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Hand Analyses 7th May, 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 2, Declarer has a chance to pull off a Triple Squeeze. Adjacent to the text for that hand you will see the link >>BRIDGEOPEDIA: “Triple Squeezes”>> which will transport you to the collection of hands with the same theme.
Nobody can make much of anything on this one, and it looks as if the most likely results are 2♠ by South down one, and 2♦ by East making on the nose.
After East’s 2♠ reverse, West had more than enough points and stuff in the unbid suits for 3NT. North’s obvious opening lead is a Club, won by South’s Ace. The Club return is ducked in Dummy and won by North’s Ten, at which point North cannot profitably continue the suit, so she shifts to a Spade won by Declarer. Now, Declarer can count 7 top tricks, with hopes of a 3-3 Heart break for 9. Also, there is a Diamond trick that can be established, and that should be done right away while Declarer still has the A♥ entry to hand. So, the K♦ is led, won by North’s Ace and another Spade comes back. Now what? Declarer is up to 8 tricks, and still hoping for a 3-3 Heart break. However, the best chance to make the contract (but giving up on 10 tricks) is to duck a Diamond next, which makes the contract whenever either red suit breaks.
But perhaps Declarer will decide to go for the gusto, playing on Hearts before Diamonds, risking the contract while trying for 10 tricks. After winning the second Spade return, he cashes three rounds of Hearts getting the bad news. Now it looks as if Declarer is down one, but look what happens, this is the position before Declarer cashes the third Spade: North ♠ ♥ J ♦ JT ♣ Q6 Declarer Dummy ♠ ♠ Q8 ♥ ♥ 93 ♦ Q97 ♦ 3 ♣ KJ ♣ South ♠ J9 ♥ ♦ 85 ♣ 3 When that Q♠ is cashed, Declarer pitches a Diamond and North is squeezed in three suits! Whatever she pitches gives Declarer his 9th trick (and a 10th too if a Heart is pitched). A rare Triple Squeeze! >>BRIDGEOPEDIA: “TripleSqueezes”>>
The play in 1NT could well go: Diamond to East’s Jack, Diamond to West’s Ace, Diamond won by Dummy’s King, Club finesse. Now Declarer plays on Spades and will score 3 Spades, one Heart, one Diamond and 3 Clubs for 8 tricks. Of course, when East wins the A♠ and shifts to a Heart, Declarer will spurn that finesse.
Back to the bidding. Some E-W pairs will be undeterred by the vulnerability and will blunder into the auction one way or another. North might well double whatever two-level contract E-W stumble into, and unless that contract is 2♦ played by East the result will be +200 or +500 and a top board for N-S.
Quite a bold (vulnerable) 2♠ bid by North, considering the lack of stuffing in the trump suit and the unappealing distribution, but one that we confess we would also make. Against 4♠, East would do well to start out with Hearts, holding Declarer to 11 tricks. But that’s unlikely, most Easts will politely lead Partner’s suit, and now Declarer scores 12 tricks (A♦, draw trumps, ruff out the Clubs, back to Dummy with a trump for the remaining Clubs).
Back to the bidding. Were any Wests tempted to take a unilateral 5♦ sacrifice? There’s no harm in being tempted and perhaps with that good playing strength and poor defense West should succumb! If Partner has just one useful card it’s easy to see 9 tricks in Diamonds and 10 or 11 in Spades. This type of bid has two ways to win: (a) it might well be a good sacrifice, and (b) sometimes, even when it isn’t, the opponents bid again. It turns out that on this hand there was a third way to win! South bids 5♠ over 5♦, but now, with all that West Diamond length, the appeal of a Diamond lead vanishes and East should be persuaded to bang down the A♥ and Trick One, holding Declarer to 11 tricks.
North had a rebid choice between 3NT and 3♣. She obviously would have liked a Heart stopper if she were to bid 3NT, then again a 3♣ rebid would normally show a more distributional hand. Neither is perfect, take your pick. 3NT is the winner, getting N-S to the better matchpoint contract. But if North were to rebid 3♣ then it seems likely that 5♣ will be reached this way: North South 1♠ 1NT 3♣ 4♣ 4♦ 5♣ Pass A difficult auction! South could hardly bid 3♥ over 3♣, that would show a longer suit, and it would be a wild guess to bid 3NT with nothing in Diamonds and such a huge undisclosed Club fit.
System Note 1 Some pairs play that North’s 3♣ bid guarantees a 5-card suit, and they use a 2NT rebid artificially to show strong 5-4 hands. Follow the link for more on this.
System Note 2 In the second auction, after 1♠ 1NT, 3♣ 4♣, some pairs play that 4♦ is Roman Key Card, and, again, please follow the link for more on this.
Back to the play of the hand. If North plays in 5♣ she is certain to lose the A♥ and the offside K♣ and will have her work cut out to come to 11 tricks, especially if East finds an opening Diamond lead. She’ll need two ruffs in her hand and the suggested line is: Win the A♦ Cash the K♦ Lose the J♥ to the Ace Club shift, low from hand, won by East’s King Win the Club return on the board Now Declarer can ruff those two Diamonds high before drawing the last trump.
If South ends up declaring 3NT she makes an easy overtrick if West decides to lead a Heart. A low Diamond opening lead is less comfortable. She wins on the board and leads the J♥, which West should duck to disrupt Declarer’s communications. Deprived of an entry to her hand, Declarer now plays A♣ and out a Club. East wins and returns a Diamond. Which one? Yes, the Queen! This unblocks the suit and allows the defense to come to 4 tricks. >>BRIDGEOPEDIA: “Defensive Unblocking”>>
3♦ was New Minor Forcing and the resulting 3NT contract is a touch-and-go affair. South leads a Spade and Declarer ducks the first round in case the suit is 5-2. Declarer wins the second round of Spades and will play on Hearts. Given the limited dummy entries, what is the best way to play on Hearts? One approach is to play two top Hearts and out a Heart, praying for a 3-3 break, but Declarer can improve the odds just a little by running the Ten on the second round, gaining whenever North was dealt 86 or 83 or 82. It’s a small extra chance, improving the odds by an extra 5% or so. As it happens, North wins the second round of Hearts, clears the Spades, and now the Hearts are run. That’s still only 8 tricks, and Declarer must choose his minor suit finesse for the 9th. On the actual layout, the losing play is to lead a Club and guess wrong (down one), the other two options are good for 9 tricks.
East wisely chose to overcall 1♠ rather than make a Takeout Double, for more on which please see the Bidding Quiz. South was equally wise to treat her hand constructively rather than preemptively, again please see the Bidding Quiz.
Playing in Diamonds, the cards are most friendly: Opening Club lead won by Declarer’s Ace Lose a trump Ruff the Club return Lose a trump Ruff the Club return Cash A♠, K♠ and ruff a Spade Now, with Spades 3-3 it’s 11 tricks without even taking the Heart finesse.
Deep Finesse tells us that 3♦ can be held to 10 tricks. Do you see how? Yes, North must lead a Heart initially, then South must win the first Diamond trick and return a Heart. This defense sets up the third trick in Hearts before the Spades are established.
Given the massive Club fit, South might well compete to 4♣ over 3♦. The good news is that 4♣ is likely to escape a penalty Double. The bad news is that it is down three for -300 and a bad board anyway.
With a couple of outside cards West’s preempt is hardly picture perfect but surely he has to do something with that lovely 7-4 distribution. 3♣ poses a problem for North. With 3 stops in the enemy suit it’s tempting to try 3NT but then again it would be most embarrassing to miss a 5-4 Spade fit (or even 5-5!). 3♠ is another possibility, but that would make 3NT impossible to reach as South can hardly be expected to have the Clubs stopped. We like the Double here, with 3NT a close second in the voting and 3♠ a distant third.
On lead against 4♥, West might well start out with a Diamond to East’s King and Declarer’s Ace. Declarer leads a Heart to the King and digests the significance of the 5-0 split. Now there is a certain Heart loser, maybe a Spade loser, and maybe two Diamond losers. Best play is to finesse the 8♥ and play on Spades. When the Spade finesse works, things are looking up for Declarer! He runs the Spades and East must ruff the 4th round, South pitching a Diamond. Now the defense has just one Diamond trick to come, and it’s 11 tricks for Declarer.
If North bids 3NT over 3♣ she will wind up in an inferior contract. Well, inferior in theory but not in practice! East leads the 6♥, his 4th best, and Declarer uses the Rule of Eleven to conclude that the 8♥ in Dummy will win the trick. She now runs the J♠ picking up the Spade suit, cashes one high Club (noting the fall of the Jack), plays the K♥ and leads the J♥. When the dust has cleared Declarer has a whopping 13 tricks, with 5 Spades, 4 Hearts, a Diamond and 3 Clubs!
The Rule of Twenty is a useful guideline when it comes to deciding whether a hand is worth an opening bid. North’s hand passes the test, but the doubleton Q♦ is a minus factor. On the other hand, who could resist opening that lovely Spade suit loaded with intermediates? Not us! West has an obvious Takeout Double, and North bids out her shape with 2♦. Reasonable bidding by North, especially considering the favorable vulnerability, but at this point, against aggressive opponents who defend well, N-S are now in big trouble!
Opposite a Takeout Double a Double of a new suit by the opponents is generally played as showing cards in that suit, usually 4 of them. In other words, it is a penalty Double. So, East doubles 2♦, South takes a preference to 2♠, and West doubles again, showing some extra values. East has no convenient bid so he takes a shot at penalizing 2♠.
On opening lead, East can safely deduce that Dummy will have Diamond shortness, and, that being the case, a trump lead stands out. The Q♠ is played from Dummy, covered by the King and Ace. Now the A♦ and a Diamond ruff and it looks as if Declarer can escape with 7 tricks via 5 Spades in her hand, plus the A♦ and a Diamond ruff. But not so! Declarer has no way to get back to her hand and draw trumps and if the defense times things correctly there will be a trump promotion in the end-game. The defense will wind up scoring two tricks in each side-suit, plus that promoted trump, for a juicy +300 and a well-earned top board. The precise sequence of plays is: Spade to the Queen, King, Ace A♦ and ruff a Diamond Heart to East’s Jack The A♥ is unblocked Q♣ covered by the King and Ace Club to the Jack K♦ and Q♦ are cashed Declarer’s hand has been picked clean of side-suit cards and the defense has arranged to have the lead with West at the crucial Trick Ten. West leads a Heart and Declarer is done for. If she ruffs high then East’s 8♠ is promoted, and if she ruffs low then East can overruff. Nicely done, E-W! >>BRIDGEOPEDIA: “Trump Promotion”>>
Would you open that East hand 1NT? Some might not like the 5-4 shape, others may say it is too strong, considering the distribution and the maximum point count. We’d open this 1NT anyway, perhaps to a howl of protests, after all the majority of East’s points are in his short suits and we don’t think that this hand is as wonderful as it might seem at first sight. Anyway, after the 1NT opening, West transfers to Spades, and East makes a “super-accept” of 2NT, which in the E-W methods shows a good hand and 4-card Spade support. Perhaps your own super-accept methods are different, in which case please go to the Bidding Quiz for our once-every-quarter plug for sensible super-accepts. After the sensible super-accept, West “re-transfers” to 3♠, then makes a slam try. East is happy to cooperate and soon, after a 1430 Roman Key Card sequence, the good slam is reached, played from the right side. When the Spade finesse works there are 13 easy tricks without the need for the Heart finesse.
Of course, if East opens 1♠ instead of 1NT, E-W still might reach the slam, perhaps via 1♦ 1♠, 3♠ 4♦, 4♥, etc. However, now the contract has been wrong-sided and is vulnerable to an opening Heart lead. Declarer will probably finesse, giving himself two chances to make the slam (when either major suit finesse works), and that will be only 12 tricks. Anyone for a 1NT opening?
Opposite a 1NT opening, some players decline to use Stayman when they are 4-3-3-3, reasoning that as their hand is flat they have no ruffing value and therefore no reason to play in a suit contract. Sometimes these players are right, but often it is Opener who has the ruffing value and the major contract plays a trick better than No Trump anyway. It doesn’t matter on this hand, of course, but see the Bidding Quiz for a gadget that addresses the problem.
As North, would you lead the K♠ against 3NT? Or would you lead your 4th best? With KQTxx the King is normal, with KQxxx a low one is normal, but that KQ9xx is kind of in the middle. We just know that when we lead the King from this holding Partner always has Ax or Jx and the suit is blocked. And when we lead a low one we lose a trick in some other annoying way. Hopefully North has better luck with these decisions and leads the K♠ on this particular hand, ensuring a one-trick defeat for Declarer. If he leads low, Declarer scores a cheap Spade trick, attacks Clubs and manages 9 tricks.
Against 3NT, South leads her 4th best Spade and the Rule of Eleven tells Declarer that the Dummy’s Eight will win the trick, which it duly does. Next, Declarer tests the Clubs (pitching a Diamond from Dummy on the 3rd round), and when that suit breaks he’s up to 7 tricks. At this point Declarer would do well to build some red suit tricks rather than cashing the remaining Clubs and squeezing Dummy. So, next is the T♥ (hoping to tempt a cover from South) to Dummy’s King. North may smoothly and craftily duck but to no avail, Declarer is destined to score 9 tricks.
Back to the bidding. Were any East’s tempted to upgrade their 14-count to a 1NT opening? We certainly would be, there is that 5-card Club suit and we rather like the T93 in Hearts, too. Take your pick.
North’s 3♦ bid was preemptive, after which it would have been highly optimistic of South to bid 3NT. West leads the Q♥, and it may look as if Declarer will be losing two Spades and a trick in each of the other suits. Not so, there is an end-play in West’s horoscope, as in this line of play: Q♥ won by Declarer Diamond to West’s Ace Another Heart won by Declarer Last trump is drawn Declarer exits a Heart Now, whatever West does, one of those defensive tricks will disappear. If he returns a Club the Queen wins the trick … if he plays on Spades (Ace or small, it doesn’t matter) the defense’s second Spade winner goes away. Making 9 tricks.
Some players might get really excited about a deal like this, but we’ll resist that temptation. Making 10 tricks.
A Club part-score seems likely and although Deep Finesse tells us that 11 tricks are theoretically possible, even making 10 would seem to be a reasonable achievement, perhaps with this line of play: Spade lead won by Declarer’s Ace Spade ruff A♥ and K♥ are cashed (Spade is pitched from hand) Heart ruff Spade ruff J♣ won by North’s Ace Spade ruff Diamond to the Ace (the finesse achieves nothing at this point) Heart ruff Declarer has scrambled 9 tricks and still has the K♣ to come. >>BRIDGEOPEDIA: “Scrambling Tricks”>>
Even at favorable vulnerability, it would be somewhat “out there” to jump in (directly over 1♠) with an Unusual 2NT, but we are sure that some Norths will do so. But when 2♠ gets back to North she can hardly pass, that would be altogether too accommodating to the opponents. So she bids 2NT now, and, as generally played, this is also for the minors. Now South lands in the precarious contract of 3♣. It’s hard to see E-W doubling this and there is no reason why either player should push on to 3♠.
Let’s say that the defense starts out with Spades and Dummy ruffs the third round. Now the J♣ is finessed, losing to the King. Next, the A♥, Heart to the King and a third round of Hearts promotes a trump trick for the defense and beats the contract two. Still not good for E-W, though, as they can make 9 tricks in Spades.
Back to the bidding. There’s no reason why that balancing 2NT should not be any two-suiter when the opponents are bidding Spades. For more on this, please see the Bidding Quiz.
Nice bidding by South, we would say! First of all, she shows her Spades even though her hand is square (see also the East hand on Board 11). Just because she has no ruffing values does not mean that North has none. Some might try an Unusual 2NT with the West hand but we rather like the choice of 2♥ for it’s lead-directional value. After 2♥, North makes a Support Double (showing 3 Spades), East leaps to 4♥, and, once again, South is in the spotlight. Nice 4♠ bid! Even though N-S only have a 4-3 fit, it looks like a fit that should play well. South has useful Spade fillers, fitting Diamond cards, and the Heart attack can be handled in the short hand (North is clearly short in Hearts).
Against 4♠, West leads Hearts and North ruffs the second round in Dummy. The Q♠ and the J♠ win the next two tricks. Then a Diamond to the King, the A♠, and an avalanche of Diamonds. East can ruff whenever he likes but that is the last trick for the defense. 11 tricks and a well-deserved good board for N-S!
Perhaps West’s 3NT was a tad optimistic and playing matchpoints passing here would also be reasonable. Against 3NT, South might well lead a low Diamond, getting the defense off to a bad start when Declarer optimistically calls for the Ten and it wins the trick. How should Declarer use that windfall of a Dummy entry? The chances of 4 Club tricks is remote (only 14%) so Declarer does well to safety play the Clubs, leading low from Dummy to the Queen, which is good for 3 tricks 97% of the time (failing only when South has the singleton King). That being the case Declarer plays a low Club to the Queen and when that holds Declarer can be sure of 3 tricks in the suit. Spade tricks are also required so after winning the Q♣ Declarer shifts to the K♠. North wins and continues Diamonds, won by Declarer. Now the 9♠ is successfully finessed, then another Club which is won by North’s King, and Declarer’s last Diamond stopper is knocked out. At this point Declarer has 10 sure tricks and can go for a complete top by taking the Heart finesse for +460. Yes, that opening lead was most unfortunate but North could have done better by ducking the A♠ twice, thereby depriving Dummy of an entry and preventing the second overtrick.
Suppose that South decides on an opening lead of a low Heart. Again Dummy plays a hopeful Ten, this time covered by the King and Dummy’s Ace. Now the play might go as follows: Heart to the Ten, King, Ace K♠ won by North’s Ace Heart return is ducked Heart won by Declarer’s Queen T♠ is successfully finessed Spade to the Queen Last Spade is cashed Now, as before, Declarer safety plays the Clubs by leading a low one towards his hand. Nicely done for 10 tricks! And, yes, as before, North was an accomplice to Declarer’s success, by not ducking the A♠ twice.
After a Jacoby 2NT response, both players made courtesy cue-bids but neither had enough to push on to the poor slam. But although the slam is poor, it can be made thanks to the favorable Spade situation. But is a double-hook in Spades the best way to try for 12 tricks? Well, that depends on the opening lead. Obviously the Q♠ would be a giveaway, so let’s say that North leads a Diamond, then the A♥ is knocked out, a Diamond continuation, trumps are drawn, Diamond cashed, Diamond ruffed (in case South started with ♦QJx), A♣, Club ruff, followed by the double Spade hook. When this works, it’s 12 easy tricks.
A frustrating hand for South, perhaps she might have tried a hair-raising balancing 2♥, which on the actual deal would have worked out rather well. But as it was, she found herself defending 2♦, a contract which looks likely to make 8 tricks.
As on Board 10, we have a “super-accept” situation, and we refer you to the Bidding Quiz for more on this subject.
We challenge any Declarer not to make exactly 11 tricks in their Heart game, and nominate this one for the “Flattest Board of the Week” award.
A simple New Minor Forcing auction gets E-W to the obvious 3NT contract.
Against 3NT, as South, what would be your opening lead? We’d say that a Spade lead stands out here, in fact the distribution of the entire suit can be deduced with virtual certainty: - North does not have 5 Spades, because she appears to have a fairly decent hand but did not overcall. - East does not have 4 Spades, he denied that when he bid 1NT - West denied 4 Spades when he bid 2NT So, North must have 4 Spades, and East and West both have 3. Anyway, South leads a top-of-nothing Spade to North’s Jack and Declarer’s King. Declarer is short of entries to hand, so he might as well use this entry to set up a couple of Club tricks. The K♣ is played at Trick Two, and let’s say that North wins the Ace and returns a Club (nothing else appeals). Now, Declarer cannot cash that second Club winner before the Diamonds are set up, so a good (but dreadfully unlucky!) East might duck a Diamond into the safe North hand. Unlucky, indeed, now North gets an unexpected Diamond trick, and gets out safely with another Club. At this point, there are 9 tricks available and a successful Heart finesse would provide 10. But that finesse is dangerous, North might have a couple of Clubs to cash for down one. So, Declarer cashes the Diamonds, and this is the situation with one Diamond left to play: North ♠ Q96 ♥ KJ ♦ ♣ West East ♠ A3 ♠ T4 ♥ AQ ♥ T ♦ 3 ♦ ♣ ♣ 84 South ♠ 7 ♥ 75 ♦ ♣ T9 When the last Diamond is cashed, North must pitch a Spade, and so should South. Now, Declarer can play A♠ and out a Spade, endplaying North in Hearts, or, if he prefers he can play A♥ and out a Heart, endplaying North in Spades. Either endplay is good for 10 tricks. But if South is careful to hang on to her Clubs, that endplay is not without risk, as the person with the K♥ may also have two Clubs to cash for down one. Nice play by South if she grimly hung on to those seemingly useless Clubs and created doubt in Declarer’s mind.
Not wishing to play in 1♣, North’s hope, with that weak, weak hand, was that Partner would bid 1♥ or 1♠, which she would duly pass. As partners often do, South simply dug a deeper hole by rebidding 2♣ which is where she played it. This is not an exciting hand, the bottom line is that nobody can make much of anything and defending is likely to work out better than declaring.
Against 3NT, South does not have an attractive lead and might well try a Club. North wins the King and returns the suit, won in Dummy. There have been several hands this week with problematical card combinations, and here is another. The question here is twofold. What is the percentage play in each of the red suits in order to win 4 tricks? And which of those plays is the most likely to succeed? - Hearts: The percentage play is to finesse the Nine on the first round, and to finesse again on the second round. This one is good for 4 tricks just 33% of the time. - Diamonds: Here, it’s best to lay down the Ace and lead towards the QJ, which picks up 4 tricks when the suit is 3-3 or when the King doubleton is with North. The success rate here is 44%. >>BRIDGEOPEDIA: “Suit Combinations”>> Knowledge turns out to be a liability on this hand. After winning the second round of Clubs, Declarer cashes the A♦, leads another Diamond to the Queen and King, wins the Club return, crosses to the K♠, cashes the J♦, and discovers that the Diamonds don’t break. Now, Declarer is forced by the entry situation to overtake the Q♠ with the Ace, and when that suit breaks 5-1, and with the K♥ offside, he is suddenly reduced to a mere 9 tricks. Or is he? On the 3rd round of Diamonds, South will have been forced to part with her remaining Club in order to guard the major suits, so her last three cards will be known to be a Spade winner and two Hearts. So, West exits with a Spade and endplays South into giving him two Hearts at the end. Nicely done for 10 tricks! >>BRIDGEOPEDIA: “Scrambling Tricks”>>
2♣ was New Minor Forcing, 2NT denied Heart support. What about 3♥? Forcing or not? Absolutely forcing, if South had an invitational hand with 6 Hearts she would have bid 3♥ directly over 1NT.
Against 4♥, West leads a Club won by East’s King. The defense is now at the crossroads: - If East continues Clubs, and it turns out that South started with Qx (as on the actual hand), then the Queen wins, A♥ is cashed, then over to the K♥, A♣ (pitching a Diamond), and repeated Spade finesses until West ruffs with his natural trump trick. Making 11 tricks. - If East shifts to a Diamond instead, then he’ll regret that if Declarer started with Ax in Diamonds. Again making 11 tricks if East guesses wrongly to shift. How is East supposed to know? There is no foolproof solution on the hand, but those playing against a South who is known to be “mechanical” will have a distinct advantage on the hand. It doesn’t matter whether E-W are playing 4th best or “3rd and 5th”, either way, East will be guessing whether the lead is from a 3- or 4-card suit. If it is from 3 then East will also be hoping that the lead is from Qxx, in which case there is a second Club to be developed, and no need to make that dangerous Diamond shift. If it is from 4 then there are no more defensive tricks in the Club suit and the defense must look elsewhere. This is where Mr Mechanical enters the picture. He’s the guy that always plays his lowest card whenever he is not trying to win the trick. So, on this board, when he plays the Eight, East can be quite sure that Mr Mechanical does not have a lower card. So, Partner has led from a 4-card suit, and East can act accordingly. >>BRIDGEOPEDIA: “Deceptive Defense”>>
There are two morals to this story: - Don’t be a Mr Mechanical! As Declarer, it pays to play the spot cards unpredictably in order to avoid giving free information to the defenders. - Once you have shed that give-away mechanical habit, it’s a good idea to start noticing which of your regular opponents have failed to do so. But only do this if you enjoy getting top boards against those players.
What a difference a lead makes! It would be hard to argue with an opening lead of a low Diamond, but that allows Declarer to make his contract. He plays a low card from Dummy, forcing the Ace from South, and now it is 7 easy tricks for Declarer. However, if North chooses the Q♦ as her opening lead (not recommended, but not terrible either) then the defense gets 8 fast tricks in the red suits and it’s down two.
Let’s assume that E-W are playing DONT and that West’s Double therefore showed a one-suited hand. In this situation, N-S are playing “systems on”, so 2♦ was a transfer and for the third time this set we have the opportunity for a super-accept, and for the third time we refer you to the Bidding Quiz.
There is not much to the play, it looks like 10 tricks whatever happens. No doubt a flat board, with the possible exception of a few over-exuberant Wests who took the unprofitable 5♦ sacrifice and went down three, which was one too many.
Forgive our computer for generating another routine board. The defense cashes 4 Hearts, but that and the A♣ is all they get. Making 8 tricks.
Sometimes the opening leader stumbles upon the best lead merely by a process of elimination and so it is on this board. A trump lead will likely surrender a tempo and may blow a trick … a Heart lead will do nothing for the defense … a Club lead looks most dangerous. So nothing’s left other than a Diamond, and this is the lead which allows the defense to score a Diamond trick before it goes away on the Hearts.
After South has raised Hearts, North’s “Aces and spaces” are not enough to go to game, all the more so if opposite one of those Rule of Twenty adherents who have been known to open on slender values Furthermore, it’s not obvious that this one belongs in Hearts, perhaps Partner has raised with 3-card support and 3NT is preferable. Not to worry, our featured North just happens to have the perfect club in her bag, it’s a 2NT asking bid, to which the answers are: 3♣ 3-card support, bad hand 3♦ 3-card support, good hand 3♥ 4-card support, bad hand 3♠ 4-card support, good hand South has the best possible response to this and 4♥ is the final contract.
Against 4♥, East leads the K♠ and Declarer has no reason to duck this. Now, over to the K♦, then the J♥ is led, ducked by West. On the second round of Hearts West splits her honors and Declarer’s Ace wins. At this point, Declarer is probably going down if Diamonds are not 3-3, so she knocks out the other Heart honor, wins the Heart return, cashes the Diamonds, and gets a miraculous bonus 11th trick when the QJ♣ come tumbling down.
Against 3NT, the opening lead that initially makes Declarer the most nervous is the J♣. North ducks this, but then the Diamonds behave, so Declarer has 10 tricks, no more, no less.
Life is more fun if the opening lead is the optimistic J♠. Now Declarer wins the Queen, tests the Diamonds, unblocks the AK♥, runs the Diamonds, cashes the A♠ and Q♥. Declarer has won the first 10 tricks and has a free shot at an 11th by leading towards the K♣. North can win this and cash her T♥, but the K♣ does indeed end up scoring the 11th trick. Do you spot a flaw in North’s play? Yes, if she was on top of her game she could have unblocked the T♥ and 9♥! Now at Trick Ten, when the Club is led, North hops up with the Ace, leads a carefully preserved low Heart to South’s mighty Eight, and a Spade is cashed, holding Declarer to 10 tricks. Well done, you Norths who found that nice unblocking play, thereby overcoming Partner’s unfortunate choice of opening lead. Sure, East could have made 11 tricks anyway by leading towards the K♣ earlier in the play, but that would have been very risky indeed. >>BRIDGEOPEDIA: “Defensive Unblocking”>>
Finally, how about a Heart lead? This doesn’t give away the 10th trick, but Declarer can cash his red suit winners and the A♠ (that’s 9 tricks) and then lead towards the K♣ once more. 10 tricks even if North does choose to unblock the Hearts.
We end up with a messy part-score hand. We don’t know whether or not West should bid that vulnerable 3♦, but we do know that 3♦ makes with the aid of a Heart finesse and a Heart ruff.
As for N-S, they have the majority of the points but no fit. But, if they get to a No Trump contract played by North they will hit the jackpot, all the more so if East starts out with a low Diamond. Now the K♦ wins, a Club to the Queen, and when East shows out of Clubs it won’t take a rocket scientist to collect a Diamond, 4 Spades and 4 Clubs for 9 tricks.
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