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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!
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