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Hand Analyses 16th January, 2008
After one side has opened up 1NT it’s rather rare for the other side to reach 3NT, but N-S achieved this feat in the featured auction. South’s Double was DONT (showing a one-suiter), North’s 2♣ was more or less a forced response, and East chimed in with 2♦ (primarily for the lead). South felt that she was good enough for 3♣ and North tried the game.
Against 3NT, East will probably lead a low Diamond, and that gives Declarer an easy 11 tricks provided that she can pick up the Club suit. Obviously the K♣ is onside, the worrisome card is the T♣, but when that is also onside, Declarer is home.
The play is much more fun if East tries the surprise attack of the Q♠ on opening lead (not that we think he should). Declarer does not have the dummy entries to pick up both black suits, so she’ll win the A♠ in hand, and play on Clubs. Here’s how the play might go: Q♠ won by Declarer’s Ace J♣ covered by the King and Ace Back to hand with the A♥ Finesse the T♣ Cash the remaining 4 Club winners Cash the K♥ Here’s the end-position: Declarer ♠ T5 ♥ ♦ Q8 ♣ West East ♠ ♠ J4 ♥ T9 ♥ ♦ JT ♦ AK ♣ ♣ Dummy ♠ K97 ♥ ♦ 9 ♣ If Declarer remembers the bidding and if she has been watching the discards carefully, it will be a simple matter to exit with a Diamond, throwing East in and scoring the 11th trick when East is forced to return a Spade. An unlucky lead by East? Not really, but it was poor defense to hang grimly on to those high Diamonds. On the run of the Clubs, East should have seen the end-play coming and his only hope was to jettison a high Diamond, hoping that West had something good in that suit If, in the diagram shown, East’s remaining Diamonds are K7 then West will be able to get in with a Diamond, and instead of gaining a trick, the throw-in will actually cost a trick. Nice defense!
That’s not much of a vulnerable overcall by South, but it does at least have the benefit of being a good lead-director. North showed a decent Spade raise with her 2♦ cue-bid, after which E-W steered clear of 3NT. East’s 4♦ was not forcing, so, in the circumstances, we would have to say that West’s raise to 5♦ was somewhat optimistic considering that there were surely two cashing Spade losers.
It turns out that the E-W hands fit well together (how nice of East to have a third Spade instead of a second Club!), and 5♦ makes 11 tricks on any lead.
West, he of the optimistic 5♦ on the previous board, is at it once more! Again, we’d classify his 3♥ game try as somewhat optimistic. 15 HCP’s and a 6-card suit are all very well, but look at the defects also! Two dangling Queens and the singleton K♣! These should be plenty of ammunition for a sensible Pass after East’s 2♥.
4♥ is a most fortunate contract. There are three Aces to be lost, so the Q♥ must come down if Declarer is to have any chance. Even after that good fortune, the J♠ must also be onside. If you chalked up +620 then, on this board, you can consider yourself more lucky than good.
This time, when West charges into game, he actually has his bid! A routine auction and the proverbial flat board, with 10 tricks and +620 for E-W.
If, like many pairs, N-S are playing their Weak Twos as 5-10 HCP’s, then the North hand is out of range. Or is it? Here we have a couple more of those dangling Queens, and we would have no problem with downgrading this 11-count to a Weak Two. However, we strongly recommend one or the other, when the long suit is reasonably strong there is no such thing as being too good for a Weak Two but not being good enough to open one of a suit.
How about West’s Takeout Double with only two Clubs? This is a classic “Equal Level Conversion” situation, for more on which please see the Bidding Quiz. That final Double by South was no sure thing, but she did have two Aces opposite an opening bid and would expect to beat this more often than not.
Playing in 3♥ doubled, Declarer has only 4 obvious losers but has no way of scrounging up enough tricks to make his contract. Even so, down one doubled for -100 is still a better result for E-W than letting their opponents play in their 3♣ contract (that one makes 9 tricks, and 10 if the defense fails to play Diamonds at every opportunity).
East (correctly in our view) decided that his hand was too good for a preemptive Diamond raise, and cue-bid instead, showing a limit raise. South’s Double showed a raise to 2♠, after which North did well to compete to 3♠.
Against 3♠, let’s say that the defense starts with Diamonds and Declarer ruffs the second round. Declarer will reason that the opponents have opened the bidding and made an invitational raise on a combined 20 HCP’s, so surely at least one of the opponents will have a singleton, what other explanation is there for their show of power? Therefore, a 4-1 trump split seems quite likely in which case trump control will be an issue. With that in mind, Declarer will play on Hearts at Trick Three, following the tried and tested strategy of setting up the side-suits early in the play. The K♥ holds the trick, Declarer finesses the Q♠, and will stop to do some point-counting: - The play in the Diamond suit will have disclosed that all the Diamonds points were in the West hand. - Similarly, West has the K♠ - So, surely, the Q♣ and A♥ are with East (what else could he have for that 2♠ cue-bid?). So, Declarer finesses the T♣, and leads the T♠ covered by the King and Declarer’s Ace. Next the A♥ is knocked out, and Dummy still has a trump to handle a Diamond continuation. West can do no better than to score one more trump tick and three tricks altogether. +170 for N-S.
West trotted out the Gambling 3NT, which, as it is generally played, shows a solid minor suit and nothing much of anything outside. East most sensibly pulled 3NT to 4♠, no doubt noticing that there was an alarming lack of entries to West’s Clubs.
Against 4♠ it seems reasonable for South to attack a red suit on the theory that the defensive winners might well be disappearing on an avalanche of Clubs. The K♦ looks more promising, and Declarer will duck this. Now, whatever South does, Declarer will be able to get a ruff on the board and will end up scoring 11 tricks (7 Spades, a ruff in Dummy, two Clubs, and the A♦).
Can the defense do better by leading a trump at Trick One? No, if South can be “double dummy” with the opening lead, then we must let Declarer be brilliant, too. He wins the trump lead and exits with the K♥! North cannot continue trumps and Declarer winds up with the same tricks as before.
Nobody will play it there (will they?) but, surprisingly, 3NT also makes! It’ll be played by West who will have the dubious pleasure of discarding 8 Club winners from his hand during the course of the play. However, Dummy has 8 top tricks of its own, and the defense cannot be prevented from conceding a 9th trick in one of the red suits.
East’s 1♣ opening was a tad light but in 3rd seat was worthwhile for its lead-directing benefit. We’d say that North was also somewhat marginal for her 2♣ (limit raise), considering the minimum point count and square shape.
Against 4♠, West dutifully leads a Club and now Declarer must guess the Q♠ correctly to make her contract. She’ll probably guess wrong, placing the Queen with the opening bidder.
East did well to tip off his Partner about the Club lead. Without that clue, West, on opening lead, could not be blamed for guessing to lead a Heart. East’s King forces Declarer’s Ace and now Declarer can play Q♥ and out a Heart. The defense will shift belatedly to a Club which Declarer wins. Her plan now will be to cash two top trumps, and then pitch the Club loser on the 13th Heart, succeeding whenever trumps are 3-2. On the actual layout, with the Q♠ doubleton, this line of play makes no fewer than 11 tricks! Yes, it pays to throw in those lead-directing bids!
South’s 2NT was conventional, showing a limit raise or better in Hearts. Is the South hand worth such a bid? Maybe, it depends upon what other methods are also being played, for more on which please see the Bidding Quiz. And how about North’s 3♥? Is that stronger than passing? Maybe it should be weaker, please see the Bidding Quiz for this one also. There’s nothing to the play in 3♥, it’s a routine 9 tricks.
We couldn’t imagine N-S selling out to 3♦ when they have almost half the points and a 10-card Heart fit, so let’s suppose that West has a rush of blood to the head and competes to 4♦. If Yogi Berra had been a bridge player he no doubt would have said something like “Good Declarer play always beats good defense and vice versa”, perhaps with this 4♦ contract in mind. Let’s look at some good Declarer play and some good defense.
Good Declarer Play The defense starts out with Hearts, and Declarer ruffs the second round. Trump control is an issue and it won’t do to draw three rounds of trumps before playing on Clubs as Declarer will run out of trumps before the Clubs are established. It would also be dangerous to play on Clubs right away, the defense might organize a Club ruff for the setting trick. The winning line is to draw two rounds of trumps, leaving a small trump on the board. Now Clubs are played, and Dummy’s trump guards against the Heart force. And there is no Club ruff for the defense as the hand with the remaining trump is also the hand with the long Club. Making 10 tricks!
Good Defense That was well-timed play by Declarer but North should not have given him the opportunity to shine. After cashing a high Heart on the opening lead, North should ponder a while. What does South have for her limit raise of 2NT? Is it possible to construct a hand for South where she does not have the A♣? This, perhaps: ♠ QJ6, ♥ QJT8, ♦ K9, ♣ QT32? That’s just about the only possibility, and in pretty much every other layout we can imagine, South will indeed have the A♣. So, rather than trying to cash a second high Heart and risking being ruffed, North does well at Trick Two to shift to the K♣, being rewarded with a Club ruff and the setting trick. By the way, even if South does have the hypothetical hand given above, shifting to the K♣ at Trick Two does not cost.
North knew that her side belonged in at least a Heart game, but it would be a mistake to bid 4♥ directly over 2♠, that would show a weaker, preemptive hand. Instead, she chose to cue-bid 3♠, creating a Forcing Pass situation, meaning that now, if E-W were allowed to play the hand, they would have to play it doubled.
East’s 4♠ was not unreasonable, being bid as a sacrifice rather than to make, though on this hand the bid worked out rather badly when South doubled. We’d count East as a bit unlucky, as 4♠ would have been a fine sacrifice if the A♣ had been onside or if West had had a 4th trump (or the A♠ instead of the K♣).
N-S can score +800 against 4♠ doubled if they stop Dummy from getting two ruffs. South leads the K♦, for example, after which one look at Dummy should tell her to play the A♠ and another Spade pronto.
How does South fare in Hearts? 12 tricks can be made “double dummy”, but in practice South will do well to make just 11 tricks. Many Declarers may hold themselves to 10 tricks if they go after Spade ruffs on the board and end up losing control of the hand. Here’s a simple and safe route to 11 tricks: Declarer wins the opening Spade lead Heart to the Jack (East does well to duck) Heart to East’s Ace (second duck does not help) Heart return East’s last trump is drawn K♦ is cashed Club to the Ace (the finesse is too dangerous) Two Diamonds are cashed and Declarer pitches her Spades Now Declarer concedes a Club and it’s +650.
South had a difficult rebid to make, being too good for 1NT and not good enough for a 2♥ reverse. 2♦ was a possibility but that usually shows a 6-card suit or at least 5 good ones, so we rather like the actual choice of 2♣, something of a fudge but the most flexible option.
The play in 3NT is almost unfathomable, added to which East might reasonably lead any suit other than a Spade. A Heart and a Club lead will both blow a trick, so let’s say, for the sake of argument, that East starts out with the Q♦ (conventionally asking for Partner to drop the Jack or else give count). Declarer does best to play low from Dummy, and East perseveres with the Ten, won by Dummy’s Jack, West pitching a Club. Declarer now has one sure Spade, 3 Hearts, 2 Diamonds, and 2 Clubs. That’s 8, and the 9th is most likely to come from Hearts. But, there is no rush to play Hearts, so Declarer tries a Spade to the King and East’s Ace. East still cannot play a Club or a Heart without giving away a trick, and now a Diamond will also give Declarer her 9th trick. So, he continues Spades, praying that Partner has the Ten. West does indeed have that card, but Declarer ducks, and later has the timing to score her 9th trick in Spades.
It’s possible for East to construct some West hands where 7♠ is a good proposition, such as the actual hand but with the K♣ instead of the Q♣. But that would require a perfecto so we think that East’s Neanderthal leap to 6♠ is just fine, at least it has the benefit of being uninformative. As can be seen, 6♠ is the limit of the hand, there are 12 tricks, no more and no less.
Not happy with that primitive auction? Well, an alternative would be for East to splinter to 4♦ over 2♠. He’ll be going to slam anyway, even if West bids a discouraging 4♠ after the splinter. As it happens, West will like the 4♦ bid and will bid 4♥, and the whole auction might be: West East 1♣ 1♠ 2♠ 4♦ 4♥ 5♣ 5♦ 5♥ 6♥ 6♠ Pass Lots of nifty cue-bidding, but the hunt for 7 fizzles out when West is unable to cue-bid the K♣.
South might have raised Diamonds but her hand looks rather No Trumpish, don’t you think? Let us assume that E-W are playing Support Doubles. In that case, does West’s 2♥ bid guarantee 4 Hearts? That’s something to discuss with Partner, as some partnerships play that Support Doubles are off after that 1NT bid.
Against 2♥, the defense will play three rounds of Diamonds, forcing Dummy to ruff. What next? Declarer could just play the Hearts from the top, hoping for a 3-2 break. However, surely Declarer would be advised to take the safety play in trumps, all the more so as South is marked with virtually all of the missing HCP’s. So, Declarer crosses to the A♣ and finesses the T♥ successfully. The later Club finesse gets Declarer up to 9 tricks. Nicely played!
What would you lead against 4♥ after that uninformative auction? - A Spade? No, leading away from King fifth against a suit contract is a hazardous occupation, let’s look elsewhere. - A Heart? Leading a singleton trump is rarely right, all too often that lead will pick up Partner’s trumps for Declarer (Partner may well have Qxx or Jxxx, for example). - A Diamond? That would be fairly passive, though not without some danger. For example, Partner might have the Q♦ over Dummy’s Jack, in which case leading away from the Ten could be costly. - A Club? Leading from Kxx is less dangerous than from Kxxxx, because when we lead from the 3-card suit we may still score the King even if Partner has nothing in the suit. When we lead from Kxxxx we can usually say bye-bye to a trick for the King, unless Partner has help in the suit (either Dummy or Declarer are likely to have a doubleton or shortness).
Our second choice would be a Diamond, and this results in an easy 10 tricks. However a Club lead gets the defense off to a better start, forcing Declarer to ruff the second round, and presenting him with trump control issues. Here’s how the play might go: Club to North’s Ace Club ruffed by Declarer K♥ then a Heart to Dummy’s Ace, getting the bad news Q♠ run around to South’s Ace Now, South plays the K♣, but Declarer declines to ruff. South cannot continue the Club force and Declarer is back in control, scoring the rest of the tricks. So, it’s 10 tricks once again, though not so easily this time.
Against 3NT, North will no doubt lead the J♣, won by Dummy’s King. Declarer’s best shot is to play A♥, K♥ and out a Heart, hoping that the suit is 3-3 or else that one defender or the other has a doubleton (or singleton) honor. When the Hearts behave, it’s 9 easy tricks.
Does North do better if she starts out with the Q♦? Well, if nothing else, it will make Declarer nervous, and that’s usually a good thing. Declarer wins the Ace but cannot afford to cash the second Diamond, so he plays on Hearts immediately, leaving that high Diamond potentially stranded. But with both majors breaking and with the minors providing no communications for the defenders, 9 tricks will always materialize.
It’s often a good idea to raise Responder’s major when we hold 3-card support, but let’s not go overboard here! Even though we have that 3-card support, to say nothing of some ruffing values, and even though we are repeatedly being told that this game is “all about the majors”, a 7-card minor must surely count for something. So, West rebids 2♦, then, when East bids 3♣ (please see the Bidding Quiz), West finally unveils his Heart support and the obvious 4♥ contract is reached.
On the assumption that East’s 3♣ bid was artificial (New Minor Forcing), what would be your choice of opening lead against 4♥? Back on Board 14, South was advised not to lead away from Kxxxx in a suit contract, but here things are somewhat different. Dummy has a long Diamond suit which might provide pitches for Declarer, so it seems like a good plan for the defense to cash their winners while they can. With that in mind a Club lead is reasonable and South might well play the K♣ just in case a Spade shift from the South hand is required at Trick Two. The K♣ holds the trick and North plays the Two, a card which, with a singleton in Dummy, is usually played as suit preference. So, clearly North does not want a Spade shift, and South will shift to a Diamond, hoping to give North a ruff. Declarer does best to win the Diamond in hand, take a Club ruff on the board, and now the question is “How to play trumps?” Declarer will probably place the Diamond shortness with North, so leading low towards the Q♥ is not going to achieve much, because if South has the K♥ then North will get her Diamond ruff. So, Declarer will go one of these two ways, each of them quite reasonable: - Either, A♥ and a Heart to the Queen, which brings in 11 tricks when the J♥ is doubleton - Or, lead the Q♥, covered by the King and Ace. Now, South gets in with the J♥ and the Diamond ruff holds Declarer to 10 tricks.
No wimpy 3♠ preempt for East, he goes directly to 4♠ to apply maximum pressure. However, North has the goods and can hardly not bid 5♦.
East leads the A♠, ruffed by Declarer. If Declarer chooses to misplay the hand she can come to 11 tricks as follows: Opening Spade lead is ruffed A♦ is cashed Cross to Dummy’s K♦ J♣ is run around to East’s Ace Spade continuation is ruffed Cross to Dummy’s T♦ Winning Club finesse There’s no way to score the 13th Club, but that’s still 11 tricks, Declarer losing just one Club and one Heart. Did you spot Declarer’s error? Yes, it was a mistake to take two Club finesses, if both honors had been offside Declarer would have lost two Clubs and a Heart and gone down in a cold contract. It was fine to take the first Club finesse (in case both honors are onside), but when that loses Declarer should simply play the A♣ on the second round and then out a Club, ensuring a second Club trick (for a Heart pitch) while there is still an entry to the board.
However, let’s next suppose that East’s opening lead is a Heart. Now Declarer does not have the timing to lose two Clubs because the defense will set up their Heart trick first. So, in that case, taking two finesses is the best line, bringing home the contract whenever at least one of the Club honors is onside.
How did N-S get themselves into such a terrible pickle? Well, considering the vulnerability, North’s 2♣ overcall was certainly minimum. And South’s Responsive Double of 2♠ was also a stretch, committing the partnership, as it did, to the 3-level. So, mix together a couple of slight overbids, two poorly fitting hands, offside enemy Aces, and a matchpoint Double, and you have a recipe for -800.
Fresh off their disaster on Board 18, N-S find themselves in more hot water. We wouldn’t fault South’s bidding on this one, what rebid could he make other than 3NT? We gave the West hand to Dr Goodlead and he said “I’m leading an Ace! South usually has a long minor for that auction, and I don’t want to let her score a major suit trick on the opening lead followed by 11 or 12 minor suit winners” Spot on, Doctor, either Ace will work, allowing the defense to take the first 7 tricks. Leading a low major card allows Declarer to score all 13 tricks. Quite a difference!
Against 1NT, what would your opening lead with the East hand? Against low-level contracts there is much to be said for being passive, trying not to blow a trick rather than being in a rush to set up the long suit. With that thought in mind, East might well lead a top-of-nothing Heart, after which it is easy to imagine Declarer misguessing the Q♣ (in order to protect her Spade holding). Then another Heart comes back and Declarer is down one.
Things work so much better for Declarer if she guesses the Club correctly! After finessing the J♣ successfully she has time to take the Diamond finesse, and with the JT♦ coming down Declarer has no fewer than 9 tricks.
East’s 2NT was a super-accept showing, in this partnership’s methods, 4-card Heart support and a good hand. That was enough for West to think seriously about slam, and how and if he gets there is discussed in the Bidding Quiz.
Making 6♥ (or 6NT) depends solely on bringing home the Heart suit for one loser. Normal play, which works on the actual hand, is to lead towards one of the honors on the first round (in case there is a singleton Ace), and then to play for the drop on the second round. This works 59% of the time, and also works on the actual layout.
Each of the four protagonists had something interesting or controversial to say in the featured auction: - East’s 1♦: With that 5-6 distribution, East could reasonably open 1♣ (planning to stretch the hand into a reverse with a rebid of 2♦) or 1♦ (planning to treat the hand as 5-5). Neither approach is ideal, but both are reasonable. - South’s 1♠: We rather like this bid, though many won’t. Only a 4-card suit, but at least it’s a good suit, and having length in RHO’s Diamonds suggests that the hand will play well. Why? Because West and Partner are both likely to be short in Diamonds, and Partner will be in the overruffing position. - North’s 2♠: This hand is too good for a preemptive raise to 3♠, but not good enough for an invitational cue-bid of 2♦. In other words, the North hand is a “constructive” raise. The “standard” treatment for such a hand is to bid 2♠ and to be prepared to compete to 3♠ later, if necessary. This is not ideal, it would be more obstructive (and therefore more effective) if North could convey her 4-card support immediately. There is a useful gadget to show this hand type, please see the Bidding Quiz. - West’s 2nd Double: Yes, it’s somewhat speculative, and would be more appealing if the opponents were vulnerable, but West obviously belongs to the “Nobody pushes me around!” school of thought.
The fate of 3♠ will depend on the opening lead: - West leads a Diamond: East will win the K♦. The defense needs a Heart ruff to beat the contract and East will no doubt shoot back a Heart at Trick Two. Will West figure it out? He won’t know that South has overcalled on a 4-card suit, and may well wonder if Partner really has a Heart ruff coming. This is a time when it is essential to trust Partner’s defense more than Declarer’s bidding. If East didn’t want a ruff, surely he would have shifted to a Club rather than attack Dummy’s strong suit. If West trusts his Partner it will be down one, otherwise E-W have -530 in their future. - West leads a Club: Now the contract is cold. Declarer wins the first trick, cashes two high trumps, leads a Heart towards Dummy, and will eventually score up 9 tricks.
Over 1NT, some Easts will pass, no doubt fantasizing about being on opening lead against a 3NT contract. Passing turns out to be the winning strategy, though the contract will be only 1NT and the defense scores +200 when it cashes the first 8 tricks (West must remember to unblock the T♥, of course). Well, your editors have made that Pass before and it never seems to work out for us, for one reason or another. Anyway, if East competes in Hearts his side will buy the contract in 2♥ or 3♥ and will score +140.
We rather like North’s 3♣ raise on a doubleton and we especially like East’s 4♠, please see the Bidding Quiz for more on both of these bids.
The play in 5♣ is most interesting. In fact, we are going to change the auction, such that your incorrigible partner puts you in Six Clubs, and we challenge you to make this optimistic slam. Please see the Play Problem.
We had a similar hand to East’s in the previous Wednesday Game, for more on which please see the Bidding Quiz. West’s 2NT was Jordan, showing a limit raise with Heart support. We’d say that he was rock-bottom minimum for the bid, no doubt he liked his Tens and what he hoped were his well-placed black suit holdings.
The play in 4♥ is routine, with 10 tricks available, no more and no less.
This one looks fairly routine, expect lots of E-W +140’s on the scoresheet.
We can see a number of E-W pairs landing in 3NT on these cards, going down one when North finds the obvious Club lead. So we expect that the pairs who reach 5♦ will score quite well. But how many will find the excellent 6♦ contract? Not many, we suspect, it’s a difficult slam to reach. We are not entirely convinced ourselves by the featured auction, but here’s what it means: - 2♦: An inverted raise, showing 4+ Diamonds and no 4-card major. How strong? Generally speaking, it shows game-invitational values or better, but here, with West being a passed hand, we can forget about the “or better” part. As inverted raises go this one is quite minimum, and West might have been tempted to rebid a slightly heavy 1NT. However, somehow it hardly seems right to bid 1NT without a single stopper in any of the three unbid suits! - 3♣: By convention, E-W were playing this to show shortness (a good treatment!). We’d further suggest that 3♣ does not necessarily show extras. - 5♦: If 3♣ showed shortness but not necessarily extras, then 3♦ now by West would be passable. Although West was quite minimum for his 2♦ raise, his hand has got substantially better in the light of that 3♣ rebid by East. With no Club wastage opposite East’s shortness this hand should play well, and we’d say that 5♦ is worth a shot. - 6♦: Why not? West has given up on 3NT, so surely does not have anything in Clubs, it seems that 6♦ should have a play.
6♦ should always be made and there are even a couple of inferior lines of play which succeed. However, for the purposes of a good Play Problem, we shall doctor the N-S hands and challenge you to make 12 tricks on the correct line of play against a less friendly layout of the enemy hands.
3NT is the obvious contract and if South leads a Spade there are 11 easy tricks. Dummy’s King wins the first trick, then Declarer cashes the AK♣, crosses to the J♣, cashes the A♠, and can get back on the A♦ to cash the remaining Clubs.
It’s so much more interesting if South finds an opening Diamond lead. Now, Declarer does not have the entries to untangle his 11 tricks. No problem, he has a more exotic route to +460! Dummy’s A♦ wins the first trick and 8 Clubs are rattled off (Declarer’s J♣ must be unblocked). These will be Dummy and Declarer’s last 4 cards: Dummy Declarer ♠ K ♠ AJ ♥ J72 ♥ Q ♦ ♦ Q ♣ ♣ What will be South’s last four cards? She has to keep Qx of Spades, otherwise the K♠ can be overtaken and the J♠ will be the 11th trick. She must also hang on to the K♦, so her remaining card will be a high Heart. Now, Dummy’s K♠ is cashed, then a Heart is lost to South. The K♦ can be cashed, but South must surrender the last trick to Declarer’s A♠. It’s called a Stepping Stone Squeeze, in this case with South being squeezed out of exit cards and forced to act as a stepping-stone to Declarer’s stranded A♠.
Note that the squeeze does not function if Dummy’s K♠ is cashed prematurely, that card must be preserved as the only means of communications between the two hands.
A 1NT response opposite an overcall shows around 8-11 HCP’s and that would be our choice with the North hand, even though North has 3-card Heart support. After 1NT, South is good enough to invite but North passes with her close-to-minimum hand.
East leads a fourth-best Diamond, won by Dummy’s King. The bidding makes it most likely that the K♥ is with East, so Declarer crosses to the K♣ and unsuccessfully finesses the T♥. Who can say what West will return? - If West returns a Diamond: The J♦ is covered by the Queen and the Ace, and East shifts to the K♠ and Q♠, both of which Declarer ducks (protecting against a 3-4 Spade break). Now Declarer has 9 tricks when the K♥ comes down (and it could have been 10 if he had not held up in Spades). - If West shifts to a Spade: As before Declarer will duck a couple of Spades, East will probably shift to a Club and again it’s 9 tricks.
North’s 2NT was a game-forcing raise (Jacoby). With only 3 Spades? Well, normally 2NT shows 4-card support but North’s hand is so strong that she’ll never be able to describe it to Partner so she might as well take charge of the proceedings and let Partner do the describing. That 3♠ shows non-minimum values, but even so the bid has different meanings for different players: - Some play that 3♠ is stronger than 3NT which is stronger than 4♠, the last of those three bids being reserved for truly minimum opening hands. - Others play that 3♠ shows a 6th Spade (as well as a non-minimum hand), whereas 3NT shows just 5 Spades.
Either way, North will no doubt launch into Roman Key Card, after which: - 5♣ showed 1 or 4 Key Cards (1430) - 5♦ asked about the Queen of trumps - 5♥ said “I have it and I also have the K♥
Now, North can count 12 top tricks and surely South will be decent enough to provide a 13th. That could come from a 6th Spade, or the J♥, or the K♣. Failing all of the above, perhaps a Heart-Club squeeze will materialize. All in all, we’d say that 7NT is a reasonable bet.
System Note If you are not overly impressed with the standard follow-up to the Jacoby 2NT then you are not alone. For a better (but more complicated) method please follow the link.
It’s hard to blame West for balancing with a Double but on this occasion it doesn’t work too well. North’s Redouble showed a good hand, East’s Pass showed no especial preference, and 1♥ was gleefully doubled by North.
It’s easy enough to see how N-S can get 7 tricks and the magic +200. Three rounds of trumps, K♦, A♦, that’s 5 tricks. Now a Diamond continuation will either win the trick or else promote a trump trick if Declarer ruffs. That’s 6 tricks and the setting trick will be the K♣. Deep Finesse says that the defense can score 8 tricks for an even more magic +500, and no doubt they can. But let’s be happy with +200 and move on to the next board.
North’s 1NT overcall was certainly minimum and the Diamond stopper wasn’t exactly top-notch either, but still a reasonable bid, we think. Anyway, 4♥ by North is the final destination
Against 4♥, we’d expect East to lead a top-of-nothing Spade and that makes Declarer’s job quite easy, three Spades tricks are now assured and one way or another 10 tricks will be made. Sure, the defense can score a Diamond ruff but that just weakens the defensive trump holding and makes 10 tricks easy for Declarer. The defense might decline to take their ruff, in which case Declarer might scramble 10 tricks this way: Spade to West’s King Club return ruffed on the board Heart to the Ace Club ruff Q♥ is cashed Spade to the Queen The remaining two top Hearts are cashed Oops! We goofed there, now it is not possible for Declarer to build a second Diamond trick before the defense sets up the 4th and setting trick in Clubs.
The solution? After ruffing the Club at Trick Two, and drawing two rounds of trumps, Declarer retains control by playing on Diamonds. East gets his ruff, but, as before, that just makes Declarer’s job easier.
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