10th March – Board 2: North/South Game. Dealer East.
 |
Ironically the one pair who arrived in 4S on those East/West cards gained a top score when the reality is that 3NT is a much better contract and should also come to ten tricks after a low diamond lead. 4S depends upon finding the king of hearts in the North hand and then some more, but if the trumps are drawn and clubs eliminated before a heart is played then North will find himself end-played. (Assuming a safe trump lead.) If you are not playing Benji then an opening bid of 1S will be raised to 2S and it is hard to see West doing anything other than bidding game in that suit. However if you are allowed to open 2C to show a balanced 19/20 points inter alia then I think the bidding might go:
West
|
North
|
East
|
South
|
No
|
No
| ||
2C
|
No
|
2D
|
No
|
2NT
|
No
|
3NT
|
End
|
I am a great fan of Stayman usually but that East hand is just a little to flat to warrant using it. In 3NT a diamond will surely be led and there seems to be only nine tricks available. However observe what happens if West runs all his black suit winners. With five cards remaining North cannot keep all his diamonds and the heart suit guarded so a clever declarer would exit with a diamond and wait for North to lead away from his king of hearts in the end game.
No comments:
Post a Comment
If using the 'Anonymous' option for adding a comment please write your name in the comment box so we all know who has commented. You will also need to copy the word shown before you can publish your comment (to reduce spam.) Thanks, Dave.