11th August – Board 6: East/West Game. Dealer East.
Many E/W pairs got carried away on the hand shown below quite often due to over-exuberance by both parties in the partnership. Initially it all comes down to East’s rebid after his partner has upset North no doubt by bidding something he wanted to bid himself! This is how I think it should go however:
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West
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North
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East
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South
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1D
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No
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1S
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No
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1NT
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No
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No
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2S
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End
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I hate the idea of reversing on that East hand, being below par for that action in any event and having a singleton in partner’s suit. And while 1NT isn’t ideal I think it is the best of a bad lot and West would be happy to pass. Not so North of course who should enter the auction by bidding 2S, natural, for what else could it be? As it happens1NT by East is an easy make and 2S by North drifts one down for a small gain so no harm done. At one table E/W arrived at 3NT played by East and South was inspired enough to lead a spade. In fact North should have doubled the final contract, asking for an unusual lead which is usually the first suit bid by dummy. Just as well to know that.
Hmm, in the oh so unlikely event that I was West and partner reversed and we ended up in 3NT, why is a spade lead inspired given South's hand? Isn't a club lead more likely? Is a spade lead not more likely to give away a trick if West has bid the suit? Not that a club lead means 3NT will make of course.
ReplyDeleteInspired in the sense that partner had six running spades! A club is certainly a likely choice but I suppose in the bidding at your table - which to protect you I couldn't possibly divulge - East sounded as though he could cope with an attack from that front.
ReplyDeleteI made the 'inspired' lead (thanks David). I reckoned a) I had virtually no points, so partner must have some, b) i was unlikely to be on lead again, so had to make it count, c) whatever i led was unlikely to set up a winner in my hand, so i had to try to find potential winners in partner's, d) west hadn't rebid his spades and east hadn't supported them, so west probably only had 4 spades (certainly no more than 5), east probably had less than 3 (certainly less than 4), so partner was likely to have at least 4 spades, and quite probably 5 (6 was a bonus!), e) leading spades was leading through dummy's strength, e) even if dummy did have 5 spades, he had bid weakly and declarer might not have entries to get to them
ReplyDeleteQuite right. Just goes to show what inferences are always lurking. And North did well too by not asking the hand on his left if the spade bid was natural. Just joking.
ReplyDelete