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Hand Analyses 20th February, 2008
There’s an abundance of links on this page, here’s what they all mean: - Notations such as Bidding Quiz (North) are links to the weekly Bidding Quiz, a selection of the 15-20 most interesting bidding situations of the week. - Each week we pick out two or three hands which are suitable for presentation in problem format, as in Play Problem 203 (West), linking you to a page with only two hands on display. Solve the problem first, then see the solution and the entire deal. - Some analyses contain references to bidding conventions, and you’ll see links to articles in our Convention Library such as Roman Key Card - In BridgeOpedia we have categorized by theme the entire history of the most instructive Wednesday Game hands, two year’s worth. Occasionally you will see a purple arrow, linking to the relevant BridgeOpedia section. For example, in this week’s Board 4, Declarer had an opportunity to pull off a Trump Coup. Adjacent to the text for that hand you will see the link >>BRIDGEOPEDIA: “Trump Coups”>> which will transport you to the collection of hands with the same theme.
It would be pusillanimous for West to pass out 2♥ when he has shortness in the enemy suit so he balances with a Double. East tries 2♠, and South, with an extra trump, pushes on to the 3-level.
Playing in 3♥, if trumps had been 2-2, then making 9 tricks would be a piece of cake, Declarer could draw trumps in two rounds and score the remaining 5 trumps separately. But there’s no reason to rely on 2-2 trumps, if West starts out with a Spade (the Nine) Declarer can also overcome a 3-1 trump break. Declarer wins the opening lead with the K♠ (important!), and loses a Diamond. Somewhat belatedly the defense plays a trump which is won on the board, then another Diamond is lost and another trump return is won on the board. Now Declarer crosses to the A♠, and makes her remaining 5 trumps separately. Yes, West had to find an opening trump lead in order to set 3♥.
How does 2♠ by East work out? Suppose that South leads a Heart won by North’s Ace. North may be tempted to start drawing trumps in an attempt to cut down on Dummy’s ruffs, but that’s not a good idea as Declarer has loads of minor suit tricks to enjoy once the enemy trumps are out. North does better to return a Heart at Trick Two: Heart lead to North’s Ace Heart ruffed in Dummy Cross to the A♦ Ruff another Heart Cash K♦ Q♦ is ruffed by North North exits a Club won by Dummy’s Queen A Diamond ruffed by Declarer A♣ is cashed At this point Declarer has 7 tricks in. He now plays a high Club and cannot be prevented from scoring one more trump trick.
We’d say that it was a toss-up whether East should raise 3♥ to 4♥. It turns out that passing is the winner and even 3♥ may turn out to be too high. Against a Heart contract, let’s say that North refrains from banging down an Ace and instead leads a Diamond. Declarer’s Ace wins and his best chance is to use Dummy’s one and only entry to finesse the Club Ten. That loses to the Jack and now Declarer is likely to lose two Spades and three Clubs.
Against North’s 4♥ East will probably lead a Spade, ducked to West’s Queen. It would give away the Spade position to return the T♠, so West shifts to a Diamond and Declarer ducks this trick also. She wins the second Diamond and draws 3 rounds of trumps, arriving at this position: Declarer ♠ J95 ♥ 8 ♦ 98 ♣ T West East ♠ T ♠ K87 ♥ J ♥ ♦ ♦ JT ♣ K9873 ♣ 54 Dummy ♠ A6 ♥ 9 ♦ ♣ AQJ5 Things look bleak for Declarer but she can score the required 5 more tricks by guessing the black suits correctly. She plays the A♣, then the Q♣ is covered by the King and ruffed. Next comes the J♠, covered by the King and Ace, squashing West’s Ten. Then the J♣ is cashed and a Spade is led, and whatever West does Declarer gets her 10th trick, either from Dummy’s Spade Nine or from her last trump.
4♠ doubled goes down two, so East’s 5♥ will be the winner if only East can manage to make his contract. With the bad trump split it won’t be easy, and if East takes the obvious line he’ll be down one. He’ll win the Spade lead, lead to the Q♥, planning to finesse against the Jack on the second round. Alas, North shows out, and South scores three trump tricks for down one.
The contract can be made if Declarer plays the trumps differently. After winning the A♠, he crosses to the K♣, leads a Heart to the King and Ace, then ruffs the Spade return, and leads another Spade, planning to finesse the Eight if South plays a low card. But South can spoil that plan by playing the Nine. Now Declarer cannot win this trick without losing control of the hand. So he ducks leaving this lovely position: North Immaterial Dummy Declarer ♠ ♠ ♥ Q8 ♥ T ♦ QJ6 ♦ AK9742 ♣ 543 ♣ A South ♠ 974 ♥ J5 ♦ T5 ♣ J South is on lead, and if she gets out with a Spade, then Dummy pitches a Diamond and Declarer ruffs. Now the Diamonds are run and South finds herself the victim of a trump coup! >>BRIDGEOPEDIA: “Trump Coups”>> Will Declarer be able to convince himself that he should play South for Heart length? Probably not, we’d expect down one at most tables.
We predict a few doubled contracts on this board, either a Heart part-score by South, or a Spade part-score by East. How do you like West’s 1NT overcall? A bit unorthodox, perhaps, but surely the most descriptive bid available (and, if South had passed we would have opened 1NT, also). How about South’s 3♥ bid? Somewhat over the top, we think. It’s true that she has a singleton in the enemy suit, and that is often a good excuse to bid again, but, on the other hand, there is the vulnerability to consider along with the woeful lack of Heart fillers and the fact that West has announced some strength in the Heart suit. All in all, 3♥ is a bit too much. Actually, it’s exactly two tricks too much when West viciously doubles and the contract is down a couple for 500.
Suppose that South had been more restrained and had passed 2♠. Now it could be North’s turn to make a vicious Double with her trump stack. But this Double works out poorly, as West cruises to 8 tricks. E-W will no doubt be disappointed to learn that their +470 is not a top board, thanks to some of their counterparts collecting the aforementioned +500.
West’s 2♦ was New Minor Forcing, after which East denied a 3rd Heart. West’s 3♥ was forcing, of course, if he had an invitational hand he would have rebid 3♥ over 1NT. Then, after 3NT, West was somewhat stuck for a bid ... 4NT might be construed as natural and invitational, and 4♣ might be taken by some as Gerber. So, with 9 top tricks opposite an opening bid, he just charged into 6♥. Bidding 6NT would have worked better, of course, that contract is also cold (at least played by East).
We are not great fans of strong jump shifts (they come up so rarely) but on this board E-W would have a more convincing auction if they were playing them. The auction would start 1♣ 2♥, 2NT 3♥, at which point the trump suit is already set and there is more space to explore slam.
The play in 2♥ is simple enough. There are two Heart losers and two Spade losers, and thanks to the 3-3 Spades and the Club finesse Declarer manages 9 tricks.
No doubt East was tempted to compete to 3♦, but, even it it escapes a Double, that works out rather badly: Club to the Queen, A♣, Club ruff gets the defense off to a good start, and with three Aces still to come the defense scores 6 tricks and +200.
N-S were no doubt happy to push their opponents up a level, at which point they retired from the fray, following the age-old advice of “The 5-level belongs to the opponents”. It turns out that N-S would have done well to bid one more time, on this occasion the 5-level belonged to them. 5♠ doubled is down only two, a good save against the opponents’ making 5♥.
System Note What does West’s 3♥ mean? Does it show the extras needed to venture to the 3-level? Or is it merely a courtesy raise of Partner’s Hearts? Yes, this is another case where the Good-Bad 2NT comes in handy. It’s a flavor of Lebensohl which allows Hearts to be bid to the three-level in two different ways: West North East South West North East South 1♣ Pass 1♥ 2♠ 1♣ Pass 1♥ 2♠ 3♥ 2NT Pass 3♣ Pass 3♥ In the left-hand auction, West is showing a good raise, a hand that would have jumped to 3♥ if South had been silent. In the right-hand auction, West’s 2NT was a relay to 3♣, saying “I want to compete to the 3-level (not necessarily in Hearts)”. After East obediently bids 3♣, West makes his intentions clear with 3♥. Playing this convention, should West be bidding 3♥ directly or via 2NT? We’d go the 2NT route, showing the weaker hand, this 14-count is not quite good enough for a direct 3♥.
OK, let’s suppose that E-W have added the Good-Bad 2NT to their arsenal and that West bids 2NT over 2♠, planning to show a purely competitive raise to 3♥. Now, North gets in the way by bidding 4♠ and putting East on the spot. Of course, East does not know that West has Heart support, as West could have been planning to compete in Clubs, so in this case the Good-Bad 2NT has put East at a disadvantage. But, clearly East will bid, what would be your choice, 5♦ or 5♥? A close decision, we think. 5♦ gives Partner a choice of suits, but he might choose the wrong one. For example, suppose his distribution is 2=2=3=6 … in this case we’d prefer to be in the higher-scoring Heart suit (all the more so as the Diamonds are so weak), but Partner may see things differently. Our own guess, as East, would be to bid 5♥ but we freely admit that it won’t always work out.
Do you think that East should take a call after East’s Double? Maybe so, please see the Bidding Quiz. As for West, he shows some values with his jump to 2♥ and might reasonably have chosen to bid 2♦ instead (showing values with both majors). South finally decides to enter the fray at the 4-level, but might have been better off bidding 2♦ earlier, in our humble opinion.
North has no problem making 10 tricks in Diamonds. How does 3♥ fare? The defense starts with A♦ and K♦, Declarer ruffing the second round. Next comes a low Heart toward the board and North goes in with the Queen. Now North shifts to a Spade, later wins the A♥ and gets to South’s A♣ for a Club ruff. That’s 5 tricks for the defense.
Good aggressive bidding by E-W! South’s Double showed some extra values, and presumably something in Clubs. We wouldn’t say that the Double is 100% penalty, but it’s certainly that way inclined. When West bails out to 2♥, it’s North’s turn to makes a “penaltyish” Double with her extra values.
How does 2♥ doubled fare? Rather poorly! The defense has an easy route to 7 tricks after the K♦ lead and that’s +500 for N-S. As it happens, they can score up +600 by playing in a most lucky 3NT contract. To make this the major suit cards need to be with West and Declarer has to guess the Diamond situation. Speaking for ourselves, we’d prefer to take the 500 than to have to labor in 3NT on these cards.
East has just about enough to go to game but he doesn’t bid 4♠ directly, that would have shown a preemptive type of hand. So, instead he cue-bids 3♥ along the way, a bid that shows Spade support and at least invitational values.
4♠ is a fine contract and when Dummy goes down Declarer is no doubt harboring fond hopes of an overtrick. But no, this is starting to look like a set of hands where nothing makes. North plays the A♥, K♥ and a third Heart which Declarer must ruff. Now, when trumps turn out to be 4-1, Declarer must pray for 3-3 Diamonds. That suit doesn’t work either and it’s down one. No doubt it’s frustrating for West but the consolation is that surely the whole E-W field will be suffering the same result.
West’s 2♣ was an Inverted Minor raise, and as it’s by a passed hand it shows invitational values. 2♣ also denies a 4-card major. East is happy to pass this with his crummy hand, but not South, she keeps the auction alive with a balancing Double. Isn’t this rather odd, considering the doubleton Heart? Not really, South is known not to have a good hand, and if North bids 2♥ then South will escape to 2♠. However West goes straight to 3-level and that’s where the auction ends.
Playing in Clubs, East makes no fewer than 11 tricks when the Clubs behave and both of the missing Heart honors are onside.
All the E-W pairs will be in 4♥, but how many tricks will they make? 11 or 12? It all depends on the opening lead, and on Declarer’s Greed Quotient. - If South leads a Club: The Q♣ looks to us like a reasonable lead and that will surely lead to 11 tricks. Dummy’s Ace wins the opening trick, and loses a Club immediately, setting up a ruff in Dummy for the 11th trick. - If South leads a Trump: Leading trumps against this auction is too passive for our taste, South will usually be better off trying to develop side-suit tricks. So we are especially glad to report that the trump lead works badly here. True, it stops that ruff in Dummy, but it allows the Diamonds to be set up instead. Declarer wins the A♣, cashes A♦, and gives up a Diamond. Later a Diamond is ruffed high, trumps are drawn, and Declarer will still have an entry to enjoy the long Diamonds. Making six! - If South leads the K♦: An aggressive lead and not a bad idea, but it does not work well on this board. Again, Declarer establishes the Diamonds for 12 tricks. - If South leads a Spade: This lead looks especially unattractive, but it leads to some interesting play possibilities. Dummy’s Ace wins the first trick, after which Declarer can make sure of 11 by going after the Club ruff in Dummy. But if Declarer has a high GQ he might try for 12. He wins the A♠, and gives up a Diamond. Now the defense does best to shift to Clubs. The A♣ wins the trick, then A♦ and ruff a Diamond high. All that is needed now is for trumps to be 2-2. When they are, it’s a lovely 12 tricks. Against good defense this line will make 12 tricks when trumps are 2-2 and Diamonds 3-2, but only 10 otherwise. But the odds are improved greatly if the defenders are merely mortal and try to cash a Spade instead of finding the Club shift. >>BRIDGEOPEDIA: “Matchpoint Decisions”>>
Nobody has anything worth saying after 2♥ so, for once, the auction fizzles out at the two-level. South leads the K♦ won by Dummy’s Ace. The Heart finesse loses, then the Q♦ is cashed, North gets a Diamond ruff, and exits with a Heart, South following. Declarer has now lost 3 tricks, with two more Spade losers to come. So he must avoid the loss of a Club if he is to make his contract. No problem! South, she of the Weak Two opening, has already shown up with the K♦, Q♦ and K♥, so there is hardly any room left in her hand to the A♠, K♠ or K♣. That makes an end-play against North a virtual certainty. Declarer simply exits with the Q♠ and North, who has nothing but black cards left, must concede the contract one way or another: - If she exits a Club, then Declarer’s Queen wins the trick and a ruff in Dummy looks after the third round of Clubs. - If she cashes a second Spade and exits a Spade, then Dummy’s Spades will provide pitches for the Clubs.
North’s 3NT offered a choice of games, presumably showing just 4 Spades and a balanced hand. South might have had only 3 Spades, but with 4 of them the obvious choice is 4♠.
Against 4♠, after this auction, we cannot imagine East leading a Club. That’s a shame for the defense because it’s the only lead to set the contract, allowing the defense’s two Club winners to be established before one of them goes away on a Diamond. Let’s say that the defense leads a Heart. Where do you win this trick? Yes, win it in Dummy! Now the J♦ is played and East cunningly ducks. East wins the second Diamond and belatedly shifts to a Club. Dummy’s Ace wins that, at which point Declarer is delighted to have that Q♥ entry, so that a Club can be pitched on a Diamond before trumps are tackled. Nice play by Declarer, it would be oh so easy to carelessly win that first trick with the Q♥, blowing a cold contract. Of course, if East and North are both having a bad day, then, after North mistakenly wins the opening lead with the Q♥, East might let her off the hook by forgetting to duck the first round of Diamonds. >>BRIDGEOPEDIA: “Entry Management”>>
On this board N-S let themselves get bounced into 3♠ by the West Weak Two and East’s preemptive bump to 3♥. This turns out to be particularly unfortunate for them as with perfect defense nobody can make more than 7 tricks in anything! North’s Double was fine, and South’s 3♠ was not terrible, but the end-result was down two for N-S when it could be E-W going down two. A triumph for preempting, we would say.
Actually, although Deep Finesse says that both 3♥ and 3♠ can go down two tricks, they are both quite likely to go down just one: - The defense against 3♥ has 5 obvious tricks (3 Spades, a heart and the A♦). Do you see where the 6th comes from? Yes, it requires a trump promotion, but the defense must play with great accuracy to achieve this … North cashes the A♠, K♠, A♦, then a Spade to South’s Queen, setting the scene for the play of the 13th Spade for the trump promotion. This is a very tough defense to find, surely most Declarers will escape with 8 tricks in their Heart contract. >>BRIDGEOPEDIA: “Trump Promotion”>> - The defense against 3♠ must get a Club ruff if they are to beat the contract by two tricks, and we’d also rate that as unlikely.
South’s 2NT showed 11-12 with some stuff in Clubs, and should no doubt deny 4 Spades due to the failure to make a Negative Double. After this, 3♥ by North would be non-forcing, perhaps the kind of hand that was a tad too good for a 2♥ opening bid. So, as North’s Hearts are not so good that she wants to play in Hearts regardless, she bids 3♣ in order to get South’s opinion. East’s Double of 3♣ suggested to Partner that a high-level Club contract was possible, presumably as a sacrifice in light of the strong N-S auction.
There’s nothing to the play in 4♥, it’s 10 tricks at all tables. How does 3NT fare? It will be played by South no doubt, and a Club lead and a prompt Diamond shift garners 5 tricks for the defense. A Spade opening lead would be most unfortunate earning E-W a zero when Declarer cashes 10 fast tricks.
How good is the Heart slam? It always makes when both Hearts and Clubs are 3-2, Declarer scoring 4 natural Heart tricks, two Diamonds and a Diamond ruff, and 5 Clubs. It’s approximately 45% that both the key suits will behave, but there are also some extra chances. Here are two more ways that 12 tricks can be brought home (assume a Diamond opening lead): - If Hearts are 4-1 (and Clubs are 3-2), then Declarer should play for West to have the length, and if that is the case then 12 tricks are there with careful play (win the A♦, K♥, A♥, Heart finesse, Diamond ruff, A♣, Q♥, run the Clubs). - If Clubs are 4-1 (and Hearts are 3-2), then Declarer will be short a trick. She makes up the shortfall by leading a Spade towards Dummy, eventually scoring the K♠. Although it’s a hard one to bid it turns out to be a pretty good slam! Those extra chances elevate it all the way to around 75%.
There were a few debatable and/or interesting actions in this auctions: - We don’t know about you, but at this favorable vulnerability we would have an almost irresistible desire to open that South hand 2♥ with that chunky suit. - How about North’s 1♦ overcall? This one we are not so crazy about (what an awful suit!), even though it seems to work out rather well on the actual hand. - Over 1♦, East was too good for a preemptive 3♣, and anyway it would be misleading to preempt with two potential side-suit tricks. On the other hand, East is not good enough for a cue-bid (showing a limit raise). So, the only reasonable plan was to raise to 2♣ and then later to 3♣. - We may not have liked South’s initial Pass, but she does well to get Hearts into the auction on the next round of bidding. For more on this, please see the Bidding Quiz.
Playing in 3♦, North receives a Club lead, which happens to be the defense’s best lead. Now, to make the contract, Declarer must win the A♣ and pray for 3-3 Hearts. When this turns out to be the case, the Club loser disappears and Declarer loses just two Spades and 2 trumps.
If South does indeed open 2♥, then she will probably play it there. Making only 8 tricks, for the same +110 as the 3♦ Declarers.
N-S have mirror distributions, square hands and a combined 23 HCP’s. That’s not normally enough stuff for 3NT but here that contract cruises home. Of course it helps that the Q♥ and K♦ and K♣ are all favorably placed. A Diamond part-score is a more likely end-result, and that’s a contract which also makes 9 tricks. Or is it 10? It all depends on whether the defense can score a second Heart trick: - If West leads a Heart, then it’s sayonara to the second Heart trick. - If West makes the highly aggressive and dangerous lead of the J♣, then Declarer can organize an end-play. He jumps up with Dummy’s Queen, draws trumps, knocks out the A♠, plays the remaining Spades, and end-plays West by throwing him in with the K♣. Now West has two losing choices. He can play a Club conceding a ruff and discard, or he can break open the Hearts and lose a trick that way. >>BRIDGEOPEDIA: “Elimination Play”>> - We cannot see any good reason why West should start out with a Spade, and that leaves the trump suit, which does indeed hold Declarer to 9 tricks.
As East, what would you lead against 3NT after that auction? Nothing looks particularly appetizing, and, much as we hate to lead away from J9xx, our own choice would be a Diamond if only because the other leads look even less appealing. That lead does not blow a Diamond trick, but it does cost the defense a tempo, allowing Declarer to develop 11 tricks. What was needed was the highly improbable lead of a Heart, allowing the defense to build a trick in Hearts before Declarer can get to 11. We’d expect loads of 660’s in the North column, that winning Heart lead looks altogether too improbable.
Nice auction! West had the values for a positive response, but the Spade suit was altogether too anemic so he settled for a 2♦ waiting bid. 2NT showed 22-23, then in response to the 3♥ transfer, East decided to “super-accept” with 4♠. Yes, this normally shows 4-card support, but AKQ was the next best thing and the rest of the hand (especially that promising Club suit) was too good to risk languishing in 3♠.
What are your Roman Key Card agreements with respect to the Queen Ask? First of all, the Queen Ask is made by bidding the cheapest non-sign-off after a 5♣ or 5♦ response. In this auction that would be 5♥, after which East’s options were: - 5♠ denies the Q♠ - 6♠ (or 5NT by some pairs) shows the Q♠, and denies a side-suit King - A side-suit bid (in this case 6♣ or 6♦ or 6♥) would show the Q♠ and the King in the bid suit. After 5♥, West knows 20 HCP’s in East’s hand … AKQ♠, K♥, A♦, A♣. That’s 11 top tricks, with two or three HCP’s unaccounted for. The Q♥ or J♦ or K♣ would take the trick count up to 12, and a ruff in Dummy is hopefully available for the 13th. Another possibility is that East is 4=2=3=4, which would allow a Dummy Reversal, with the long hand scoring 3 Club ruffs to get the trick total to 13. But let’s not over-analyze this, it looks like 13 tricks in Spades is a reasonable proposition and that is what West bids.
7♠ is definitely the place to be, making an easy 13 tricks whenever trumps are 3-2. When they are 4-1 life gets more difficult, please see the Play Problem.
Quite an eventful auction, with a number of points. - Would you open the South hand 1♣? We are not sure that we would, even though the hand has 11 HCP’s and passes the Rule of Twenty, it looks more like a 3♣ preempt to us. - Would you bid 2♣ with the West hand? Playing Michaels, this shows the majors and West certainly has those. However, some pairs prefer to play that Michaels is only used with a good hand or a bad hand. This one is in-between, in the intermediate 11-14 range, so those pairs will prefer to overcall 1♥, planning to bid Hearts later. Take your pick on your Michaels style, with any luck you and your Partner will be playing the same way! - What does North’s Double mean? You could play it as showing Clubs, but a more common treatment is that it shows values, usually with the ability to double at least one of the enemy suits. Again, have you agreed on your own partnership treatment? - Would you bid 3♣ with the South hand? North has shown strength with her Double, so South does not need to slink into a corner just because she has a minimum opening bid. 3♣ does not show extra HCP’s, merely extra Clubs. - What does 3♠ mean? With the opponents agreeing on Hearts, North would cheerfully bid 3NT if her hand were good enough and if she had a suitable holding in Hearts. So, 3♠ says “I have the Spade, do you have the Hearts?” - Would you pass 4♣ with the North hand? Partner has opened the bidding, North has 14 HCP’s. It’s very tough to stay out of game in the circumstances, but perhaps this is the right time to do so. It looks as if N-S have a Spade loser and two Heart losers, and 4♣ may well be high enough. Couldn’t Partner have a singleton Heart? Yes, but in that case perhaps she should have bid 5♣ instead of 4♣.
Pinpoint bidding, 4♣ makes 10 tricks. How about a Heart contract? In theory it’s just 9 tricks, but in practice it might be 10. South leads the A♣ which gets ruffed, trumps are drawn in two rounds (ending on the board), Diamond finesse losing to North’s King, another Club ruff. Now, A♠ and out a Spade, and one way or another, Declarer scores 10 tricks. If N-S are to be sure of getting a 4th trick against Hearts they must arrange a Diamond ruff on the go.
Another board which raises a host of questions: - Would you open 1♣ or 1♦ with the West hand? Some players like to open 1♦ with these 4-5 hands, preparing the way for a 2♣ rebid. Our own preference is to open 1♣, planning to rebid 1NT (notwithstanding our singleton) if Partner responds 1♠. There are adherents of both, take your pick. - How about a frisky 2♣ by North? That would be Michaels, of course. It’s not exactly your textbook perfect 5-5 distribution but we confess to a sneaking admiration for the bid. Perhaps we shouldn’t have admitted that. - Do you like South’s 2♦ overcall? That one was Professor Oddbid’s idea, and like many of his offerings it looks strange but makes sense. 2♠ would be rather committal, either Partner has Spades or else N-S must go to the 3-level. As South’s hand is so weak, why not try Diamonds first? - And North’s Redouble? Yes, this one is clearly SOS. North, being at the top of her game, somehow senses that 2♦ may not be making. She’s happy to play anywhere but Diamonds and that is what the Redouble says.
So, by a somewhat circuitous route, N-S arrive in the obvious Spade fit. It’s easy enough to see how Declarer comes to 9 tricks, even after a trump lead. She plays along cross-ruff lines, taking a ruffing Diamond finesse along the way. Deep Finesse insists that 10 tricks are possible, we are sure that he’s right, but it’s not jumping out at us.
South had to choose between a Double and a 1♥ overcall, for more on which please see the Bidding Quiz. How about West’s 1NT? Far from clear-cut, West had some options, again please see the Bidding Quiz. North’s 3♠ was a constructive bid (not a preempt, in other words), and that is where she played it.
3♠ is a reasonable enough contract but it’s likely to be down one if East starts out with a Heart. When West wins the Ace, Declarer will play the Queen, trying to create the illusion that East has led from JT9. But West probably won’t be fooled, and will shoot back the Club Four, a clear suit preference signal that West wants a Club back after East ruffs (not that there could be any doubt looking at Dummy). So, the defense scores two ruffs and it’s down one. >>BRIDGEOPEDIA: “Suit Preference”>>
However, playing in Hearts there are no defensive ruffs thanks to the obliging 2-2 Spade break. The result will be 9 or 10 tricks depending on how Declarer tackles the trump suit.
Here is a routine auction which will be followed by routine play. The defense gets those two Aces but that’s all. Making 11 tricks at every table?
Against 2NT, East’s best opening lead is 2NT which beats the contract two with normal play. But Diamonds is the last suit that East will lead after this auction, here are some more likely outcomes: - East leads a Spade: Dummy wins the Ace and returns the K♣ won by East’s Ace. East perseveres with Spade, knocking out Dummy’s entry before the Clubs are set up. Declarer wins the Queen and plays a Club which East must duck. Dummy now cashes the two Spades, which added to the A♥, comes to 7 tricks and down only one. - East leads a Heart: This lead works well, provided that East shifts to a Diamond when he wins his first Club trick, that will be down two. But if East reasonably persists with Hearts the Diamonds will be shut out and it will be back to down only one. - East leads a Club: This dangerous lead turns out to be quite disastrous! Declarer wins the King, and returns a Club. East wins, shifts to Diamonds, Declarer wins the third round and persists with Clubs, eventually scoring 4 Spades, a Heart, a Diamond and 3 Clubs for a surprising 9 tricks. In this line of play Easr went wrong on both of the first two tricks. He made an over-aggressive opening lead, and then compounded the sin by winning the second Club trick … he must duck this in order to shut out Dummy’s Clubs. Ducking the second Club holds Declarer to 8 tricks (still not a good board for N-S).
Assuming that the N-S range for a 1NT overcall is 15-18, then it makes sense for that 2NT bid in the above auction to show 19-20. Against 2NT, the defense cashes two Hearts and leads a third round. Declarer knows that the defense has 6 certain tricks, and will concentrate her efforts on rustling up 7 tricks. Four Spades and a Heart are five, and a trick in each minor brings the total up to 7. But it’s not that easy. For example, if Declarer plays on Clubs, the defense can take their Hearts and then establish their second Club trick before Declarer can set up a Diamond trick. As West has a singleton A♦ it turns out to be better to play on Diamonds first, but Declarer does not know the minor suit distribution, so her best play is a finesse against the J♦. When this works it’s 7 tricks and down only one.
Playing in Diamonds, let’s say that East finds the best lead of a low Spade. Now it may seem that Declarer must lose a trick in each suit. Not so! Declarer wins the Ace in her hand, and immediately leads a Heart, presenting East with a dilemma: - If East wins the King and continues Spades, Declarer wins in Dummy, and leads the Q♥, covered by the Ace and ruffed. Now the Spade loser disappears on the J♥. Making 10 tricks! - If East ducks that Heart, then West wins the Ace, and returns a Spade, won in Dummy. Now a Heart ruff, over to the A♣ and another Heart ruff, felling East’s King. Now Dummy has established a Heart, but has no entry to the board. She loses a Diamond to West, and gets lucky when (a) West has no Spades left, (b) East has no trump left with which to ruff out Dummy’s Heart winner. Again, making 10 tricks! >>BRIDGEOPEDIA: “Morton's Fork”>>
West’s 2♥ was DONT, showing Hearts and Spades. North has an awkward in-between hand, for more on which please see the Bidding Quiz.
Against 2♥, with those slow tricks in Declarer’s second suit, a trump lead by North seems appropriate, and Declarer will eventually score all of his trumps and the A♠. That will be down two.
Another auction with some debatable calls: - How about North’s 1♥? We’d certainly want to get those Hearts into the auction, and the question is whether to make a Weak Two or a light third-seat opening. Our own choice would be 1♥, the suit quality is not up to a Red vs. White preempt. - Is East too strong for an overcall? Some players have an upper limit of 16 for their overcalls, our own opinion is that this is too low, and we’d certainly want to be able to bid 1♠ here. - Should West bid 3♠ or 4♠? With 5-card support and a weak hand, and at favorable vulnerability, it’s hard to resist 4♠ here.
That auction did not work out well for E-W and the end-result will be down two if Declarer misguesses the trump suit, down one otherwise. Is this a bad hand for the strong overcall? Not really. If East doubles 1♥, South will bid 2♥, West bids 2♠ and East goes to game.
We end up with a challenging slam hand. See the Bidding Quiz for more, in the meantime, here’s the Reader’s Digest version: - 2NT: A transfer to Diamonds - 3♣: This is the so-called pre-accept, played by this pair as saying “I have something good in Diamonds”. - 3♥: Conventionally shows shortage in Hearts - 3NT: Natural, obviously something in Hearts. - 4♥: Logically, this should show a void (unless the pair is using this for Redwood) - 6♦: With both black Aces, West can hardly do less.
E-W were lucky that the contract ended up with West as Declarer. With South on lead, an opening Spade will put the contract in jeopardy, as Declarer will need to find the Q♣, making 5 or 7 depending on East’s guessing skills. But with North on lead, an opening Spade holds no terrors and Declarer scores 12 or 13 tricks depending on the Club guess.
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