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Hand Analyses 5th November, 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, East goes out of his way to prevent Partner from going wrong.Declarer scrambles his way to 8 tricks in 2♥. Adjacent to the text for that hand you will see the link >>BRIDGEOPEDIA: “Helping Partner”>> which will transport you to the collection of hands with the same theme.
Here’s a familiar lead situation after the opponents reach 3NT. The two unbid suits are a major and a minor and you have equal length holdings in both. As East, which do you lead? There’s a tendency to lead the major, all the more so as South has denied 4 Spades with her 3♣ rebid. On the other hand, East’s Diamonds are less feeble than the Spades, so perhaps that is the suit to lead. You (East) can agonize as much as you like but it doesn’t matter too much because the key decision comes later in the play. Let’s say that East leads a Diamond, to West’s Ten and North’s Ace. Now, Declarer plays on Clubs, and when West gets in on the 3rd round will he be smart enough to find that Heart shift? That will hold Declarer to 10 tricks, while a failure to shift to Hearts will result in 12 tricks. Actually, the smart one here has to be East! He is the one who is looking at the AK♥, and who can also detect a woeful absence of Diamond Kings in his hand. So, while discarding on the second or third round of Clubs he makes things crystal clear for West by pitching away the Q♦! That’s a play which denies the K♦ and will bludgeon even the sleepiest West into shifting to a Heart. Nicely done, East, your side got its 3 tricks! >>BRIDGEOPEDIA: “Helping Partner”>>
What an energetic auction! Let’s look at some of the key bids: - 4♣: Preemptive, of course. Anyone for 5♣, considering the favorable vulnerability? That might be a bit much. East has no singleton, and also a potential slow defensive trick in Diamonds. So, we’d say that 4♣ is about right. - 5♣: This doesn’t have to promise a first-round Club control but it is obviously a slam try. Actually, it’s more than a slam try as it happens, South will surely be going to slam regardless, and is no doubt wondering if 7♠ might be there. - 7♣: West has very little, if any, defense against Spades, so bids to the max to give the opponents a guess. - Dbl: North has no first-round control in Clubs (nor anywhere else, actually) so she doubles 7♣.
Aggressive preempting by E-W, making it virtually impossible for N-S to reach their cold grand slam in Spades. But, alas for E-W it may go down one too many, as in: K♠, K♥, A♥, Heart ruff, K♦, A♦, Diamond ruff. That’s down a whopping 7 tricks for -1700! That’s not a bad score if the N-S field is bidding 7♠, but they won’t, and the enterprising E-W bidding works out badly. But we like it anyway!
Against 4♠ North leads a Club and Declarer can make a surprising 11 tricks with this line of play: Win A♣ (pitching a Heart from hand) Ruff a Club Cross to Dummy with a Spade Ruff a Club Cross to Dummy with a Spade Lead a Diamond, playing the Nine and forcing the Ace Now, whatever North does, there is no way that she can score more than her two Aces. Declarer did two good things here: (a) he ruffed out North’s Clubs; (b) he finessed the Diamond Nine, his only chance for 3 Diamond tricks and hence 11 total tricks. Oh, yes, and let’s not forget that there is also (c) while West was ruffing those Clubs he carefully preserved a low Spade in his hand for a later entry to the board. Well done those Wests who made 11 tricks, that was no doubt worth an astonishing number of matchpoints. >>BRIDGEOPEDIA: “Elimination Play”>>
Back to the Bidding We don’t know about you but White vs Red we would find it awfully difficult not to preempt 3♣ with the South hand. That is a 6-card suit, isn’t it?
Against 2♥ North leads the A♦, and Declarer false-cards with the Eight, leaving North in some doubt as to whether South started with a singleton or a doubleton. If North reads the situation correctly she will shift to a Spade won by South’s Ace. Now a Heart shift holds Declarer to 8 tricks, as this stops the second Club ruff on the board.
North did well not to pass 2NT with her modest 4-count, her theory being that if Partner had a 4-card major then her hand got much better, and if not then she would just have to rely on Partner’s superior card-play technique to pull the 3NT irons out of the fire. As it happens, there is a 4-4 major fit (two, actually), and 10 tricks are a piece of cake when the major suits are both 3-2. In fact, Declarer no doubt had dreams of 11 tricks until the Q♣ turned out to be offside.
Even playing a 5-card major system, it’s not unusual to open a 4-card major in 3rd suit when holding a minimum (or sub-minimum!) hand. The main criterion is a good suit, the rationale being that there’s a good chance the opponents will play the hand, in which case we’d like our bid to get Partner off to a good lead. So, West opens 1♠ here, and now we move over to the East seat. With a mediocre hand and 4-card support for Partner’s (usual) 5-card opening, the common style is to preempt to 3♠ here. But not with this hand! It’s quite enough (some would say it’s more than enough) to bid 2♠ here, considering the adverse vulnerability. South would love to whack that but her side is playing Responsive Doubles, so she makes a patient Pass. Now, North backs in with another Takeout Double and South lowers the boom by passing. The final number is 800. Well done by N-S for extracting the penalty and a lesson to be learned by East.
We can see most of the E-W field getting to 3NT one way or another. It’s hard to blame West for responding 1♥ with Axxxx, and once that happens East is going to game. The winning contract is 5♣, of course, and we salute those who managed to find it. But most E-W pairs will just bash into 3NT, going down one on the inevitable Spade lead.
West’s hand passes the Rule of 20 but West decided that it was not quite up to snuff because of the doubleton Q♦. That turns out to be a good decision because the ugly E-W misfit is guaranteed to get them too high anyway, it’s merely a question of just how much out of their depth they will find themselves. The E-W pair above did relatively well, we’d say, managing to stop in 3♥ while other pairs might find themselves in 3NT, a contract almost too awful to contemplate (unless you happen to be defending it).
Even 3♥ is likely to be down two, but that won’t be a terrible result, and there is a good chance that the defense will slop a trick. For example, North might take it upon herself to start out by leading the unbid Club suit. Bad choice, that gives Declarer a second Club and also allows Dummy to get a Club ruff with her singleton trump. That will be 8 tricks and a fine E-W matchpoint score.
There are a few debatable actions in this auction! Some Wests might double 1♥, but that seems a bit much at adverse vulnerability with just 9 HCP’s, though, having said that, it’s hard not to like a hand which is 4-6 with a void in the enemy suit. How about North’s 2♥? A little on the feeble side? Perhaps, but the hand is square, though many North’s will no doubt try a Drury 2♣ or 2♦ (depending on their methods). We do like North’s Redouble, showing a maximum hand and giving South the go-ahead to double the opponents at the 3-level if she has a decent hand. South has a fine defensive hand in the circumstances and 3♦ is indeed doubled. In 3♦ doubled Declarer will have his work cut out to escape for down one, but even that will be the dreaded -200.
After N-S have bid their Heart game and South bids 5♦, is West’s Pass forcing? You’ll get differing opinions on this one, but either way East has a clear Double with those two side-suit defensive tricks. 5♦ doubled is down two and a good sacrifice. It’s true that E-W would have down better to bid on to 5♥, but that was far from obvious, and, in fact, 5♥ only makes thanks to the onside A♣. Lots of matchpoints for those N-S pairs who took the 5♦ sacrifice.
North doesn’t have much of a 1♦ overcall, but East is full value for his support-showing cue-bid. Now, what would you bid with the South hand? One possibility is to raise Diamonds, another is to show something in Diamonds by doubling, but the obvious choice is surely 2♥. It’s perhaps a tad short in terms of values, but there is always the 5-3 Diamond fit as a backstop. As it happens, Hearts also provide a 5-3 fit and that is where N-S will probably play.
Against 3♥, West will probably lay down the A♣, and when Dummy shows up with a singleton in that suit, East gets a chance to give a suit preference signal. It won’t take a rocket scientist in the West seat to realize that East doesn’t want a Diamond shift, but that is not the same as East saying that he does want a Spade shift. In this case, though, East’s Spades are good enough to make a Spade shift completely safe and so he plays the Jack to make the message unambiguous. Dutifully, West shifts to a Spade, and to see how Declarer escapes for down one, please see the Play Problem. >>BRIDGEOPEDIA: “Counting Points”>>
Let’s suppose that N-S are playing Minorwood and therefore that 4♦ (over 3♠) would be Roman Key Card. That being the case, what does East’s actual bid of 4NT mean? It’s natural, showing extras and inviting slam. That’s all that West needs to charge into 6♦.
Both minor suit slams are reasonable. 6♣ requires 3-2 Clubs (or 4 with South or a singleton Jack with South) and some luck in Diamonds for a combined chance 68%, but 6♦ just requires the luck in Diamonds and weighs in at 76%. Yes, 6NT is just as good, but bidding 6♦ will be enough for a good board. And bad luck for those E-W pairs who bid 6♣, it wasn’t the best slam but it was still a good one and deserved a better fate.
After East overcalls 1♠ what is your choice of bids with the West hand? There would be no problem if 2♥ were forcing, but the common style nowadays for this to be “constructive”, with the overcaller allowed to pass with a mediocre hand. If that is the E-W style then West could jump to 3♥ to show a good hand or else cue-bid 2♦, which usually shows support for the overcaller (some would say always).
Here are the 3 possible contracts: - 4♠: Played from the East side this makes 10 tricks assuming that the defense gets their Diamond ruff. - 4♥: This will be played from the West side, which is unfortunate because if North finds a Diamond lead the defense gets no fewer than 3 Diamond ruffs for down two! If North tries an opening lead of the Q♣ instead then Declarer makes a whopping 11 tricks! - 3NT: This will be played from the West side and the obvious opening Q♦ lead holds Declarer to 10 tricks, the defense setting up a Diamond trick before the Spades get going.
We cannot see any good reason for South to overcall 1♠ with such a rotten hand and a rotten suit, so against 3NT we suppose that North will lead a Diamond. South wins the King and returns the Diamond Five. Will North get this one right and duck the second Diamond? That’s the required defense, allowing South to lead a third Diamond when in with the A♣, and holding Declarer to 9 tricks. But it won’t be obvious to North that the second round duck is correct, for two reasons: (a) South might have only two Diamonds, meaning that a duck may result in the Ace never scoring a trick. For example, Declarer might have: ♠ K97, ♥ KT73, ♦ J983, ♣ J9, in which case Declarer will come to 11 tricks instead of the 10 he was entitled to. Of course, if South has only 2 Diamonds then Declarer will have false-carded with the 98 from J983, but that’s quite possible. (b) If North ducks the second Diamond she may discover that Declarer has the rest! Yes, all he needs is K♠, K♥ and A♣, and he has 12 tricks if he’s allowed to win the second Diamond. So, although, with the benefit of the Hand Records, it is obvious to duck, it won’t be obvious at the table. Now, look at things from the South perspective, and imagine that South has essentially the same hand but with two Diamonds. She wins the first Diamond, now is there anything that she can do to help Partner make the right decision on the second round of Diamonds? Yes, she should shift to the 9♥! Maybe North has the K♥ and the defense can get a 4th trick that way, but even if she doesn’t have that card, when South later wins the A♣ and revert to Diamonds there is no chance of North going wrong by ducking. So, if North trusts her Partner, and if South returns a Diamond at Trick 2, then North should conclude that South has 3 Diamonds not 2! Obscure, perhaps, but quite logical! >>BRIDGEOPEDIA: “Helping Partner”>>
After the Double North does not have a suitable Club raise available, it’s too good for 2♣, not right for a preemptive 3♣, and not good enough for a Jordan 2NT (if that method is being played). Well, if there’s not a good Club bid available, perhaps North might be tempted to find a devious bid instead. Here are some of the temptations that an enterprising North might be trying to resist: - 1♠! Yes, it’s a bit light in the Spade department, and might well pick off the enemy suit. But this old ruse is probably beyond its “Use By” date, if East has 4 Spades he can expose the psych by doubling (not Responsive). - 1NT: This is better, it shows some values, and North can always compete to 3♣ later. - Redouble! This one is our favorite. It’s light by a point or two but that is a small detail, if Partner starts doubling we can always beat a hasty retreat to Clubs. The Redouble tends to slow down the auction and that’s what North wants, he’d prefer to buy this one at the 3-level and not have to decide what to do over 3♥ or 3♠.
North’s Redouble stratagem will probably work quite well here, buying the contract in 3♣ (making 10 tricks thanks to a lucky lie of the cards, with all three important cards onside). If, despite the Redouble, E-W compete to 3♥ or 3♠, they will have done well, those contracts are down only one and N-S might well not compete further.
Perhaps it was a bit feeble for East to sell out to 2♥, but it turns out to be the right decision on the actual board. If West plays in 3♦ it will be -200 thanks to the unlucky Diamond situation. As for North playing in 2♥, she, of course, has a most fortunate Diamond situation and that allows 9 tricks to be made, possibly without the need to guess the Club Queen. For example: T♦ lead to West’s Ace Heart to East’s Ace Heart to South’s Queen Diamond finesse K♦ pitching a Club Cash A♣, K♣, and ruff a Club Of course, East might find the fine opening lead of a low trump, after which Dummy’s trumps will be extracted before the Club ruff can be taken. So now, Declarer will have to guess the location of the Q♣. Will she? Probably, by the time that the moment of truth arrives she should be able to figure out that West needs that Q♣ for his opening bid. >>BRIDGEOPEDIA: “Counting Points”>>
If the defense starts out with a Spade lead (highly unlikely) then it’s an easy matter for the defense to take 6 tricks. But East will probably try a top-of-nothing Heart lead, won by West’s King. West will be able to figure out that Partner has not led 4th best and that there is no future in the Heart suit. He’ll shift to the J♠, seeking to knock out the A♠ before the Clubs are established. If West is having a bad day, he might shift to a Diamond a Trick 2, in which case it’s 8 tricks for Declarer.
What a lovely play hand! Forget the sensible bidding suggested above, instead imagine that you are North and that your overly zealous Partner has propelled you into the stratosphere, or, more precisely, into 6♥. East leads a Club and the appalling Dummy is unveiled. Not being under oath, you are permitted to say “Thank you so much, Partner, that’s very nice” as you figure out how to make this abominable contract. Here’s the route to 12 tricks: Win the opening Club lead in Dummy Cross to the A♦ Ruff a Spade Cash K♣, K♦, Q♦ pitching 3 Spades Club ruff Cash A♠ Ruff a Spade Here’s the end-position with the lead in Dummy: Declarer ♠ ♥ AJ65 ♦ ♣ West East ♠ ♠ K ♥ K98 ♥ Q3 ♦ ♦ ♣ Q ♣ J Dummy ♠ ♥ T ♦ J8 ♣ 4 Now, another Club ruff, and Declarer leads a low Heart from her hand. If East plays the Queen he is end-played. So he plays low, and West wins the King. He’s forced to return a Heart, and Declarer, having been perfect so far, is not about to go wrong now. She rises with the A♥ and it’s 12 tricks.
Once in a while we are accused of constructing improbable auctions in order to arrive at the perfect contract, and perhaps this one is a case in point. Anyway, we can see three possible N-S contracts, let’s look at each of them: - 3NT: N-S really should be able to stay out of this hopeless contract. Did someone say “hopeless”? If North manages to be Declarer, East may well lead a low Heart. “Thank you very much” says Declarer silently as he scoops up 11 tricks. - 5♦: This is not a particularly good contract, requiring Diamonds to be 3-2 and the Q♠ onside. Both of these work for Declarer, but she goes off in an unexpected way when West leads Hearts (it will be the unbid suit) and the defense gets a trump promotion. - 4♠: The winning contract! The defense leads Hearts and Declarer ruffs the third round low. This line is successful whenever East has Qx or Qxx (or when West has Qxx and Declarer somehow guesses right).
South correctly reasoned that her hand was too good for a simple raise to 2♠ and instead showed game-invitational values with a 3♥ cue-bid. What should East do over 3♠? He has 12 HCP’s opposite an opening Partner, so Pass is out of the question. Partner failed to double 3♥ so there is presumably no 5-3 Heart fit. And 3NT is obviously out. 4♣ seems wrong (Partner might be 3=2=4=4). The only option here seems to be Double. That’s a trifle odd with a singleton trump, but hopefully the contract can be defeated on sheer power.
Against 3♠ doubled East leads a trump, of course, to cut down on the ruffs. Dummy wins and plays a Diamond, but West pops the Ace and plays another trump, won by Declarer. Now Dummy gets a Diamond ruff but cannot get back to hand to take a second ruff. She plays a Club, but again West pops his Ace and plays a trump. Declarer can set up a long Diamond, and when the dust has cleared she will have scored 6 trump tricks, a Diamond and a Heart (assuming the correct guess). That’s only 8 tricks for Declarer and a lovely +200 for E-W.
3NT by West looks reasonable enough, he can see that his side is in the 29-31 range, probably not enough for slam with two balanced hands. As it happens, East is maximum and the hands fit together well, and 6♦ is cold, Declarer simply taking two ruffs in Dummy to get up to 12 tricks. 6♣ is not bad, either, but that fails when the trumps are 4-1.
Anyway, the field will no doubt be in 3NT. How does that do? Let’s say that South leads a Heart (though the Q♣ is also tempting). Declarer can count 10 top tricks, is there an 11th? Yes, provided that Declarer cashes the A♠ and K♠ before rattling off the minor suit winners. Then Declarer plays the J♠ to North’s Queen. North cashes the K♥ and, at Trick 13, will have to surrender the 11th trick to Dummy’s T♠ or Declarer’s Q♥ (depending on how she pitched earlier).
Against 2♠, the defense plays Clubs and Declarer ruffs the 3rd round. Now, Declarer has an interesting decision to make. He could simply play on trumps, making 8 tricks if Hearts are 3-3, but only 7 tricks in real life when the hearts turn out to be 4-2. Or he might run the Q♦ (South does not even think about covering), and then reach Dummy with the K♠ to cash the A♦. That’s the winning line, worth 8 tricks without needing the Hearts to break.
Deep Finesse tells us that Declarer can make a whopping 10 tricks in No Trump, but that won’t happen in real life and we’d expect Declarer to make only 6 tricks more often than not. In the 6-trick line, East leads the Q♦ which is taken in Dummy, then Clubs are played normally, allowing West to win the J♣. Back comes a Diamond and it’s all over, the defense has 7 tricks. Now for the 10-trick line. Same Diamond lead, but the Clubs are guessed correctly, and the fortunate Hearts allow Declarer to scoop up 3 Hearts, 2 Diamonds and 5 Clubs.
Those who always abide by the Law of Total Tricks won’t think much of East’s preemptive nudge to 3♠. But it looks to East as if the opponents have 9+ Hearts, and bidding 3♠ might keep them out of the auction, or might push them into an unmakeable 4♥. It turns out to be the latter. South tries 3NT, and North transfers to 4♥, a contract which is doomed to be down two. +100 for E-W.
Was that a triumph for East’s 3♠ bid or what? Actually, it wasn’t! Look at what happens when East passes 2♠. Now, South tries 2NT, North transfer to 3♥, and East competes to 3♠. N-S are probably done at this point, and 3♠ makes 9 tricks. +140 for E-W. Hmmm, perhaps there is something to this Total Tricks stuff after all.
East has a pretty poor 15 HCP’s (square shape, Heart wastage, no Tens), and might well have opened 1♦ and rebid 1NT, pretending to be 12-14. Anyway, after 1NT by East, South chimes boldly in with 3♥, no doubt severely under the influence of favorable vulnerability. What does West’s Double mean here? After Partner has opened 1NT, a common treatment is to play doubles of their three-level bids as Negative, and doubles of their two-level bids as value-showing. West’s hand is a good commercial for this treatment, because, if Double were for penalties, what on earth is West supposed to do over 3♥? After the Negative Double, East must choose between passing and trying 3NT, and the vulnerability will probably persuade him to try for 3NT. That’s a good choice, as 3♥ escapes for -500.
How about 3NT? Thanks to the very fortunate lie of the cards, Declarer has 12 tricks if he knows how to finesse and is careful with his entries: Heart won by the King Spade to the Jack and Queen Diamond to the Queen Over to the A♠ Unblock the 10♠ K♦ won by North’s Ace Club to Declarer’s Ace Cross to the A♥ Diamond finesse, etc
North’s 3♠ was preemptive and 4♠ will turn out to be a fine save unless E-W find this astonishing defense: Cash A♦ Diamond ruff Back on the A♥ Diamond ruff Underlead of the AKQJ♣ to West’s Ten! Diamond ruff Heroic defense for down 3 for -800, but it surely won’t happen in real life. More likely the defense leads Clubs, Declarer ruffs the second round, plays A♠ then a Spade to East’s King. Now East leads the Heart Seven, the high card indicating disinterest in the suit. Let’s say that Declarer guesses correctly by playing low from hand, forcing West’s Ace. If West is in tune with Partner’s carding he’ll play A♦ and the defense gets a Diamond ruff. That +500 is the best that the defense can do with normal defense, but it’s still not enough to compensate for the vulnerable Heart game.
How does a Heart contract play? Declarer must guess the Hearts correctly to make 11 tricks. The winning play (A♥ and then low Heart from both hands) is not the percentage play with this combination but there may be some useful clues from the bidding and the play. For example, suppose that North has preempted (as in the auction above), and that South leads the Q♦ against 4♥. Now North is marked with the K♦ and Declarer might well reason that he would hardly preempt with two outside Kings.
Here’s a bit of comic relief. N-S are playing Puppet Stayman and South, being an cunning and imaginative individual, concocts a little ruse. She bids 3♣, hoping that North has a 4-card major, in which case the Puppet response is 3♦. On the actual hand, North obliges and 3♦ is where a surprised North plays it! If North has responded 3♥ or 3♠ (5-card suit) then South would pass, hoping that the 5-2 fit is playable. And if North had responded 3NT (no 4- or 5-card major) then South would pass, hoping that North had the magic Diamond holding. Bizarre, maybe, but not completely ridiculous!
If North plays in Diamonds she might make 12 tricks. East leads a Heart won by Declarer, then the A♦ is knocked out. If East neglects to cash A♠ immediately he’ll never score it, as Dummy’s Spades will go away on the Clubs. It’s possible that other (less esoteric) auctions will result in 5♦ being played from the South side, and that requires a Spade lead to hold Declarer to 10 tricks. Finally, South might gamble on 3NT, but, when North turns out to have the wrong Diamond holding, it’s down two.
Against 3NT West leads a Heart (maybe!). Dummy’s Queen wins the first trick, and should take advantage of the entry by taking the Diamond finesse immediately. That is followed by 6 Clubs (Declarer pitching a Spade, a Heart and 2 Diamonds). Now Declarer must guess the Spades for 11 tricks. Will she? It won’t be completely obvious though West might telegraph the situation by enthusiastically high-lowing in Spades on the run of the Clubs.
West might well try a surprise Spade attack on the opening lead, that takes away the Spade guess and makes 11 tricks easy. But a little care is required, Declarer must lead towards the Q♥ before running the Clubs to ensure that her tricks can be untangled.
South decided that she was too good for a 2♥ overcall or for 1NT, so started with a Double. Then, next time around she tried 2NT, showing 18-19 or thereabouts. North sensibly bailed out of that into 3♣. Here’s one of several possible lines of play: A♦ and K♦ are cashed Dummy ruffs the 3rd Diamond, West pitches a Heart A♥ is cashed Heart ruff, felling East’s King Club to the Queen, King, Ace Club to the Jack At this point, West has two trumps and Declarer and Dummy have one each. But Declarer still makes the rest of the tricks. She cashes AK♠ and then runs the Hearts. At Trick 12, West is forced to ruff. North overruffs, and then West has the ignominy of underruffing at Trick 13.
As South, what would you lead against 4♥? Not the singleton trump, that’s a notoriously dangerous lead and here it will result in 12 tricks and a well-deserved bad board for South (and also for her long-suffering Partner, of course). Probably not the A♣, either, though on some hands that might work. That leaves the safe-looking lead of a Spade or the aggressive lead of the K♦. - If South leads a Spade, she knocks out one of Dummy’s entries. At Trick 2 Declarer plays a Club won by South’s Ace. Now South knocks out another Dummy entry by shifting to the K♦, and 11 tricks is the maximum, with or without a successful trump guess. - If South leads the K♦, again 11 tricks is the maximum, with similar play.
First of all, is South’s 8-count worth a game invitation opposite a 15-17 1NT? The common standard is that we only invite with “good eights”, does this one qualify? On the down side there is that ugly square shape, and also an alarming absence of Aces. On the plus side there is a super-abundance of Tens and that might be just about enough for South to squeak out an invitation. Anyway, our South above obviously thought so, and her sequence showed an invitational hand without 4 Spades (with that she would bid 2♠ over 2♥).
Against 2NT, East leads a Spade, the Club finesse is lost, another Spade comes back, and now Declarer can build an 8th trick by playing on Diamonds. 8 tricks and +120.
East would have preferred a 6th Spade for his 2♠ bid, but reckoned that 5 chunky Spades would be good enough. Double was an alternative (not a particularly good one with the singleton Diamond), that would have got E-W to 3♦. The winning contract of 3♣ is difficult to find (3♣ instead of 2♠ would have been forcing, of course). Here’s what might happen in the 3 most likely contracts: - 2♠: Despite the 5-1 fit and the 5-2 break, Declarer can scramble 7 tricks, escaping for down one. His plan will be to take Diamond ruffs in his hand, eventually scoring 4 trump tricks, K♥ and 2 Clubs. - 3♦: North leads the Q♥ to South’s Ace, then a Diamond to the Queen and Ace to remove the ruff in Dummy. North reverts to hearts, won by Declarer’s King, and the J♦ is taken by South’s King. The T♥ is cashed, and the 4th round of Hearts gets a trump promotion for the defense. Down 2! - 3♣: Perhaps this contract will be reached if North greedily doubles 2♠. In 3♣ Declarer can make 9 tricks by setting up the Diamonds.
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