Some answers.
A)
Game N-S, dealer South
♠ A J 9 8
♥ K 6
♦ K J 9 7 5
♣ J 5
[]
♠ Q 7 5 4
♥ A Q 5
♦ Q 10 3
♣ K Q 4
S W N E
1NT Pass 2♣ Pass
2♠ Pass 4♠ All Pass
Trick one was the ♦6 to East’s ♦A, and the return was ♦4. Now what do you do? It seems fairly clear to play trumps, and if you win the ♦Q and lead a small spade, West produces ♠10. Does that change anything?
I didn’t mention the diamond spots on the second trick. Obviously there is some danger of a diamond ruff, and actually, West played upwards, suggesting he may have hit on a useful MUD lead from three small. Normally, you would probably just play Ace and another spade, hoping to take out the (potential) ruffer’s trumps while perhaps dropping a singleton spade honor in the event of a bad break. But if East is the one short in diamonds, the finesse may be better. If it works, you can play three rounds of trumps, and even if it loses, East may have the club ace, or may err and lead a heart.
I have to say I like the idea of finessing, especially when the ♠10 appears. Fortunately, I was West, declarer had gone to sleep, and I won my doubleton ♠K to give Agent 99 a ruff, after which she cashed ♣A for down 1. Teammates scored 11 tricks, of course.
B)
Game All, dealer East
E S W N
1♥ Pass 2♦ Pass
2♥ Pass 4♥ Pass
6♥ All pass
South holds:
♠ K J 6 5 4
♥ 6 5 4
♦ 10 7 2
♣ 8 2
What’s your opening lead?
That final jump to slam makes no sense. East must have some sort of distributional hand, and be hoping to make even if missing two quick winners. Well, two aces seems unlikely. The best bet must be to try for AK in one suit, and therefore you ought to lead a spade.
Not so good this time. I was the smart-ass with the East cards, and Joan Dziekanski was the wrong opponent to mess with. Down one. (She won the event, and the swing on this board was enough to move her from 5th to 1st.)
C)
Game All, dealer West
♠ K 4 3
♥ 4
♦ Q 9 7
♣ A Q J 9 6 5
[]
♠ Q 10 6 2
♥ A K J 6 5 2
♦ K 8
♣ 4
W N E S
2♦ 3♣ 3♦ 3♥
Pass 3NT Pass 4♥
All Pass
Trick one is the ♦A on which East drops ♦10. West looks at this for a long time, then switches to the ♠5. East wins the ♠A, and returns ♠9 which West ruffs with the ♥7. Now a small diamond runs round to your ♦K. How do you take the rest?
When you saw the dummy, you wished you had passed 3NT. But at the time, it sounded as though the contract had gotten wrong-sided, and maybe 4♥ would be safer. Wrong choice, but let’s make the contract anyway.
Obviously you have to assume hearts were 3-3. You can play to drop the ♥Q if you think West has her, or you can cross to the ♣A and finesse if you think she is on your right. You know West started with six diamonds to the AJ and a singleton spade, so picturing three hearts and three clubs looks OK. For a vulnerable weak two, I’m guessing she should have either the ♥Q or the ♣K, or maybe even both. But maybe not. And how about East? Five spades we know, three hearts we assume, two diamonds we know, three clubs we assume. High cards might be just the ♠AJ we know about, or might include the ♣K or the ♥Q.
I looked at this for quite a while before making up my mind. I don’t think you can place the ♥Q a priori – the bidding makes sense either way. But the rhythm of the play – the opening lead, the long hesitation, and then the switch to a singleton – persuaded me. I decided that West had chosen to play her partner for the ♦K for a second ruff. And the reluctance to lead the singleton, both at trick one and trick two, was because she would be ruffing with a natural trump trick, and therefore playing for a ruff only looked right when there seemed to be a chance at two ruffs. So ♥AK, and watch that lady fall.
♠ K 4 3
♥ 4
♦ Q 9 7
♣ A Q J 9 6 5
♠ 5 ♠ A J 9 8 7
♥ Q 9 7 [ ] ♥ 10 8 3
♦ A J 5 4 3 2 ♦ 10 6
♣ K 10 7 ♣ 8 3 2
♠ Q 10 6 2
♥ A K J 6 5 2
♦ K 8
♣ 4
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2 comments:
I find the bidding on Hand a interesting. I am benerally a great believer in always looking fir the 4-4 major suit fit, but when totally flat and with such poor spades, Surely South should raise 1NT to 3NT?
♠ Q 7 5 4
♥ A Q 5
♦ Q 10 3
♣ K Q 4
Even though it appears that the 1NT range allows for 1NT with 13 points, there are still plenty of points to spare and 3NT should be better and safer than 4♠. So for me this is one of those rare hands where you should not bid Stayman, but 3NT directly.
OK, well, actually, it was South that opened a 15-17 no-trump, so the situation you describe didn't arise. BUT, having said that, the topic of when to bid 3NT when you have or might have a major suit fit is well worth discussing. In fact, it's probably worth a magazine article or two.
I play matchpoints with some pretty old-fashioned partners, and they are much more inclined (than me) to try 3NT after we have identified a major suit fit. It reached a frequency that started to annoy me, because they are hunting for a cheap top, and (it seemed to me that) more than half the time there was an extra trick available with the trump suit, and +630 does not beat +650. Or 3NT goes down as the defence establishes a suit, where the trump games are making. But there are enough occasions that it turns out to be +630 versus +620 that they aren't going to be too discouraged.
And as you mentioned, 3NT can sometimes be safer than the suit contract. I think the payoff comes in two basic scenarios. If both hands are balanced and mirror each other, there may not be a way to get the extra trick from ruffing. And the other situation is sometimes when the trump suit breaks badly: in no-trump, there may still be a route to 9 tricks, whereas if they are trumps, you are forced to accept a couple of losers.
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