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Hand Analyses         10th October, 2007

 

 

 1

♠ KJ842

Q92

AQT

♣ 87

 

♠ A9653

764

2

♣ AT42

          North

West             East

          South

T853

97653

♣ KQ53


Dlr     North   
Vul     None 



 

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♠ QT7

AKJ

KJ84

♣ J96

West    North   East     South

            1♠        Pass    2

Pass    2♠        Pass    4♠

Pass    Pass    Pass

 

North had three choices of rebid:

-         3: North has good Diamonds, but only three of them, and that 5-3-3-2 shape is far from ideal.

-         2NT:  Show a minimum and balanced hand, but dangerous, perhaps, with two small Clubs.

-         2♠:  Some pairs play that, after a 2/1, a rebid of the major is “neutral”, meaning that it is the bid one makes when there is no good descriptive alternative available.  As, such, the 2♠ rebid does not guarantee a 6-card suit.  If the neutral 2♠ is available, then that would be a good choice.

 

Anyway, 4♠ looks like a normal spot, and whether East starts out with a Heart or a Club, the bad trump break beats the contract one trick.  For example:

            Defense cashes two Clubs

            Declarer ruffs the third round of Clubs

            Spade to the Queen and West’s Ace

            Heart return (good play!)

Now, Declarer must cash red winners, forcing West to ruff in at some point.  When he does so, it will be his last trick (if a Club comes back, she’ll ruff high on the board and finesse the Spade).  Getting out for down one will be a good result.

 

The defense can beat this contract two tricks if East finds the opening Diamond lead.  Now, when West gets in with the A♠ he can underlead his A♣ twice to get two Diamond ruffs.  Is this defense likely to happen in real life?  Maybe.  If North ever supports Diamonds, East will figure West to be short (void even) and may well start out with Diamonds.  When in with the A♠, it’s a low Club to East’s Queen, and a low Diamond back for a ruff.  The low Diamond is suit preference and tells West that Declarer did not misguess the Clubs and that East had KQ in the suit.

 

 

 2

♠ JT63

A43

JT2

♣ Q86

 
 

♠ KQ75

K

K96

♣ KJT97

          North

West             East

          South

♠ A942

65

AQ54

♣ A32

 

Dlr       East
Vul      N-S 


 
 
 
 
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♠ 8

QJT9872

873

♣ 54

West    North   East     South

                        1        2

Dbl      Pass    2♠        Pass

4♠        Pass    Pass    Pass

 

South leads the Q, won by North.  Hearts are continued and ruffed on the board.  Next, the K♠ and Q♠, getting the bad news.  Now Declarer guesses the Club correctly and it turns out to be 11 tricks.

 

6♣ is not a terrible contract.  Let’s say that North is on lead and starts with the A and another Heart which is ruffed by Declarer.  How would you play the Clubs?  With the Heart length in the South hand it makes sense to play North for the Q♣.  Which is better, do you think?

-         Cash the K♣, and then run the J♣?

-         Or, run the Jack immediately?

If Clubs are 3-2 if won’t matter, this is all about the 4-1 breaks.  If we cash the K♣ first, we’ll pick up a singleton Queen with South (just one possible holding).  If we finesse immediately we can pick up Qxxx in the North hand, which is 4 possible holdings and therefore clearly superior.

 

 

 3

♠ AJ62

J

J43

♣ AK542

 

♠ K987

K5

AT6

♣ T876

          North

West             East

          South

♠ Q3

Q9876

Q82

♣ Q93

 

Dlr     South
Vul     E-W 

 


 
 
 
 
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♠ T54

AT432

K975

♣ J

South   West    North   East 

Pass    Pass    1♣       Pass

1        Pass    1♠        Pass

2♠        Pass    Pass    Pass

 

Deep Finesse says that 8 tricks can be made in Spades on a Double Dummy basis.  If the defense leads a Diamond (most reasonable on the auction), then Declarer can come to 8 tricks only with this well-timed series of plays:

            Diamond to West’s Ace

            Spade shift won by Declarer’s Ace

            A♣ and K♣ are cashed

            Club ruff

            K is cashed

            A is cashed

            Heart ruff

At this point, Declarer has 7 tricks, and cannot be prevented from scoring two more in this end position:

                                    Declarer

                                    ♠ J6

                                   

                                    J

                                    ♣ 54

            West                                        East

            K98                                      ♠ Q

                                                         Q98

            T                                           Q

            ♣ T                                          ♣

                                    Dummy

                                    T

                                    T43

                                    9

                                    ♣

Look what happens when Declarer leads a Club:

-         If East pitches a Heart, Dummy ruffs, and Declarer scores a 9th trick by leading a Heart.

-         If East ruffs, then Dummy pitches a Diamond.  East now does best to play the Q, but to no avail, Declarer can still score the T♠ and J♠ separately.

 

 

 4

♠ A986

Q62

K7

♣ Q976


 

♠ T5

T543

AQ6

♣ AK52

          North

West             East

          South

♠ 743

KJ97

JT82

♣ J8

 

Dlr     West
Vul     Both 


 
 
 
 
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♠ KQJ2

A8

9543

♣ T43

West    North   East     South

1♣       Pass    1        Pass

2        Pass    Pass    Dbl

Pass    2♠        All Pass

  

Gone are the days when the opponents would routinely let us play in a cozy 4-4 fit at the two-level.  Nowadays, someone usually finds some way to balance or pre-balance.  And so it is here, South has both of the unbid suits in the balancing chair and, notwithstanding the vulnerability, chimes in with a Double.  This turns out to be spot-on, and 2♠ makes 8 tricks.

 

 

 5

♠ KQ64

652

8654

♣ T9




Bidding Quiz (West)

♠ 32

AKJT98

A

♣ A742

          North

West             East

          South

♠ 95

Q7

KQJT93

♣ KQ3

 

Dlr     North
Vul     N-S 


 
 
 
 
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♠ AJT87

43

72

♣ J865

West    North   East     South

            Pass    1        Pass

1        Pass    2        Pass

3♣        Pass    3        Pass

3        Pass    4       Pass

5        Pass    Pass    Pass

 

West had a good hand for a Strong Jump Shift, but this pair was not using that method.  3♣ was game-forcing and (the way that many pairs play this) artificial, not necessarily with Clubs, being analogous to the New Minor Forcing convention after a 1NT rebid by Opener.  Anyway, East does not have 3-card Heart support so he rebids his powerful Diamonds.  And that 5 bid?  It says “Bid slam if you have a control in Spades”.

 

That was a nice auction, even if it did absolutely guarantee a Spade lead and only 11 tricks.

 

 

 6

♠ J75

865

KJ92

♣ A86




Bidding Quiz (North)

♠ Q2

A2

863

♣ QJ9753

          North

West             East

          South

♠ T93

KQ943

A74

♣ 42

 

 Dlr     East
 Vul     E-W 


 
 
 
 
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♠ AK864

JT7

QT5

♣ KT

West    North   East     South

                        Pass    1♠

Pass    2♠        Pass    Pass

Pass

 

Here E-W have no realistic option other than to sell out to 2♠.  If West finds the inspired opening lead of the A, then the defense can take 3 Hearts, and the A, and can score a 5th trick when East leads the 4th round of Hearts for a trump promotion.

 

More likely, West will start out with the Q♣, won by Declarer’s King.  Now, it’s A♠, K♠, and a Spade to the Jack, then Declarer knocks out the A.  Having missed out on the trump promotion, the best that the defense can do now is 4 tricks, but even to achieve that East must keep his wits about him.  Clearly he must shift to Hearts, but it must be a low Heart, otherwise the suit will block and one of Declarer’s Heart losers disappears on the 13th Diamond.

 

 

 7

♠ Q3

K95

762

♣ KJ654




Bidding Quiz (West)

♠ AKJ4

Q3

A43

♣ AT82

          North

West             East

          South

♠ T6

JT742

J985

♣ 93

 

Dlr     South
Vul     Both 


 
 
 
 
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♠ 98762

A86

KQT

♣ Q7

South   West    North   East 

Pass    1♣       Pass    Pass

1♠        1NT     Pass    2

Pass    Pass    Pass

 

 Normally, a 1NT rebid by opener shows 12-14 HCP’s (assuming a 15-17 range for the 1NT opening), but here Partner is silent, so 1NT shows 18-19.

 

2 will make with careful play:

            K opening lead, won by Dummy’s Ace (no point in ducking this)

            Q is led from the board, won by North’s King

            Diamond to South’s Ten

            Q is cashed

            Q♣ shift is won by Dummy’s Ace

            A♠ and K♠ are cashed

Declarer’s plan was to execute a Scissors Coup.  He was always going to play the J♠ next, on which he would pitch a Club, cutting off the opponents from each other, and avoiding a trump upper-cut on the third round of Clubs.  The surprise appearance of the Q♠ from North on the second round does not change things … North can ruff the J♠ on the third round, and Declarer still pitches away a Club.  Making 8 tricks!  It takes an opening Club lead and accurate defense thereafter to beat 2.

 

 

 8

♠ Q986

T87

J985

♣ J9




 

♠ T7

QJ5

AT6

♣ AK842

          North

West             East

          South

♠ K53

K632

K32

♣ QT5

 

Dlr     West
Vul     None 


 
 
 
 
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♠ AJ42

A94

Q74

♣ 763

West    North   East     South

1♣       Pass    1        Pass

2        Pass    3NT     Pass

Pass    Pass

 

Against 3NT, South will no doubt lead her 4th best Spade to Declarer’s King.  Declarer knocks out the A, the defense cashes its tricks, and it’s 9 tricks for Declarer.

 

We confess that we’d be tempted to open West’s “good 14” with a 15-17 1NT, based on the 5-card suit and the Aces and Tens.  That will get 3NT played from the West side, and now North can dazzle the Vugraph audience by finding the spectacularly successful opening lead of the Q♠!  This picks up the whole Spade suit, and sets the contract by one trick.  If anybody asks what that opening lead was all about, North’s explanation might be “It was my 4th worst.  Duh!”

 

 

 9

♠ J87432

AQ

Q742

♣ K




 

♠ 96

J97

AT83

♣ AJ75

          North

West             East

          South

♠ AKQT5

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