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Hand Analyses 7th November, 2007
A rather tame start to the set. Against 2♠, East starts out with the K♥, the defense can cash three Hearts and, thanks to the obliging Spades and Diamonds, it will be 9 tricks for Declarer when he later loses just a Diamond.
West might have doubled 1NT, but reasonably decided to get his 5-card major into the auction, no doubt hoping to buy the contract at the two-level and make it more difficult for N-S to find their own fit. But North was not to be denied and with her 6-card Heart suit she was prepared to compete to the 3-level. The chosen method was a 2NT Lebensohl bid, for more on which please see the Bidding Quiz. In the meantime let us just say that 2NT was the beginning of a sequence which allowed North to compete to the 3-level in any of the other suits, and that 3♣ was a forced response.
Against 3♥, East leads the A♦ and can now go one of two ways: - Cash the second Diamond and shift to a Spade. Dummy’s Ace wins the trick, and Declarer will try to get rid of her two Spade losers by cashing 3 Clubs, and then playing the Q♦. West will ruff (low), which stops the second Spade pitch, but it also sacrifices the defense’s potential second trump trick. Making 9 tricks. - Shift to a Spade at Trick Two. Dummy’s Ace wins, and Declarer can cash three Clubs (pitching a Diamond), but now the entry situation does not permit the trump suit to be picked up. In effect, Declarer is trading a Diamond loser for an extra trump loser.
Back to the bidding. Perhaps East could have tried 3♠ with his 3-card support and singleton in the enemy suit.. That is a contract that goes down one. For example, the defense starts with two rounds of Spades, Dummy gets just one Heart ruff, the other Heart loser goes on the second round of Diamonds, but Declarer’s trumps are too few to allow him to set up a slow Club trick.
West’s Double of their cue-bid is best used as showing extra values, rather than showing good Hearts. North’s 2♠ showed a minimum overcall. How about that 2NT by East? We would say that, in the context of this auction, it shows a weak hand with both minors, for more on the rationale for this conclusion please see the Bidding Quiz. Finally, South’s 3♠ was not a game invitation, it was purely competitive, if she had wanted to make a forward-going move she could have bid 3♣ or 3♦.
Who can make what? N-S have 9 tricks in Spades with no realistic prospect for more. As for E-W, playing in Clubs, there will be 9 tricks also, at least if N-S find the unlikely defense of A♥ opening lead, then a Heart to the King and a Heart ruff. Suppose, however, that North finds the less inspired opening lead of the K♠. Declarer wins and lays down the A♣, noticing the appearance of a quack (Queen or Jack) from North. Now, the Principal of Restricted Choice suggests that Declarer should cross to the board (with a Spade ruff), and finesse against South for the missing quack. Is there a good reason on the actual hand to play for the drop instead? Well, perhaps the opponents might have got to 4♠ with a 10-card fit and a singleton, and you might think that’s a strong enough reason to go against Restricted Choice. We are not entirely convinced ourselves, so happy guessing on your way to 9 or 10 tricks.
Against 4♠, East’s will no doubt want to attack with a red suit lead, and a Heart looks more promising, that being the shorter suit and therefore more likely to build a second round (or even third round) winner. Now, Declarer draws trumps, and leads towards her Clubs. The King loses to the Ace, the defense cashes a Heart and Declarer makes 10 or 11 tricks depending upon her ability to guess the Club suit (it seems normal to play for the 2-2 break, so she’ll probably misguess).
Actually 12 tricks are possible, but it’s strictly double dummy. Declarer double-hooks against East’s QT in Diamonds, setting up a pitch for the Heart loser, and, of course, guesses the Clubs correctly.
East reasonably decided not to pursue a 4-4 Spade fit, deciding that his Heart holding made a defensive Heart ruff likely, and that his soft values were more NT-oriented. However, 3NT is no great bargain and is likely to go down. We don’t know if this makes real sense at the table, but here’s a line whereby Declarer can scrape up 9 tricks: Heart lead won by Dummy’s Jack Club to Declarer’s Jack Cash A♣, felling South’s Jack Club to the Queen Finesse of the Diamond Jack Cash the last Club Cash the A♦ There are now 6 cards left. North will have had to hold on to Kx of Spades, so will be down to just 4 Hearts. Declarer exits a Heart, North cashes her 4 Hearts tricks, and is now end-played in Spades. Very nice, but probably unlikely in real life.
The auction is straightforward enough, and against 4♥ North will lead a minor suit: - If North leads a Club, Dummy’s Ace wins the trick and now the A♥ is cashed. When both defenders follow low, Declarer can afford the safety play in Hearts, ducking the second round in case South started QJxx. This is a safety play which can save a trick but cannot cost. Later in the play, Declarer loses the Spade finesse, but the Spades provide two pitches for the Diamonds, and 11 tricks are made without the need for the Diamond finesse. - If North leads a Diamond, things are more complicated. Suppose that Dummy plays low and the Ten forces the Ace. Now the trump safety play is less attractive, the danger being that North wins the trick and continues Diamonds … if South has the Q♦ it won’t be possible to get rid of Declarer’s Diamond losers in time. With that in mind, Declarer might skip the safety play altogether, or might try taking the Spade finesse at Trick Two, losing a trick to South at a time that she cannot attack Diamonds.
Do you approve of South’s 2♠ bid? Thousands wouldn’t, no doubt mentioning the fact that the Spade suit is rather weak, the HCP’s are minimum, and the vulnerability is red. All true, but we like the bid, being egged on by the Spade fillers and the nice 6-4 shape.
The play in 4♠ is instructive, please see the Play Problem.
A cut-and-thrust part-score battle, all of the bids in the featured auction make sense to us, but we can also imagine a hundred other different auctions taking place.
Against 2♥, here’s one possible line of play: Club opening lead to the Nine and Declarer’s Ten Q♠ is finessed Diamond lead, East rising with the Ace Diamond to Declarer’s King Cross to the A♠ Diamond ruff A♣ is cashed Exit to the K♣ A♥ and K♥ are cashed Now Declarer exits a Spade and must come to two more trump tricks. That’s down only one.
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