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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♥ | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
