Remembering the Auction

 

One of the more common mistakes of newer players is to forget the auction during the play or defense of the hand, failing to take into consideration the direct and indirect inferences of the bidding.  Here are some examples where Declarer uses that information to his advantage.

 

Related Play Problems         Play Problem 28

                                               Play Problem 48

 

 

16	♠ AQ9 ♥ K984 ♦ 9654 ♣ 84	19th March, 2008
♠ 54 ♥ AT ♦ AT87 ♣ QT963	North West             East           South	♠ T763 ♥ J3 ♦ KJ3 ♣ K752	Dlr     West Vul     E-W
© BES, Inc  All Rights Reserved	♠ KJ82 ♥ Q7652 ♦ Q2 ♣ AJ	West    North   East     South Pass    Pass    Pass    1♥ 2♣       2♥        3♣       Pass Pass    3♥        Pass    Pass Pass

 

Most tables will no doubt play this one in a Heart part-score, which brings in 9 easy tricks.

 

If E-W somehow steal it in 3♣ they can also make 9 tricks, but only by guessing the Diamonds correctly.  There’s a nice symmetry here in the trump suit, as once again Declarer must decide which defender is more likely to have the singleton Ace (the answer is South), and once again it turns out not to matter.  However, crossing to the K♦ in order to lead a Club would remove some Diamond options, here’s a better line of play:

            Win the opening Heart lead

            Lose a Spade, won by North’s Queen

            The K♥ is cashed

            Club to South’s Ace

            Club won in Dummy

            Spade won by South

            Spade ruffed by Declarer

            Cross to Dummy with a Club (yes, Declarer was unblocking earlier!)

            Ruff the last Spade

Now the moment of truth has arrived, it’s time for the Diamond guess!  Declarer has gone out of his way to collect clues, and can be reasonably sure that the opponents started life as follows:

            Either              North  ♠ AQx,  ♥ Kxxx,   ♦ Qxxx, ♣ xx

                                    South  ♠ KJxx, ♥ Qxxxx, ♦ xx,      ♣ AJ

 

            Or                    North  ♠ AQx,  ♥ Kxxx,   ♦ xxxx,  ♣ xx

                                    South  ♠ KJxx, ♥ Qxxxx, ♦ Qx,     ♣ AJ

 

Which layout is more consistent with the bidding?  Let’s look at South first.  Yes, she would no doubt have bid the same with either of those two hands, even without the Q♦ she would have an opening bid.  How about North?  Surely if North had 11 points opposite an opening bid she would not be selling out to 3♣.  So, we would play South for the Q♦, even though she is the one with fewer Diamonds.

 

 

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