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Hand Analyses 4th August, 2010
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, four year’s worth. Occasionally you will see a purple arrow, linking to the relevant BridgeOpedia section. For example, in this week’s Board 6, Declarer has two chances to bring in a slam and must find a way to combine both chances. Adjacent to the text for that hand you will see the link >>BRIDGEOPEDIA: “Combining Chances”>> which will transport you to the collection of hands with the same theme.
This week’s Wednesday Game gets off to a flying start with a grand slam (in fact, this month’s set is loaded with slam hands). What would you open the North hand? You would get votes for 1♥ or 3♥ or 4♥, it’s pretty much a matter of individual style, and our own choice would be 4♥. Opening 4♥ (or 3♥) certainly speeds up the auction. South bids 4NT (Roman Key Card), gets a response of “one Key Card”, after which 5♦ (the cheapest non-signoff) is the Queen Ask. North would bid 5♥ without the ♥Q, of course, but here she bids 6♦ showing the ♥Q and the ♦K. At this point South might be thinking of 7NT, counting on North to have 8 Hearts, but that’s a risky assumption, and 7♥ is the winning bid, at least this time.
Against 7♥ East will probably lead a trump, and Declarer can count 12 tricks. Declarer might err grievously by drawing trumps and attempting to set up the Clubs, but that line (deservedly) fails when Clubs are 5-1. The correct line of play is to go for a Diamond ruff on the board, which works provided that Spades or Diamonds are not 8-0. Making seven!
P.S. On second thoughts, perhaps that 5♦ Queen Ask was a complete waste of time! Surely North has the ♥Q for her 4♥ opening or, failing that, an 8-card suit (in which case the ♥Q is not necessary).
Nowadays most players open that East hand, after all it does pass the Rule of 20, has no serious defects, and even has some plus points (good fillers and ownership of the Spades). Opening 1♠ guarantees that E-W will reach 3NT … the auction above was a 2/1 style, meaning that 2NT was forcing … in a “standard” auction Responder would jump to 3NT directly over 2♥.
Against 3NT, North leads a Club, and Declarer grabs his 9 tricks.
Some N-S pairs will get to game, but many won’t. North might have taken a liking to her abundance of fillers and bid 3NT (on the other hand the square shape argues caution), whereas South might have bid more with that fine Diamond suit (but no doubt was discouraged by the astonishing lack of Aces).
Does 3NT make? Probably: - If North is Declarer then East leads a Spade, after which Declarer has 8 tricks. She’ll try for a ninth in Club, and when that finesse loses and the ♥A is onside she might even end up with 10 tricks. - If South is Declarer then West leads a low Heart. East will probably rise with the Ace and return the Ten. Declarer ducks that, wins the third Heart and finesses the Club. That loses, but with the Spades favorable, it’s 9 tricks. However, East would have done better to insert the Ten at Trick 1, forcing Declarer (who does not know where the Ace is) to win her King. Now Declarer’s obvious route to 9 tricks is the Club finesse and when that fails she is down one. Should East have figured it out? It’s not obvious. The bidding and the cards in view make it clear to East that West has no entries outside the Heart suit, so may be best to preserve communications in the Heart suit. On the other hand, Declarer might hold ♥Jxx or ♥Qxx or ♥KJx, in which case playing the Ten would be most unfortunate. It’s something of a guess in other words.
This is an awkward deal for E-W. As you can see, thanks to the 2-2 Clubs and 3-2 Spades, E-W are cold for slam in either black suit, but we anticipate that some E-W pairs will not even reach game! Furthermore, even game could be too high if Spades are 4-1 and Clubs 3-1! As West, what would be your choice of rebid? Do you raise Spades or do you rebid 1NT? That’s a rather strong hand for a 1NT rebid, don’t you think? There’s a full 14 HCP, plus a 5-card suit (albeit a ratty one), plus a couple of Tens, plus a couple of Aces. So, we’d raise to 2♠, that 3-card support is strong and there is a potential ruffing value in Diamonds. But the real solution to West’s hand, in our opinion, is to open 1NT, showing 15-17, thereby solving all rebid issues.
Anyway, if West opens 1NT, or if West opens 1♥ and rebids 2♠, then East will power to 4♠ making 12 tricks. But if West opens 1♥ and rebids 1NT, then East may sign off in a Club part-score (if E-W have the methods to do so).
South knows that her side belong in game, but what’s the prescribed method for showing 5-5 in the majors? - One possibility is to transfer to Spades and rebid 4♥, telling Partner to pick a major. The trouble with this approach is that Opener might be 2-2 in the majors, so let’s find a better way. - Some play that 3♥ and 3♠ show 5-5 major suit hands (invitational and game-forcing respectively), and that is one way to solve this problem. But that is not our favorite, it seems that there should be a better use for these bids (such as the now-almost-quite-common method of using 3♥ and 3♠ to show a singleton in the bid suit and 3 cards in the other major, a method which solves the problem of those 3-1-4-5 type hands). - If you play Smolen then you have a method for 5-4 major suits hands, and it follows that 1NT 2♥, 2♠ 3♥ can, by partnership agreement, be used for the 5-5 game-forcing hands. Problem solved!
So, South transfers to Spades, at which point we can see that North has a Super-Accept hand. There are various Super Accept methods in use, and many of them suffer from the defect of giving the defense free information about the future Declarer’s hand. For example, in one popular method, 1NT 2♥, 3♣ shows, in addition to the 4 Spades, a doubleton Club … very scientific, but why should Declarer want to tip her hand to the defenders like that? Most of the time, Responder will not care about that doubleton Club, he will already know where the hand is headed without that useless piece of information. Our own suggestion for Super Accepts is best illustrated by examples:
1NT 2♥ 2♠ Could be a minimum hand with 4 Spades (in other words, the super- accept is not obligatory).
1NT 2♥ 3♠ Any medium hand with 4 Spades.
1NT 2♥ 2NT Any maximum hand with 4 Spades.
1NT 2♦ 2NT Same thing, for Hearts.
1NT 2♥ 2NT 3♥ This is a “re-Transfer” … Responder still wants Opener to play the hand, and the re-transfer is the way to achieve that.
What constitutes minimum, medium, and maximum is in the eye of the beholder, and should not be limited to HCP. There are also fillers, shape, honor card structure to consider. South’s hand on the actual deal has that medium look about it, so it’s a 3♠ bid.
How about the play of the hand in 4♠? - If East leads a Diamond then it’s 11 or 12 tricks, depending upon whether Declarer guesses the 3-1 trumps (don’t know why she should). - If East leads a Club then it will be 10 or 11 tricks, again depending on that guess. Of course, if North is a brilliant guesser then she can make 12 tricks even on a Club lead, by guessing trumps correctly, and finessing Diamonds to get a Club pitch. Not a good line of play, but the winner on this board.
It seems that all routes lead to 6NT, and the above auction is one such road.
Against 6NT, South cannot lead the unbid suit, there isn’t one, so she makes her safest lead of the ♠Q, won in Dummy. When Dummy goes down Declarer will expect the Clubs to be running, getting him to 11 tricks, with major suit chances for a 12th. First, Declarer tests the Clubs, and gets the bad news there. Now he is back to 10 tricks, and it’s hard to see how the contract could make without the Heart finesse. So, at Trick 4, the ♥Q is successfully finessed, and it’s back to 11 tricks. To reach 12, Declarer must untangle is tricks carefully: he unblocks the ♦AK, loses a Spade, wins the Heart return, cashes the ♦Q (pitching a Club), and makes his contract when Spades are 3-3. Phew!
Afterthought: Suppose that Clubs had broken 4-2 or 3-3. How would you play the hand then? You’ll need a 3-3 Spade break or a Heart finesse for your 12th trick, and the way to combine both chances is to lose a Spade before cashing the ♠AK and before taking the Heart finesse. That way you can test the Spades safely … if they are 3-3 then you are home … if they are not then you can try the Heart finesse. >>BRIDGEOPEDIA: “Combining Chances”>>
If South were to reverse her major suit holdings and were to open 1♣ then she would have a nasty rebid problem if Partner were to respond 1♠. So, we’d suggest a 1NT opening in the 3=4=1=5 case, notwithstanding the singleton ♦K. But, on the actual hand, the possession of four Spades solves all rebid problems and there is no serious objection to an opening bid of 1♣.
North’s 2♣ was an inverted raise, showing at least game-invitational values, and denying a 4-card major. After that, those 2♠, 3♦, and 3♥ bids were all strength-showing, with something in the bid suits. Both hands have extras, and eventually it is North who must take charge with Roman Key Card. In past Wednesday Games, for minor suit auctions, we have extolled the virtues of Minorwood, Redwood, and (best of all!) Bothwood, and here is another prime example. After South has bid 3♥, North’s 4♣ can be played as Minorwood as it passes these two basic tests: - The auction is game-forcing - The minor suit has been agreed In response to 4♣, South bids 4NT (that is the 4th step, so it shows two Key Cards and the ♣Q). Now what? North could bid 6♣ but, as South has yet to limit her hand, that would be unilateral. So, North makes a King Ask of 5♦ (not 5♣, that’s a sign-off), not so much to find out about South’s Kings, but to let South know that N-S have all the Key Cards (maybe South has a big distributional hand and can go to seven on her own).
How does the play go? - If N-S play in 6♣ there are 12 easy tricks, with just a Spade to be lost. - If N-S play in 6NT they will need to score three Spade tricks. The winning line (and also the percentage play) is to run the ♠Q (covered by the King and Ace), and then to finesse against the Nine. That’s about a 40% chance, and about 10% better than cashing the ♠A and leading towards the Queen. That being the case, this is a top board for the optimistic pairs who reached 6NT, provided that they are good at suit combinations. >>BRIDGEOPEDIA: “Playing The Percentages”>>
How you rate this hand opposite a Weak 2♥? We suppose that 4♥ will often be a decent contract, but we would want to give Partner a bit of latitude, and merely invite game with this hand, just in case her hand is semi-abysmal or worse. And there is also the question of whether or not 4♠ might be a better spot than 4♥. Those are the issues, what’s your plan? That will be governed by your methods. Just about everybody plays 2NT here as game-exploring tool of some sort, but what about 2♠ here, what does that mean? The three most common approaches: - 2♠ is non-forcing and weak: In this method, South just wants to play in 2♠ rather than 2♥. Not a good method! - 2♠ is forcing: That’s better, and probably the most common style. But it’s not perfect for this hand … if South bids 2♠ then she won’t be able to invite game in Hearts … and if South bids 2NT then she cannot show the Spades without forcing to game. - 2♠ is non-forcing but constructive: That’s the most flexible approach and it works well on this hand. Now North can pass with a reprehensible hand and Spade tolerance … or bid 3♥ with a reprehensible hand, Spade shortness, and half-decent Hearts … or make an encouraging noise of some sort (such as 3♠, 4♠, 3♦ or even 4♥) with a better hand.
Enough of the theory, we expect all pairs to play in 4♥ or 4♠. Both contracts are perilous, but in each case the game comes home with good play and a bit of luck: - If South plays 4♠: West leads the ♣K won by Declarer, and the ♥Q is run around to East’s King (Declarer does this early so that Dummy’s trumps can protect against a Diamond shift). The Club return is ruffed, then a Spade to the King, a Spade to the Ace (the Queen mercifully popping up from East), and the last trump is drawn. Now, if the ♥J is with West and the suit is 3-2 then 12 whopping tricks will materialize. That’s not to be, the second Heart finesse works but East shows out. So, the ♥A is cashed, and fortunately the onside ♦A allows the ♦K to get Declarer’s trick count up to 10. - If North plays 4♥: Again, we suppose that the defense will lead a Club won in Dummy, then a Spade to the King and a Diamond towards Dummy’s King. East hops up with the Ace and continues with a Club, ruffed in Dummy. Now the ♦K and ♠A are cashed, followed by Diamond ruff, Club ruff, Diamond ruff. At this point Declarer is down to ♥AT98, and gets a pleasant surprise when the ♥K falls under the Ace. Making 11 tricks!
A fairly nondescript part-score hand. West does well to compete with a balancing Double, pushing N-S to the three-level. 2♠ would have made 8 tricks, and 3♥ is probably down one (unless Declarer drops the offside ♥Q or the defense leads Hearts).
We would be awfully tempted to open that South hand 1♣, but let us suppose that South timidly passes (as many or most would). Now after Partner has overcalled 1♥ and East has bid 1♠, how should South show her Heart support? - 2♥ is not enough, and jumps to 3♥ or 4♥ would be preemptive, so let’s eliminate the natural Heart raises. - A cue-bid shows a “limit raise or better”, though here, being a passed hand, South cannot have the “or better” part of that equation. Also, there are two cue-bids available, and the common way to use them is for the cheaper cue-bid to show three-card support and for the more expensive cue-bid to show four-card support.
So, South bids 2♦ to show her good hand and three-card support, and West makes a Support Double (also showing three-card support). North can hardly do less that bid 4♥.
Against 4♥, East leads the ♦K, and let’s say that Declarer holds up. East shifts to a trump and Declarer can be sure that the defense will not allow her to ruff both a Spade and a Diamond in Dummy. That being the case, she will take a ruffing finesse in Clubs for her 10th trick.
P.S. Yes, E-W have a good save in 4♠ (down two) but that’s a hard one to find.
Against 3NT, South leads a Club to North’s Ace … then the ♣J covered by the Queen and King … after which Declarer has the rest of the tricks when the ♥J appears on the first round of the suit. 11 tricks and +460 at most tables.
We like a 1♥ opening bid with that North hand. As a 5-5 10-count it passes the Rule of 20 and additionally the hand has no flaws (all the high cards are in the long suits). How would you proceed with the South hand? We suggest a Jacoby 2NT bid here, even though many will throw up their hands in horror, complaining that such a bid shows four-card support. Well, so it does, at least most of the time. But, once in a while you get a hand that wants to take charge, and this seems to be such a case. The alternative to 2NT is to bid 2♣ or 2♦, but that might serve only to confuse matters (especially if Partner raises our minor). With a hand this strong it seems sensible to skip the appetizers and proceed straight to the main course, namely a slam investigation in Hearts.
Anyway, those N-S pairs who get into a Roman Key Card auction will find that they are missing a Key Card and the Queen of trumps and will end up in 5♥. Making 11 or 12 tricks depending upon Declarer’s Queen-guessing skills.
It’s always frustrating to settle into a comfortable part-score contract only to have the opponents snatch it from you at the last moment. That’s what happens to N-S here when West makes a bold, vulnerable balancing Double, and is rewarded when E-W turn out to have a 9-card Diamond fit. Playing in Diamonds, E-W can manage 10 tricks, except in the unlikely case that the defense organizes a Heart ruff. And, yes, N-S can scrape up a rather lucky 9 tricks in Spades, thanks to the onside ♠J and the 3-3 Club break. But at this vulnerability it’s hard for N-S to bid 3♠.
East is quite minimum (some would say sub-minimum) for his 1♠ bid and the question is “What should he bid next?” West’s cue-bid has shown Spade support and at least game-invitational values, and we need hardly say that East is declining any invitation with that miserable collection. How do you play Pass and 3♠ here? It makes sense that one of these bids should show a poor hand and the other should be more encouraging. Our own suggestion (and not everybody’s preference) is: - Pass is encouraging. - 3♠ is weak. The general rule is that, when we bid directly to the level to which Partner has forced, we show weakness. This is analogous to the Principle of Fast Arrival, and it is logical that with bad hands we should get quickly to where we are going, if only for preemptive value.
If East plays in Spades he’ll score 9 or 10 tricks, primarily depending upon whether the defense can arrange for a Heart overruff.
If South plays in Hearts she’ll score 8 tricks, or 9 if the defense fails to lead Spades in time.
A rather routine deal. West will no doubt play in a Heart game making 11 tricks (or 12 if North unaccountably forgets to cash his high Spades immediately). And if N-S get over-exuberant they will be punished by the vulnerability, with 4♠ doubled giving them a disastrous -500.
Quite a few bids of note in this auction! Let’s start with North’s choice of opening bid. Her possible approaches to bidding this hand are: - Open 1♣, planning to rebid 1NT if Partner bids 1♥ or 1♠: The trouble with that plan is the worthless doubleton in the unbid major, and the distinct possibility that re-bidding 1NT will wrong-side the contract. - Open 1♣, planning to rebid 2♣: That’s better, although Partner will expect that you have a six-card suit. - Open 1♦, planning to rebid 2♣: That gets both the suits in, and avoids wrong-siding No Trump, but is a distortion of the relative length of the suits.
We prefer the second or the third choice, though none is ideal. Let’s assume, for the time being, that North elects to open 1♦ and let’s see where that takes us. South has an obvious 2♣ response, and North, of course, raises to 3♣. Assuming that this is a 2/1 style game-forcing auction then 4♣ can be used as Minorwood, in other words a cheap version of Roman Key Card when a minor suit has been agreed (see also Board 7). In response to the 4♣ ask, North bids 4NT which is the 4th step. Therefore, it shows two Key Cards and the trump Queen. Did North misspeak? No, she has an extra trump, and reasonably expects her side to have 10 trumps. That being the case, the trump Queen is unnecessary (it will usually drop). Over 4NT, South goes directly to 7♣, presuming that North must hold the ♦K. If South was of a more pessimistic disposition then she could bid 5♦ as the King Ask.
If North elects to open 1♣ the auction will be more difficult, perhaps as follows: North South 1♣ 1♥ 2♣ 2♦ 3♦ ?? Oh dear! South is in a mess! Her 2♦ was artificial (often looking for 3-card Heart support), and North had nothing to do but bid 3♦. Now, it’s hard to see how N-S can get to 7♣ with any certainty. Just plain unlucky? Maybe, maybe not. Back on Board 12 we advocated using the Jacoby 2NT, even though South had only 3-card support. On this board, South would do well to break the rules again, this time by making an inverted raise (see Board 7 for another Inverted Minor hand). True, South is not supposed to have a 4-card major for that bid, but the South hand is so strong that slam is a virtual certainty. Better, we think, for South to give up on Hearts and take control in a Club grand slam hunt.
As on Board 12, we have a 10-point hand which we think qualifies as an opening bid. Here the long suits are 6-4, taking us up to the magic number on the Rule of 20 basis, and as before there are no serious flaws in the hand. Well, perhaps that ♠Jxx is not such a great holding, but that is more than compensated by the void and the lovely Diamond fillers.
We can see some tables playing in 3♦ doubled, and the bad news for N-S is that 3♦ will probably make, at least if South leads a Spade. A Club lead makes life more difficult for Declarer, but 9 tricks are still possible: Club to the Queen and Ace, ruffed by Declarer Diamond to Dummy’s Eight (the Double was most revealing!) Heart to the King and South’s Ace (it doesn’t help to duck) South exits a Heart Another Heart is cashed Now, when the 13th Heart is led, South is helpless. Here is the end-position: North ♠ A953 ♥ ♦ ♣ T765 Dummy Declarer ♠ K7 ♠ J86 ♥ ♥ 7 ♦ Q7 ♦ AT96 ♣ J983 ♣ South ♠ QT4 ♥ ♦ KJ4 ♣ K4 The last Heart is led and whatever South does Dummy will pitch a Spade, and, one way or another, 9 tricks will materialize.
Nine tricks are also possible if North declares Spades.
Some Souths may be tempted to do something over 1NT, and some Easts might be tempted to super-accept the transfer even though they have only three Spades. But when the dust has cleared we expect East to be playing in a Spade part-score. Ten tricks are possible if Declarer picks off the singleton ♠K, and also makes sure of a Diamond ruff in hand. Getting the ruff is easy enough (the defense will no doubt help by starting out with Diamonds) but dropping the ♠K is unlikely. So, 9 tricks at most tables.
Not a very convincing auction and not a very convincing contract. East will lead the ♣K, of course, after which expert Declarers will go down. They’ll try to set up the Diamonds … the good news is that the Clubs are 4-4 … the bad news is that both missing Diamond honors are offside. Down one. Yes, the contract can be made by leaving Diamonds alone and playing for 3-3 Hearts … it’s an inferior line but it’s the one that works on the actual layout.
On this auction, West will probably lead a Heart and it will be 10 tricks, with no chance for more. But if North decides to rebid 3♣ instead of 2♠ then we presume that South will bid 3NT and that West will lead a Spade … whether West leads 4th best or the King, Declarer now has 11 tricks. A somewhat random result, either way.
Normally, with a weak hand and an 8-card suit, we preempt to the 4-level, but here the suit is rather weak and the vulnerability is unfavorable, so we’d say that, in the circumstances, 3♦ is plenty here. As for West, he has something of a guess at his first turn … the Clubs are better … but majors score more (at least they do when the contract makes). A further complication is that West’s hand has a lot of potential playing strength, and 4♠ runs the risk of (a) playing in the wrong game, and (b) missing slam. No, we don’t like 4♠ much at all, but we are hard put to come up with a better suggestion.
Over to the East hand. After 4♠ East can smell slam, but which one? If East bids 6♠ then there is the danger of a defensive Diamond ruff … and if East bids 6NT he may not have enough tricks. Take your own guess. Anyway, 6♣ and 6♠ and 6NT are all fine contracts, and our commiserations to those who got to 6♣ and went down because of the 4-1 trump break.
Let’s look at the play in 6NT. South leads a Diamond to North’s Ace and Declarer wins the Heart shift. Declarer plays the ♣K and ♣A, hoping that he can claim when the suit is 3-2. But Clubs are 4-1 and now Declarer has only 11 tricks (assuming that the Spades come in). No worries, South can be squeezed in Hearts and Clubs. Here’s the full line of play: Diamond to North’s Ace ♥A wins the shift ♣K and ♣A are cashed ♠A and ♠Q are cashed (playing for South to have the Spade length) ♦K and ♦Q are cashed Spade finesse, and cash the last Spade By now South has been squeezed. There are three cards remaining, and South needs to have kept two Hearts and two Clubs. Not possible! Making 12 tricks!
That was a pretty easy squeeze to pull off, but the opening lead made things easier. Suppose that South had found the devilish ♥Q opening lead instead. Declarer wins that and might make the fatal mistake of playing on Clubs immediately. When they don’t break, Declarer can knock out the ♦A and win the Heart return. But now the squeeze does not work, as Declarer does not have the communications. It was necessary to knock out the ♦A at Trick 2, win the Heart return, pick up the Spade suit, return to hand with the ♣K and cash the Diamonds. That line does squeeze South! >>BRIDGEOPEDIA: “Basic Squeeze Technique”>>
How about 6♠, how does that fare? That’s an easier contract as Declarer can ruff a Club to establish the suit: ♦A is led, Heart shift won by Dummy’s Ace, cash ♠AQ, cash ♣K and ♣A, ruff a Club, Spade finesse, etc.
South’s 4♣ showed the values for a 4♠ bid, with Club shortness. North wasn’t good enough to try for slam, and 11 tricks were made by all and sundry.
Does anybody have any idea how to bid that South hand? Neither do we! The original Pass seems reasonable enough, we wouldn’t want to preempt in Clubs with a 5-card major. But after East’s 1♦, what next? South’s hand became really big when North opened 1♣, and positively huge when West overcalled 1♦. One (very tempting) possibility is simply to up and bid 6♣, but Partner might have completely the wrong hand (such as wastage in Diamonds and/or poor major suit controls). So, we suppose that we would bid 2♦ first, hoping to discover more about the hand. As it happens, West is now likely to preempt with 4♦, which is yet more good news, as now the chances of Diamond wastage are reduced.
Over West’s 4♦, surely North will be the one bidding 6♣, given her complete lack of Diamond wastage (opposite a likely void), and terrific controls.
Anyway, 6♣ is a fine contract, making seven when the Hearts and Clubs both behave. 6♥ is also a fine contract, but hard to reach.
West might well have passed 3♣ doubled, and that would have been a great success, down two for +300. Our West guessed to bid 3♥. Will he make it? Sure he will! Club won by Declarer’s Ace Club ruff Cash three top Spades, pitching Diamonds Cross to the ♦A Club ruff Diamond ruff By now, Dummy’s trump holding is down to the stiff ♥K, and North has ♥AQJ8. Declarer has already scooped up eight tricks, and the ninth trick materializes when Declarer leads his last Club, scoring Dummy’s ♥K en passant. >>BRIDGEOPEDIA: “Coup en Passant”>>
The line shown is the safest route to 9 tricks and what promises to be a good board, but thanks to the friendly lie of the cards, a really greedy Declarer might even make a 10th trick! After cashing the third Spade, Declarer could ruff a Spade (fortunately it is North who has the four Spades), and then continue as before. But that’s a risky line, destined to fail if North has three Spades.
The moral of the story is “Why go for a spectacular but risky overtrick when you already have a good board?” The recommended line needs no more that 4-3 Spades (either way) and North to have the ♥A.
South might well have bid 1NT instead of 2♣, but then she would be less comfortable when 2♦ is passed around to her, as she would be nervous selling out to 2♦ with an undisclosed 6-card suit. So, to avoid the aforementioned discomfort, our South chooses 2♣ over East’s Double. Having done so, she might later have been tempted to compete to 2♠.
Defending against a Diamond contract, N-S can count six tricks, namely the ♠A, ♥AK, and three trumps. That’s down one, but to get a good board, N-S will need to beat the contract two tricks. Is that possible? Yes! Is it likely? Alas, no! North will probably lead a Club, but the down-two defense is ♠A and out a Spade. That way the defense gets the three natural trump tricks plus a Spade ruff.
Some Norths will find themselves declaring 2♠, and that plays rather well. Nine tricks are possible, check it out: ♣A is cashed Declarer ruffs the Club continuation ♥K and ♥A are cashed Club ruff ♦K and ♦A are cashed Diamond ruff Now another Club is led and West might try ruffing with the Queen. Nice try, mister, but Declarer still gets 9 tricks provided that she declines to overruff. Note the importance of cashing the top Hearts early in the play … if Declarer neglects to do this then West will pitch a Heart on the third round of Clubs and hold Declarer to 8 tricks.
Inverted Minor auctions do not come up that often but here we have the third of the set (see also Boards 7 and 16). After the 2♦ raise, East will bid 2NT (minimum No Trumpish hand) or 2♠ (showing a Spade stopper), depending on the methods in use. As a result, we can see either East or West declaring 3NT.
Regardless of who declares 3NT, the defense will lead a Heart, and at Trick 2 a Diamond is led towards the King. The ♦A wins the second Diamond and another Heart is led. At this point Declarer has 9 cashing tricks and may not know for sure that Hearts are 4-4 (if they are then it is safe to try for overtricks via the Spade finesse). Even so, cashing out and settling for 9 tricks would be somewhat feeble, don’t you think? Declarer rattles off his Diamond winners and takes the Spade finesse for 12 tricks. Of course, the Spade finesse will become safe (or safer) if the defense pitches a Heart or two on the run of the Diamonds.
E-W are in the slam zone and some optimistic bidders might get to 6♥. As it happens there are 12 tricks available, but only by the anti-percentage play of dropping the offside ♣Q. So we expect to see the score sheet littered with an assortment of -50 and +450 scores for E-W.
Some tables will pass out this deal, and much depends on West’s choice in first seat. West has only 11 HCPs and does not pass the Rule of 20, but look at all those lovely Nines and Tens! We’d open 1♣, and that will get E-W to 3♣ (+110 and a great result) or to 2NT (down one for a lousy result). Going plus will be a good result (by either side), how did you do?
South’s 3♦ was a preemptive nudge, typically made with three-card support. After that E-W will stumble into 4♥ which is a pretty good contract, one which can be made in theory but maybe not in practice.
Against 4♥ South will lead a Diamond. Which one? As South is presumed from the bidding to hold three Diamonds, she should lead the Seven here. North won’t expect South to have a doubleton and will read this as highest from three small. This helpful lead will disabuse North of the false notion that the defense has two Diamond tricks coming. So, after winning the ♦A, North has an easy Club shift. South wins that and gives North a ruff. Back comes a Diamond (for want of better), and Declarer can still make his contract by laying down the ♥A, felling South’s stiff King. But he probably won’t, instead he’ll cross to Dummy with a Spade, finesse the Spade, after which the defense adds insult to injury by getting a second Club ruff. Yikes, that’s down two!
East has only 13 HCP but it’s a five-loser hand and good value for a 3♥ rebid. Over to West. What are his choices? - Pass? This could be the winner, as there’s a distinct possibility that this is a misfit deal. However, so far, West has shown no more than four Spades and it can hardly be right not to bid them again. - 3♠? This bid is forcing! As such, it would be a good choice if West were not sure whether to play in Hearts, Spades or No Trump. But here we do believe that West should be determined to play the hand in Spades. East has some high cards but West doesn’t have much in that department. So, in the circumstances, West’s hand will be pretty useless in a Heart contract, whereas East’s high cards could be quite useful in a Spade contract. - 4♠? That would be our choice! There’s no reason to confuse things by bidding 3♠, we think that West should go directly to the contract that seems most likely to succeed.
West’s choice of 4♠ was spot-on! Not because it is a great contract, but because Spades definitely plays better than Hearts. In fact, even 3♥ will fail. 4♠ may or may not make. Here is the down-one line of play: ♣J covered by the Queen and South’s King Spade return (nothing else seems better) won by North’s Ace Heart won by Dummy’s Queen ♥A and ♣A are cashed (pitching Diamonds) Now Declarer must lose two Diamonds, and that will be down one.
Here is how Declarer brings 4♠ home: ♣J won by Dummy’s Ace Spade is finessed and North craftily ducks ♠K is led, won by the Ace, squashing South’s Queen Spade is returned At this point, with the trumps behaving, Declarer has 8 sure tricks, via 6 trumps, the ♥A and the ♣A. He’ll take the Heart finesse for the 9th, and must somehow rustle up a Diamond trick. So Declarer leads a Diamond towards Dummy’s Jack, that will build a Diamond trick whenever North has the Queen. But South takes the ♦J with her Queen, and returns a Diamond or a Heart. Either way, Declarer must finesse the ♦9 to score his Diamond trick, and make his contract. >>BRIDGEOPEDIA: “Suit Combinations”>>
Let us not be afraid to play in the occasional 4-3 fit! North’s 1♥ does not promise more than a 4-card suit, but nonetheless it would be a mistake for South to rebid 1NT for a number of reasons: - The Heart suit is good (the Ace of trumps is worth its weight in gold in 4-3 fits!) - There is a ruffing value in Spades - Furthermore, if the hand belongs in No Trump it is likely to be better played from the North side - Finally, just because South raises Hearts, it does not mean that the hand cannot be played in No Trump.
How about North’s Pass of 2♥? A tad feeble, would you say? Maybe so, considering the Diamond fit, and we wouldn’t too strongly argue with a game-invitation of 3♥ (which South would resolutely decline).
How many tricks can North make in a Heart contract? Deep Finesse tells us that 10 are available, but he peeks at the opponents’ hands. As a result he will have no problem whatsoever in dropping East’s singleton ♦K, and will further manage to pick up the trumps by taking a backwards finesse (run the Jack and if East covers then finesse against West’s Ten). Mere mortals may manage only 8 tricks!
After North overcalls 2♦ we think that East is pretty good value for a 2NT response. Yes, it’s only 10 HCPs but those points are working well, with only two of East’s HCPs being used up to produce two Diamond stoppers. Of course, when we have the majority of the HCPs, and when the opponents are interfering in our auction, our methods and our hand evaluation and where and with whom we place the contract tend to revolve around the enemy suit. That being the case, we consider it highly unsporting of N-S to introduce Diamonds into the auction and then, against the E-W No Trump contract, to rattle off five tricks in the utterly unmentioned Spade suit. But once in a while (not very often) the opponents will do that to you.
2NT is down one (praise be that West did not raise to game!), whereas, if E-W can ever get there, 3♣ is worth 9 tricks.
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