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Hand Analyses 16th April, 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 1, Declarer has a suit combination problem, and adjacent to the text for that hand you will see the link >>BRIDGEOPEDIA: “Suit Combinations”>> which will transport you to the collection of hands with the same theme.
South used the Jacoby 2NT, showing a game-forcing Spade raise. Using standard methods Opener shows a singleton, so North might well have bid 3♣ on her actual hand. However, when that singleton is an Ace or a King, there is a lot to be said for not showing the shortness. Instead, North leaps to 4♥, showing a bad hand (down-valuing because of that singleton King).
Against 4♥, it’s easy enough for Declarer to score 10 tricks, but are 11 possible? Let’s say that East leads a minor suit. Trumps will be drawn, the A♦ will be lost and the minor suit winners cashed. Now, with nothing but trumps and Spades left, how should Declarer play the Spade suit for one loser? One possibility is to cash the Ace, then to play low towards the Jack. This holds the Spade losers to just one whenever one defender or the other has Qx or Kx or KQ of Spades or when East has the singleton K or Q. That line of play works out at 31%. Or does it? An expert West, holding Qx or Kx (where the low card is not the Ten), will cleverly avoid the endplay by jettisoning his honor! So, against such a player, the odds drop down from 31% to 21%.
The second way to play the Spade suit is to lead the Nine from the board towards Declarer’s Jxx, planning to play low from hand. Now, if East holds the KQ without the Ten, he will be end-played. This one comes in at only 20%, so it’s better to go for that earlier line, regardless of the expertise of your opponents. Unlucky! The winning play is also the anti-percentage play, sometimes a little knowledge is a dangerous thing! >>BRIDGEOPEDIA: “Suit Combinations”>>
Playing in 3♥ North will be struggling to avoid going down two. Let’s say that East leads the Q♠, ducked in Dummy. Spades are continued and the third round is ruffed in Dummy. On the board for the first and last time, should Declarer take the Club finesse, or the Heart finesse? Clearly the Club finesse offers the better odds because the Heart finesse will unnecessary if the Q♥ will come down singleton or doubleton. Good thinking, especially on the actual hand! The Club finesse works, and the Q♥ does come down doubleton. There are two Diamonds to be lost, but that is 9 tricks for Declarer. However, if Declarer had taken that Heart finesse, she would have gone down two!
North does not really have an opening bid, of course, but in 3rd seat she could hardly not mention such a lovely suit, if only for lead-directing purposes. By the same token, East, with only 4 Spades, did not really have a 1♠ overcall, either. But he couldn’t double holding only two Hearts, and was loath to pass with a good hand and a good suit.
Against 3♥, let’s say that the defense starts out with Clubs and Declarer ruffs the second round. The A♥ and K♥ are cashed, felling the Queen. Now Declarer can draw the last trump, and play on Diamonds, scoring 11 tricks when the J♦ comes down, but only 9 tricks if it doesn’t.
Against 4♠, North cashes the AK♦. A third round of Diamonds is ruffed high on the board, at which point Declarer’s hand is high except for those two Club losers. Declarer does not have the entries or the trump spots to allow him to ruff Clubs on the board, so he’ll play on Hearts for his 10th (and hopefully 11th) trick. Which way would you play the Hearts? Declarer doesn’t have enough trumps to ruff out Kxx or Kxxx, so let’s forget that possibility. Instead, Declarer draws 3 rounds of trumps (ending in hand) and must now decide which way to take the Heart finesse? Either way, 10 tricks are assured, which line offers the better chance for 11? Well, the lines are comparable (27% for the finesse and 29% for the ruffing finesse), so happy guessing!
That which constitutes an opening bid is in the eye of the beholder, but in the eye of your editors that North hand does not qualify, despite the 12 HCP’s. It fails the Rule of Twenty, we hate that square distribution, and there is no lead-directing benefit from opening. Of course, South with 11 HCP’s and dull distribution does not have a sound opening bid either, but she is in 3rd seat and has 5 Spades, so 1♠ seems routine here. It turns out to be a good hand for Drury. North bids 2♣ (artificial Spade raise), South’s 2♠ says “Unsound or minimum opening bid”, and the partnership gets to play in a cozy two-level contract.
It turns out that the hand is well-behaved, and 9 tricks materialize. First, the trumps break, then some luck is needed in the red suits (either 3 Heart tricks or else onside J♦ is required to make 9 tricks). Well, that’s a great shame! We were hoping that 8 tricks would be the maximum and that we could extol the virtues of Drury and how it kept N-S at a safe level, allowing them to escape with a plus score. Alas, it looks like +140, with or without Drury, so we’ll just have to save that commercial for another day!
If this were a team game, where there is a high premium on bidding vulnerable games, West might be tempted to try for game with 3♠ over 2♠. But playing matchpoints, where frequency of gain is more important, he passes with that nondescript 10-count.
Playing in Spades, with the A♣ offside, there are 3 minor suit losers, but the lucky Heart situation allows 9 tricks to squeak home. Actually, 10 is not out of the question if South is having a bad day. For example, South leads the K♥, won in Dummy. Trumps are drawn, and a second Heart is played. If South grabs the Q♥ immediately, the 13th Heart will provide a parking place for the Diamond loser and it will be 10 tricks. How was South to know that she must duck the second round of Hearts? It wasn’t obvious, unless North could be relied upon to give count on the opening Heart lead. However, most ACBL partnerships routinely give attitude on opening lead, and that is not a good method for this particular hand.
South’s 2♠ showed some extra values and presumably 3=5=1=4 distribution but she did not feel strong enough to raise North’s 2NT to game. It turns out that 3NT is a most fortunate contract, thanks to the 3-3 Hearts and the lucky Spade situation. Here’s how the play might go: East leads a Diamond, won in Dummy Heart to the King K♦ is cashed Heart to the Ace Heart is conceded to West J♠ shift is ducked in Dummy At this point, with only Clubs and Diamonds left, West is end-played. He can cash one Diamond safely, but must then shift to Clubs, setting up Declarer’s 9th trick. Here’s one exotic wrinkle, though: if West shifts to the Club Queen (trying to force an entry to East for a Spade continuation) then Declarer cleverly ducks!
East had maximum values for that Weak Two and West’s 3♠ was merely obstructive or, in other words, furthering the preempt. Pretty normal bidding by E-W, but it did have the undesired effect of propelling N-S to a skinny 4♥ contract. Perhaps West considered sacrificing in 4♠, but with a fair amount of defense he no doubt harbored fond hopes of beating 4♥.
4♥ is a perilous affair but the card gods are with Declarer. Let’s say that East lays down the A♠ and shifts to the Q♦, won in Dummy. Then the Heart Seven is led and we’ll assume that West ducks and Declarer cleverly overtakes with the Ten. When this holds, she ruffs a Spade, cashes AKJ♣ (pitching two Diamonds), ruffs a Club, ruffs a Spade, and leads a trump from the board. Making 11 tricks! The only way to hold Declarer to 10 tricks is to lead a trump initially, holding Dummy’s Spade ruffs to just one. >>BRIDGEOPEDIA: “Entry Management”>>
Any pairs who bid the cold 7NT will have done very well indeed, it’s a difficult contract to reach. The featured auction was a tricky little test of the N-S Roman Key Card agreements. Here is a walk-through of the auction: - 1♥: We wouldn’t argue with a 2♣ opening bid here, for more on which please see below. - 1♠: Presumably South did not have a strong jump shift available, this would be a good hand for such a bid. - 3♦: Perhaps this looks a bit odd, but North chose this as a stronger route to bidding 4♥ rather than going directly to 4♥. - 3♠: This one is fairly obvious. Of course, by now South can be sure that they belong in some slam or other. - 4♥: Obviously showing a long suit as well as a good hand. - 4NT: Roman Key Card, with Hearts agreed by implication. - 5♦: 0 or 3 Key Cards (the 1430 flavor) - 5♠: What a dangerous bid! It was intended as the Queen Ask (for Hearts), not as a sign-off in Spades. It’s the sort of bid that shortens the life expectancy of the average bridge player as she wonders whether Partner will lose her mind and pass. Please see the Bidding Quiz for more on this life-shortening situation. - 5NT: Shows the Q♥ and denies a minor suit King (with, for example, Q♥ and K♣, North would bid 6♣). - 7NT: South can reasonably expect 7 Hearts from Partner, which takes the trick count up to 12. South reasons that if the Diamond suit does not bring home the 13th trick she’ll have to rely on the Spade finesse. As it happens, the 13th trick is the extra Heart.
How would things go if North were to open 2♣? Here’s one route to 7NT: North South 2♣ 2♠ 3♥ 3♠ 4♥ 4NT 5♦ 7NT This auction works out more simply, after the 2♣ opening and the Heart rebids South goes to 7NT on sheer power. If she places North with just 6 Hearts then she can count up to 11 tricks with just 13 or 14 of North’s HCP’s accounted for. Surely, for a 2♣ opener, North can be expected to have a couple more tricks somewhere.
East is not good enough to bid over 2♠, even though that 5th Heart and Diamond void are nice features. We like to upgrade our hands for such plus features, but let’s not get overly exuberant here, it is still only a 2-count. However, it turns out to be the perfect 2-count when 4♥ scrapes home with 10 tricks, Declarer (East) being able to rustle up 4 natural Heart tricks, plus a Spade ruff, the A♦, and 4 Club tricks. A somewhat lucky game, though, requiring the Heart finesse, and 3-2 breaks in both Hearts and Clubs.
System Note Some partnerships play a convention called “Good-Bad 2NT”. If E-W were such a pair then, after 2♠, East would have two ways to bid his Heart suit. The weaker way to bid 3♥ would be via 2NT (played in this convention as a type of Lebensohl bid) and the stronger (constructive but not forcing) way would be to bid 3♥ directly. With such a weapon in his arsenal, should East dredge up a 2NT bid (over 2♠), planning to convert the 3♣ relay to 3♥? Maybe. If East does so, should West go to game? It’s tempting with that 19-count, but there is the Spade wastage and only 3 Hearts, we’d probably bid the game anyway, and consider ourselves highly fortunate when it limped home.
No doubt North felt betwixt and between 2♥ and 3♥ here, it’s certainly about as good as a 2♥ bid can possibly be. Bergen players would have no problem with this, they would bid 3♣ or 3♦, whichever of those they use as their 4-card “constructive” raise”. Well, no problems in the auction, but a Bergen raise here has the unfortunate result of getting N-S perilously high. However, it turns out that 3♥ makes, thanks to the 2-2 trumps and the onside A♠.
South’s Negative Double showed both majors (see Bidding Quiz), and West’s 1NT showed around 8-11.
2♥ should make on the nose, but Declarer does have some overtrick chances, as in this line of play: Low Heart, won by Dummy’s Ten T♣ is successfully finessed K♥ won by East’s Ace Heart return won by Declarer Spade is lost to West K♦ is won by Dummy’s Ace Q♣ is finessed A♣, pitching a Diamond from Dummy Spade conceded to East Diamond cashed Now, Declarer has the rest. Yes, indeed, East was too passive in the defense. The opening trump lead was not fatal, but when in with the A♥ East must shift to a Diamond, after which Declarer and Dummy will run out of trumps before a Spade trick can be established.
4♠ is a so-so contract but is likely to make unless East finds an astonishing opening lead. We cannot imagine that East will start out with the disastrous Spade lead, but each of the three side-suit leads result in interesting play.
If East leads a Club, Dummy’s Jack wins the trick. Now, a successful Spade finesse, and, rather than risk crossing to the board on a Club for another Spade finesse, Declarer does better to cash the A♠. When the King does not come down, she cashes the K♣ and exits a Spade, end-playing West. Now, West can do no better than to take his two Aces.
If East leads a Diamond, Dummy plays low and West withholds his Ace to prevent Dummy from getting that vital second entry (for the second Spade finesse). So, Declarer’s J♦ wins the first trick, the K♣ is cashed, then over to the A♣, Spade finesse, and exit a Diamond to West’s Ace, end-playing West.
If East leads a Heart, Declarer plays low from the board and West’s Queen takes the trick. West does best to get out with a Club but Declarer spurns the “free” finesse and wins in hand with the King. Now she exits with a Heart won by West, and another Club comes back won on the board. Now the K♥ is cashed (pitching a Diamond from hand), the Q♠ is finessed, and Declarer exits with a Diamond to West’s Ace. As before, West is end-played.
In all these lines Declarer makes 10 tricks, but Deep Finesse’s double dummy analysis tells us that the defense can hold Declarer to just 9 tricks. What is the “astonishing opening lead” that makes this possible? Don’t try this one without adult supervision, but the winning lead is the Q♦! This forces Dummy’s King to cover, won by West’s Ace. Now West exits with a Diamond and all his end-play worries are over. In the fullness of time West will come to the K♠, A♥, Q♥ and A♦.
South’s Double was DONT, showing a one-suited hand. What are your methods in this situation? The simple approach is to play “systems on”, so West transfers to Spades and bids game. Yes, West only has 9 HCP’s, it was the Spade fillers that made him do it.
It turns out that 3NT is a miserable contract! South leads a Heart and Declarer must have his guessing shoes on here. He should get it right, presumably South has led her long suit and is more likely to have the Ace than the Queen. When the King wins the trick, Declarer is still a couple of finesses away from making the hand. He finesses the Q♣, plays on Spades and gets more good news, and repeats the Club finesse for 9 tricks. Phew!
Do you think that East’s 1NT is a little bit out there? Maybe it is, but it does have some redeeming qualities, not least of which is defining the point range early and protecting that ♦Qx from the opening lead (imagine a No Trump contract where Partner has ♦Axx or ♦Kxx … better to play this from the East side). Anyway, after the (maybe) offbeat 1NT, E-W crawl into 4♥. As can be seen, it is a contract which requires a successful Club finesse. So it’s 10 tricks for Declarer.
Alright, some (most?) of you do not approve of that 1NT opening. So you open 1♥, and Partner bids 2♥. Do you make a game try? We wouldn’t, so we’ll be cursing that successful finesse when 10 tricks roll in.
With 10 tricks in No Trump (and 12 if the opening lead is a Heart) it has to be said that South’s leap to 5♦ was not a great success. But reasonable nonetheless. Sure, South could bid 3♥ over East’s 2♥, angling for 3NT, but even if North could oblige with a Heart stopper there was no guarantee that the Diamonds were running. Anyway, well (or boldly) done if you got to 3NT, and if you got to 6♦ then we would love to know how!
Opposite North’s 3♠ opening bid, South might have been tempted to bid 3NT (the winning bid as it happens!), but that might work out rather badly, especially if North had a worthless Diamond holding. So, South trotted out a mundane 4♠ a contract which should make more often than not.
Against 4♠, East’s obvious lead is the J♣, a safe and attacking lead. Alas, not so safe! That lead gives away the Club suit, allowing Declarer to finesse the 9♣ later in the play. This provides a Diamond pitch on the 3rd round of Clubs and relieves Declarer of the task of guessing the Diamond suit.
Yes, it’s true, 3NT turns out to be good for 10 tricks also. But we don’t suppose that many pairs will find that, it’s hard to resist a 10 card major fit.
West makes a game try, East declines. When Dummy goes down, Declarer can see that game will indeed make if the Hearts are friendly, and if the Spade finesse works and if the Q♦ is also onside. As it happens, none of those good things happen! In fact, with normal play, Declarer could end up down no less than 3 tricks (the defense scoring 4 Hearts along the way). Just an ugly hand.
North’s 2NT was Jordan, showing at least game-invitational values in Hearts. Yes, 7 HCP’s is less than usual for this bid, but North does have a 5th Heart and that Spade shortness as compensation, we’d say that she is good value for a game invitation.
Anyway, this is a hand which highlights the perils of preempting when Red vs White. East’s 4♠ gets smacked by South, who leads her singleton Club. If Declarer is a devious fellow he will win that in his hand and innocently toss out the Q♠. Will South fall for this ruse, ducking the Ace for fear of crashing Partner King? Hopefully not. Instead, she flies with the Ace and returns a Diamond. But which Diamond? Of course, she returns the Nine, the purpose of this being to discourage a Diamond return. North wins the Ace, gives South her Club ruff, and it’s down two for a good N-S result. >>BRIDGEOPEDIA: “Deception and Swindles”>>
As South, would you double 1♥ or would you overcall? 16 HCP’s is well within the overcall range, but this hand has only 4 losers on the Losing Trick Count, so we’d suggest doubling first before showing the Clubs. West’s Redouble showed 3-card Heart support. At this point North had an easy 1♠ bid, but she had a problem on the next round of bidding. After Partner has doubled and introduced a new suit, North has sufficient values for game. 3NT may well be the best spot, but North has no satisfactory way of exploring that. In this situation, with the opponents bidding two suits, the usual treatment is to bid the one that you have stopped, hoping that Partner can bid 3NT with the other one under control. Alas, North has neither of their suits stopped, and has little option but to raise to 5♣. That was an awkward N-S auction, perhaps, but at least it landed them in the right contract. 11 easy tricks.
After East’s 2♣ opening, South declined to enter the fray, being no doubt acutely aware of the adverse vulnerability. West’s 3♥ was stronger than a jump to 4♥, the Principle of Fast Arrival at work once again. How about that 4♠ bid? Yes, it was the dreaded Exclusion Key Card Blackwood, asking for West’s Key Cards excluding the A♠. 4NT said “No such Key Cards” (3014 responses in this case).
How good a contract is 6♥? Given two entries to the board, Declarer would finesse trumps twice, giving himself a 76% chance to pick up the suit for one loser. As it is there is only one entry, and that one is dangerous, there could be a Diamond ruff lurking out there. So, the obvious play in trumps is simply to cash the A♥ first. That’s only a 66% chance, but still good odds for the slam. But look at how important Dummy’s Jack is! Without that card, Declarer would have to rely upon a 2-2 trump break, and that’s just a 41% shot.
Back to the bidding. Suppose that East decides that the best way to show his two-suiter is to start showing his suits right away. Here’s a possible auction: West North East South Pass 1♥ 1♠ 1NT Pass 3♦ Pass 4♥ Pass 6♥ Pass Pass Pass After 3♦, clearly West is going to support Hearts. Should he bid 3♥ or 4♥? Is this another Fast Arrival situation? No, West has already shown some values and limited his hand, so we’d suggest that 4♥ says “I have real Heart support”, as opposed to the token doubleton support that 3♥ would show. In this second auction, there was no point in using Blackwood (Exclusion or otherwise) because West can hardly have ♥Kxx or ♥KQx for his earlier 1NT bid.
North’s bidding here may look bizarre but it actually makes some sense. Let’s walk through this auction: - 2♣: An inverted raise. North reasoned that it might be difficult to get an effective and forcing Club sequence going if she mundanely responded 1♦ (yes, it’s another hand where we might wish we were playing strong jump shifts!). - 2♠: Shows something in Spades and creates a game force (there are numerous other treatments available) - 3♦: Something in Diamonds (and then some!) - 3♥: Yes, something in Hearts! - 4♣: Roman Key Card (aka Minorwood) … if that’s not available to the partnership then they might be playing 4♦ (Redwood) for that purpose … and if that’s not available then 4NT would have to be used (but not recommended in minor suit auctions, too space-consuming, better to have the Minorwood or Redwood option available). - 4♥: 0 or 3 Key Cards - 4♠: Queen Ask - 6♣: Shows the Q♣ without any side-suit King. Some would use 4NT for that purpose. Not a bad auction, it allowed N-S zip into 7♣ without too much difficulty. But not an ideal auction, either, because when North finally bid 7♣ she had no idea whether or not there were 13 tricks in the better-scoring 7NT. As it happens there are 13 tricks in No Trump, but that’s only because of the 3-3 Diamond break.
Next, let’s suppose that North makes the more obvious response of 1♦. Here’s how the auction might develop: North South 1♣ 1♦ 1♠ 2♥ 3♣ 4♣ 4♥ 4NT 5♦ 5♥ 5NT 7♣ Pass Not such a comfortable auction, although 7♣ was eventually reached. 2♥ was Fourth Suit Forcing, after which North could not support Clubs until the 4-level. 4NT was Roman Key Card, 5♥ was the Queen Ask, and 5NT showed the Q♣.
East found the lead-directing 1♥ overcall impossible to resist (as would we), after which South found himself declaring 2♠. This is a contract which should go down one when the defense scores 3 Heart tricks and 3 trump tricks. However, after West dutifully starts out with a Heart opening lead, there is a danger that East might get over-active. He might fear that Declarer has the A♦ and that her Heart losers are about to disappear, in which case he could win the J♥, cash A♥, and give West a Heart ruff, thereby compressing one of the defensive tricks. That will be 8 tricks for Declarer, whereas passive defense will set 2♠ one trick.
For the third time in this set there is somebody at the table who wishes that they were playing strong jump shifts. This time it is South, but she has to make do with a simple 1♠ response. Then it is North who makes a jump shift, and it’s off to the races once again. South’s 4♣ was Gerber, it was just conceivable that the partnership was missing an Ace. What does 4NT show? According to partnership agreement, it showed two Aces and a good hand … good here is a relative term, it means good for the bidding so far. For more on Gerber responses please see the Bidding Quiz.
In No Trump there are 11 top tricks, and 13 come in if either the Spades or the Hearts or the Diamonds are running. What is the best way of marshalling the chances? Please see the Play Problem.
The slamfest continues! Would you open 3♦ with the North hand? That’s a matter of personal style, and our own preference is not to preempt with an outside Ace. On the other hand, we love to preempt an favorable vulnerability, so consider us conflicted on this one. After East’s Double, West’s hand looks distinctly No Trumpish, but it’s just too good for 3NT. So, West bids 4NT, surely natural, after which East could hardly do less than 6NT.
6NT is certainly the right spot! Declarer wins the opening Diamond lead and leads a Spade towards the board. When the Ace pops up, it’s 12 tricks. 6♠ is less fortunate, down one when the Spades are 4-1.
Defensive Note Put yourself in the South chair, imagine that you hold AJx of Spades. Declarer wins the opening Diamond lead, and leads a Spade towards the board. Yes, the winning play is to duck (smoothly of course). Now Declarer might try to lead Spades towards the board a second time, and that will be down one. Look what happens if South takes that first Spade trick. Now Declarer has no chance of a second Spade trick, and will be forced to take the Heart finesse for her 12th trick. Nice duck!
A sad hand for E-W! North’s 2♣ was DONT, East’s Double was Stayman, and the obvious 4-4 Heart game is reached. It’s a poor game (look at all that Spade wastage!), made worse when the Hearts are 4-1. Down two!
Opposite the kind of hands that some of our partners open, we wouldn’t rate the North hand as quite good enough for a game-forcing 2/1. So, North tries a Forcing NT instead.
Against 4♠, West will likely lead his singleton Heart, and with no clues from the bidding Declarer will have no reason to assume that this is a singleton, that lead could equally well be from the King. So, he’ll take the losing finesse of the Queen, which is followed by a Heart ruff, holding Declarer to 10 tricks.
Things will be slightly different if East bids those Hearts along the way. Now, Declarer can be sure that the Heart lead is singleton, so he’ll hop up with the Ace, lose the Spade finesse, finesse the Club return, and take another Spade finesse. 11 tricks! Yes, it often pays to get into the auction, but on this occasion East’s bidding serves only to help Declarer.
In the featured auction South’s response was the Forcing NT and the jump to 3♠ showed invitational values and 3-card support.
After this auction East might well lead a Heart. How do you play the Spades? Looking at the Spade suit in isolation, and assuming unlimited entries to the board, one would like to lead a low Spade on the first round, protecting against the singleton King with West. But Declarer does not have the entries to make this safety play, at least not without cutting herself off from the Hearts. All this turns out to be academic though. Declarer wins the opening lead on the board, runs the T♠ to East’s King, whereupon East promptly cashes the A♦ before it is too late. 11 tricks.
Despite having only 6 Spades, North’s holding was strong enough for her to insist on the suit as trumps. The next decision was whether North should rebid 3♠ or 4♠. A close decision, take your pick.
Our featured South, being an optimistic soul, chose to bid the game. The bad news is that it’s a marginal (aka rotten) contract, the good news being that it happens to make. West leads the T♥ won by East’s Ace. A Heart comes back, won by Dummy’s King. The Spade finesse works but the Queen does not come down in 3 rounds. The T♣ is run around, then another Club finesse, and the K♦ is won by East’s Ace. Sad to say (at least for the defense), East has no more Hearts and the game squeaks home.
West had an in-between kind of hand, and in 1st or 2nd seat might be wondering whether to open this 1♦ or 2♦. But, in 3rd seat, opposite a passed hand, with the hand likely to belong to the opponents, he went the more preemptive route and bid 3♦. That didn’t slow down North, her hand was too good to stop short of game.
4♥ is a most friendly contract. West leads the K♦, Declarer wins the Ace, and uses that valuable entry to take the successful Spade finesse. Now, three rounds of trumps are drawn, ending in hand, and another Spade is led. Then, with the K♣ onside as well, it’s 11 tricks for Declarer.
In this auction, East had two cue-bids available, so the question is “Why did our featured East choose the 2♥ cue-bid instead of 2♣?” Please see the Bidding Quiz.
South’s Double of that 2♥ cue-bid is not normally played as a Support Double (assuming that this is part of the N-S methods), but the Double of an artificial bid generally shows something in the suit, so it amounts to more or less the same thing.
Moving along, what does West’s 3♦ bid show? Well, East is presumably showing a Diamond fit, and by his 2♥ cue-bid has forced the auction to the 3-level. So now a Pass by West is generally played as stronger than going to 3♦ directly, it’s a variation of the Principal of Fast Arrival. West, with a minimum hand for his original overcall, does indeed bid 3♦ directly, but that does not deter East from pushing on the 4-level.
Who makes what? First, let’s look at a West contract of 3♥. Suppose that East starts out with the A♣, then the defense smartly cashes two Diamonds. At this point there is nothing much left to do but shift to Spades, and Declarer will have a play for 10 tricks. She’ll cash both Spades, ruff a Spade low, cross to hand with a Heart, ruff another Spade with the Ace, ruff a Club, and make 10 tricks if it turns out that trumps are 2-2. As it happens they are not, so it’s just 9 tricks.
How about 4♦? The only way for N-S to beat this contract will be for South to get a Spade ruff. Will this happen? Let’s say that North starts out with the K♥, as would just about everybody. Now we have a familiar situation, when Dummy goes down with a singleton in the led suit. This is generally played as a suit preference situation. Should South play her highest spot card, the mighty Six, to indicate the desire for a Spade shift? No, of course not! The signal might not be that clear, and if North misreads it she may decide that the winning defense is to go passive. No worries! South can see the situation clearly enough and she should take charge. So, she overtakes the first trick, cashes the A♠, then a Spade to North’s King, and a ruff. Nicely done, Ms South! But, if she had feebly signaled on the first trick with the Heart Six, and if North had gone wrong at Trick Two, then she would have had nobody to blame but herself! >>BRIDGEOPEDIA: “Suit Preference”>>
We cannot see any good reason why North or South should disturb that 1NT contract, so we must now finish with the bridge writers’ worst nightmare, namely how to analyze the play in a 1NT contract. Here’s one of innumerable possible lines, this one snags 8 tricks for Declarer: North leads a Heart to South’s Ten and Declarer’s Queen A♠ is cashed Spade to North’s King K♥ is ducked Heart to Declarer’s Ace Spade to Dummy’s Queen Diamond Nine is run around to North’s Jack The 13th Heart is cashed At this point the defense can do no better than to score one more trick with the A♣.
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