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Hand Analyses 3rd October, 2007
As a 5-card majorite, how do you like South’s 3rd seat opening bid of 1♠? We like it just fine, if we are going to open light in 3rd seat with a 4-card suit, let’s at least bid a good suit. Notwithstanding that, it seems likely that West will end up as Declarer in Hearts. If, as N-S, you let them play in 2♥, then this was not your finest hour, you really had to find a way to push them up to the 3-level, either via a light 3rd seat opening, or some balancing action.
We wish we could announce that those N-S pairs who got in there and got their opponents to 3-level (where N-S could defend the perilous 3♥) were rewarded with a plus score. But no, 3♥ scrapes up 9 tricks thanks to 3-2 breaks in both the red suits and the onside A♥. So, style points only, we regret to say.
Let’s say that 2♦ was game-forcing. In that case, North’s raise to 3♥ was not only forcing, but also stronger than a direct 4♥. Yes, it’s the Principle of Fast Arrival in action. At this point in the proceedings, with both partners in possession of substantial extras, somebody eventually needs to assume control and guide this auction into the right slam. Who should be taking charge here? Please see the Bidding Quiz.
No prizes for taking 13 tricks on this one, hopefully they were No Trump tricks.
Against 4♥, a Club lead holds Declarer to 10 tricks, but surely North will lead her Partner’s Diamond suit. Can Declarer now manage 11 tricks? Please see the Play Problem.
The fate of this 3NT contract hinges on the opening lead. It looks like a choice between the attacking low Diamond and the safer T♥. It turns out that the safe lead is the winner, catching Partner with the perfect holding and holding Declarer to a paltry 7 tricks. Dr Goodlead thought it was a close choice between the two leads and eventually guessed wrong, opting for a Diamond and ending his winning streak at 5. Alas for the defense a Diamond lead is quite disastrous, giving Declarer his 8th trick right away. Declarer will go after his 9th trick right away (before running the Clubs) by leading a low Spade towards the Queen at trick 2. North grabs her K♠, but now Declarer has his 9th, and when Spades are 3-3 it’s 10 tricks.
An Astonishingly Devious False Card! It’s obvious to assume that Declarer will win that opening Diamond lead with one of his intermediate cards, but it might be fun to win with the King! Not only fun but potentially profitable too. Here are the two possibilities that Declarer is envisaging as he casully plays the K♦ at Trick One: (a) South has the K♠, which takes Dummy’s Queen. A Diamond comes back, Declarer playing the Seven, won by North’s Queen. South’s return of the Diamond Six might be somewhat strange from JT96, so North should smell a rat. But maybe she’ll already be in the mind-set that the Diamonds are running and continue the suit. She’ll be quite right, of course, the Diamonds are indeed running, but it’s Declarer’s Diamonds! (b) North has the K♠ and pops up with it at Trick Two. North should cash a high Diamond first, and when South plays the Six, she’ll no doubt assume that her Partner started with JT986 and persist with the suit, and that would be 10 tricks without requiring the Spade break. Another possibility is that North underleads one or both of his Diamond honors, giving Declarer a mirthful 11 tricks!
That K♦ looks to us like a risk-free false-card to us. But, if North is not a trusting soul, she might see through the ruse by counting up the HCP’s. If Declarer really is trying to sneak a Spade trick with the Diamonds wide open then he cannot have more than 8 tricks, and that would give him the A♠, A♥, K♦, and K♣. That’s 14 HCP’s, where’s the 15th? If it’s a major suit Jack, then Declarer had a legitimate play for 9 by simply taking a major suit finesse. So, perhaps the 15th point is the J♦. Then again, which is more likely, a bizarre false card or a 14-point 1NT?
West’s 2♠ bid was Fourth Suit Forcing, and the jump to 3NT showed some extras with Spades well controlled. As East did not open 1NT, West can reasonably deduce that Partner is short in Diamonds, which is not good news opposite KQJT2. This thought should be enough to persuade West not to pursue a Club slam.
There’s nothing to the play in this one, all roads lead to 11 tricks for Declarer.
When Dummy goes down, Declarer can see that there is some work to be done. There are 4 trump tricks plus a ruff in one hand or the other, and there are 3 Club tricks. The remaining two tricks must come from Spades and/or Diamonds. It looks to us that the best line of play on this tricky little hand is: Win the Q♣ on the board Cash A♥ Heart to the King Cash A♣ and K♣ pitching Diamonds Spade finesse, losing to the Ace Now, Declarer has a trump entry to his hand for a second Spade finesse, and with the A♦ onside he’ll rack up 11 lovely tricks. Declarer was right to get those Diamonds away on the Clubs before taking the Spade finesse, the 6-2 Club break was the bad news, but fortunately the Club shortness was also with the trump shortness. And Declarer also did well to draw just two rounds of trumps before playing on Spades, ensuring that he had an entry back to hand for a second Spade finesse.
Against 3♣, South leads the K♠ won by Declarer, who has two reasonable lines of play: (a) He can go after three Spade ruffs on the board, hoping that the suit is 4-4. The trouble with this line of play is that if South ruffs the 4th round of Spades in front of Dummy, Declarer will be out of entries to the board and will have to play the Diamonds from his hand, eventually losing the Spade ruff and two or three Diamonds. (b) Or, he ruff just two Spades on the board, and use his last sure entry to lead a Diamond towards his hand, which will not be a success if the A♦ is offside and Spades were 4-4 all the time.
Declarer has a rather neat Discovery Play available. He ruffs a Spade then leads the K♥ from the board! Declarer is going to ruff this anyway, he merely wants North to tell him where the A♥ is. If South fails to cover the K♥ then surely the Ace is with South, and therefore the A♦ must be with North (otherwise South would have opened the bidding). This clever play points the way for Declarer, he’ll ruff the Heart, ruff another Spade, and lead a Diamond from the board. North plays the Ace (South unblocking the Nine, just in case). Now, it turns out to be 11 tricks thanks to the Q♦ coming down.
Initially, N-S probably felt pretty pleased with themselves, getting into the auction, finding their 10-card fit and a non-vulnerable save. Unfortunately for N-S the save is a phantom, as 4♥ goes down a trick. On this occasion, it turns out that North would have done better to be less active in the bidding and those who favor sounder overcalls can allow themselves a smug smile on this one.
South might well lead her singleton Heart, won by Declarer. A losing Spade finesse and a Heart ruff will follow, after which the fate of the contract will depend on Declarer’s ability to find the J♦. Declarer will reason that, as South started with only 4 major suit cards compared with North’s 7, South has more room in her hand for Diamonds. This logic works well and it’s 10 tricks.
Back to the opening lead. If Declarer reasons that the Heart is a lik | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
