Alas for Declarer, Clubs are 5-2 so West can cash the K♣ and give East a ruff. Even now, on the lie of the cards, Declarer can prevail by dropping the now-singleton K♠, but that is slightly against the odds.
South’s 2NT was a convention known in the United States as Jordan (aka elsewhere as Dormer or Truscott), showing invitational values (or better) and support for Partner’s major. North has a rock-bottom minimum and signs off in 3♥, which is plenty high enough, as N-S have 4 top losers, and need an onside A♦ just to make 9 tricks.
Against 1NT, North leads a Diamond, and South might try that old ruse of false-carding with the Ace. Now, when South continues with a low Diamond, West guesses wrong and inserts the Ten losing to the Jack. Now a Heart shift does in Declarer as the defense scores 7 red suit tricks for down one.
Perhaps East should have bid 2♣ with that good 5-card suit and singleton Diamond. That would be a good choice indeed, scoring up 9 black suit tricks.
Against 3NT, let’s say that West leads Diamonds, the unbid suit. That gives Declarer a second Diamond trick and a total of 9. Of course, matchpoint players aren’t satisfied with merely making their contract, and the only source of overtricks is in Spades. It would be nice if the Q♠ were onside, that would provide two overtricks. Declarer needs the Clubs for communication, so she leads a Spade at Trick Two and the Jack forces the Ace. The defense clears the Diamonds, but now Declarer can count 2 Spades, 2 Hearts, 2 Diamonds and 5 Clubs for a total of 11 tricks. Of course, if West finds an opening lead of the Q♥ then it will be just 10 tricks.
A Classic Deception Let’s revisit the play of the hand, but with the Q♠ in the East hand. Now, when the Spade finesse loses at Trick Two, Declarer must be satisfied with just 9 tricks. So what, you say? Well, suppose that the Q♠ is with East, but when Declarer takes the Spade finesse East false-cards with the Ace! Now, as before, Diamonds are cleared, then Declarer gullibly repeats the “winning” Spade finesse for her 11th trick. Oops! The Queen wins the trick, three Diamonds are cashed and it’s down one!
In the featured auction 2♣ was game-forcing. Anyway, most auctions will surely lead to 3NT Declarer from one side or the other.
First, let’s say that North is Declarer. East will probably lead a Heart, and now Declarer has the timing to play on Clubs. She wins the opening lead in her hand and advances the J♣, after which the suit is set up for one loser and Declarer has 11 tricks (or 12 if the defense doesn’t cash their A♠ when they get in with their Club).
The next question is “Can South make 11 tricks in No Trump if West leads the J♠?” The answer is “Yes”. Dummy’s K♠ is taken by East’s Ace, Dummy’s Queen wins the Spade continuation, and now 6 rounds of Diamonds are played, leaving this position: Dummy ♠ 7 ♥ K3 ♦ ♣ J7 West East ♠ JT ♠ 3 ♥ QT5 ♥ 9 ♦ ♦ ♣ ♣ KQ2 Declarer ♠ ♥ AJ7 ♦ ♣ AT Now, Declarer plays a Club to the Ace (West pitching a Spade), back to the K♥, and exits a Spade, throwing in West to lead a Heart.
P.S. Do you agree with that 1♦ opening bid? Or do you open these hands 1NT? There’s a similar decision for West on Board 28, we discuss both hands in the Bidding Quiz.
East overcalls a 15-18 1NT, South competes in Diamonds, and West uses a Lebensohl sequence to compete to 3♣. Why would West feel compelled to compete to 3♣? And what is this Lebensohl anyway? Please see the Bidding Quiz.
Not much to the play here … E-W have an easy 9 tricks in Clubs … N-S can scrape up 6 tricks in Diamonds and their -100 will look rather fine against those -110’s for the N-S pairs that defended 3♣.
3♦ is a simple enough contract, making 9 tricks in a canter. But we would have to say that, as South, we would have opened the proceedings with a Weak Two. But we don’t say that 2♠ is the “right” bid, merely our preference. This one is a matter of personal preference, passing or bidding 1♠ are fine, too.
If South does open 2♠, West will chime in with 3♣, North will probably compete to 3♠ and that is where it will be played. How many tricks does South make in Spades? The answer is 8 or 9, it all depends upon whether the defense can get their trump promotion. Here’s the winning defense: West cashes the A♣ and K♣ Heart shift A♠ is cashed Spade to the Jack, Queen, King Diamond to East’s Ace Now a Heart back, and West’s 9♠ is promoted for the 5th defensive trick.
East’s jump 3♣ showed invitational values, and West’s 3♠ asked if East could bid 3NT.
Against 3NT, South will no doubt be torn between leading her longer and stronger Spades (which the enemy appear ready for) or trying a surprise attack with her undisclosed Diamonds. - If South starts out with a Spade lead (she should lead the Ten), Declarer will win in his hand and play immediately on Clubs. When the King pops up, Declarer has 10 tricks and can take the Diamond finesse (most likely to win on the bidding) for 11, but he must take it while the T♣ is still on the board as an entry (otherwise, if by chance the K♦ is offside the A♦ will be stranded in Dummy). When the K♥ later drops singleton it’s no fewer than 12 tricks. - If South starts out with a Diamond lead, Declarer should play the Queen from Dummy. The K♦ is likely to be with South, and with KJTx(x) South would surely have led the Jack. Now a Spade is played, and if Declarer is careful he can untangle the same 12 tricks as before.
Against a Heart contract by North, what would you lead as East? Probably a minor suit, but which one? From the bidding Partner appears to have 6 Diamonds, and Dummy purports to have a stopper or two in Diamonds. That would appear to make a Diamond lead rather risky, don’t you think? There is the definite danger that, by attacking Diamonds, the defense will set up a Diamond trick in Dummy for the pitch of a Club loser. As it happens there are two ways to hold the Heart contract to 9 tricks: - Lead the K♦, then shift at the speed of light to a low Club - Lead a low Club on the go and get 4 tricks that way.
Here’s another thought. When Declarer has bid two suits, and Dummy has expressed a preference for one of those suits, it’s often a good idea to lead a trump, the idea being to reduce Dummy’s ability to use ruffs to establish Declarer’s side-suit. Is that a good idea here? Absolutely not! Our death holding of four small in RHO’s 5-card side-suit, tells us that ruffs will probably not be required on this hand and that the establishment of the Spade suit will merely depend on the location of the high cards. But, let us suppose that the East Spade holding were, for example, QJxx. Now it is easy to see how ruffs in Dummy would be needed to set up the suit, and a trump lead would be almost automatic.
P.S. Actually, we would have opened the West hand 1NT, for more on which, please see the Bidding Quiz.
That 5♠ bid announced two losers in the unbid Club suit, and North’s 6♣ accepted the slam try and showed the A♣ along the way. South felt she had done enough and opted for the matchpoint spot of 6NT rather than 6♠. As it happens, both contracts make 13 tricks with the aid of the winning Diamond finesse.
North’s 1NT was “forcing”, and her 2NT invited game. South decided that her hand was not good enough for game and with such good Heart intermediates chose to play in 3♥ rather than 2NT.
Spotlight on West, who must make the opening lead against 3♥. What would be your choice? We don’t like to start out with the A♣, and a trump lead looks highly dangerous (and blows a trick on the actual hand). That leaves a Spade or a Diamond. “Which would you lead?”, we asked Dr Goodlead. His analysis was spot on. “Dummy does not have 4 Spades, nor does she have 3 Hearts. No doubt her length is in the minors, and leading a Diamond might just set up Dummy’s suit for some Spade pitches. So, we lead a Spade, we may need to set up some tricks in that suit”. Quite right, Doctor, an opening Spade lead is the only way for the defense to score 4 tricks.
Another borderline game for N-S. North’s 2♠ showed “a limit raise or better”. Do you play Splinters in competition? And, if so, does this hand qualify for a 4♣ bid instead of 2♠? Please see the Bidding Quiz.
After the 2♠ limit raise, South did well not to simply count up her points, arrive at 11, and sign off in 3♥. As 11-counts go this one is rather good, thanks to the singleton, nice trump fillers, and good controls. Maybe not quite good enough to go to game directly, but at least good enough to make an encouraging 3♣ noise. That noise should be enough for North to bid the game.
It turns out to be a good game unless West finds the opening lead of a Spade. Underleading a King against a suit contract is a common enough practice but not without some risk. And the longer the suit is, the greater the risk. Leading from Kxxxxx is dangerous indeed, but it’s the winner here, allowing the defense to score 4 tricks with the aid of two Spade ruffs. We were in two minds ourselves between an opening Spade or Diamond lead, so we asked Dr Goodlead for his opinion. He was already two for two on this session, we wondered if he could manage the trifecta. Indeed he did, he reckoned the chances of a Spade ruff to be quite high. He even went so far as to lead the T♠, intending that as a suit preference signal for Diamonds. The Doctor goes three for three!
At any vulnerability but unfavorable East would have been right there with a 5♣ sacrifice, but “Red vs White” this would have been one trick too expensive.
Playing in 4♠, North makes 11 tricks, notwithstanding the nasty trump break. However, careful play is required, and we start with one line of play which brings in only 10 tricks: K♣ opening lead, won by Declarer’s Ace Spade to the King Another Spade, West splits his honors, and Declarer’s King wins Heart to the King (nice duck by East) Another Heart, West alertly hops up with his Queen (well done!) Q♠ is cashed A 4th round of Spades Now, Declarer can forget about 11 tricks and is even in danger of going down. But she gets lucky when she leads a low Heart and the Ace comes down, and later when the Q♦ is favorably placed. Even so, it’s still only 10 tricks when 11 were possible.
Where did Declarer go wrong? It was a mistake to go up with the K♠ at Trick Two. When East shows out, Declarer does better to lose a Spade immediately, giving her better control and communications. So, here is Take Two: K♣ opening lead, won by Declarer’s Ace Low Spade, playing the Nine when East shows out, West winning the Jack Spade return won by Declarer’s Ten Heart to the King Another Heart, again West alertly plays the Queen Spade return won by Declarer Heart ruff, felling the Ace Now, it’s back to hand with a Diamond, the last trump is drawn, and 11 tricks are made when the Diamonds oblige.
Nicely played, but, as we gave Declarer a mulligan, let’s afford the same courtesy to East on defense. Can they do better if East jumps up with the A♥ at Trick Four and continues with Clubs? Declarer can still manage just one Heart ruff, and only scores a single Heart trick. That’s only 10 tricks altogether. Is there an 11th? Yes, West is squeezed in the red suits. In fact, the squeeze takes effect at Trick Five when East plays the second round of Clubs, whichever red suit West pitches gives Declarer an extra trick. Alternatively, West can ruff in front of Declarer, but that only delays the evil hour … Declarer will overruff and cash the K♥, cross to the K♦, ruff a Heart, draw the last enemy trump, and now the play of Declarer’s last trump inflicts the squeeze. An unsuccessful defensive mulligan to end a difficult set of boards.
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