One Way Or Another

8th December – Board 8: Love All. Dealer West.

This board proved to be frustrating for those holding the East hand as their four-loser collection of cards was cruelly ignored. What is more whichever minor they decided to attack after cashing two spades, declarer could turn to his advantage.

West	North	East	South
No	1H	Dbl	3H
No	4H	End

After a double on the right South is entitled to add one for the road and North is just about worth a raise to game. East will surely cash two top spades but if he now switches to a top diamond declarer can win, draw trumps and use the ten of diamonds to force out the other high card in that suit, establishing a parking place for the jack of clubs in the process. And if East is inspired enough to have lead a low spade to his partner at trick two, a club return from that quarter fares no better. Declarer simply wins with the ace, draws trumps and uses the jack of clubs to force out the king. Then the queen of that suit will enable the losing diamond to fly away.

Heavy Weather

8th December – Board 20: Game All. Dealer West.

A lot of pairs made heavy weather of the featured hand but maybe that was because some basic bidding theory was missing – namely that when partner has responded to your opening bid of one in a major by responding at the two-level in a minor (as here) a jump to four in that minor by opener is game forcing. The reason for that is clear, because it enables responder either to start a cue-bidding sequence at a low level if appropriate or to give delayed support for opener’s major.

West	North	East	South
No	No	1S	No
2C	No	4C	No
4S	End

With such a poor club suit and with wasted values likely in hearts West should have no ambitions beyond game and I imagine that South would lead the jack of hearts, whereupon declarer has an easy route to at least twelve tricks, but even if South is inspired enough to lead a diamond the defence are only likely to make three tricks at most. Looking at the two hands you can see that four spades is easily the best contract, needing as it does just for the club finesse to work or for the trumps to be 3-3 or for a non-diamond lead.

No Problem

1^st December – Board 16: East/West Vul. Dealer West.

There were a trillion different results on the following board but I’m not exactly sure why. Playing teams North might be tempted to retreat to 2C over 1NT. The downside to doing that however is that it gives both East and West the chance to compete when the strength of the opposing pair is shown to be limited. (Over South’s 1NT it would be harder for West to enter the bidding as North could have a powerhouse.) In any event at pairs the lure of having six potential tricks in that North hand dictates a pass, which I imagine would end the bidding.

West	North	East	South
No	1C	No	1D
No	1S	No	1NT
End

A heart is the likely lead against 1NT, which does declarer no real harm. Even the bad club break is only mildly inconvenient, as declarer would be forced to duck the first round, but would still have seven easy tricks. I know it is tempting to want to bid over 1C on that East hand but as all the options are flawed it must be better to keep quiet.

Strange Happenings

1st December – Board 19: East/West Vul. Dealer South.

Sometimes a result comes along which is just too difficult to explain and the fact that the same thing happened twice last Thursday leaves me to wonder if my analytical powers are waning. Any suggestions – especially from the persons involved – would be greatly appreciated.

West	North	East	South
			2H
End

I can’t see that there is much to the bidding. South will open a weak 2H and North should probably leave alone. Any game enquiry via 2NT (Ogust) would be too pushy and any defensive procedure unnecessary with five cards in the other major and good defensive prospects. At the table where I was watching West tried three rounds of diamonds. Declarer ruffed, took a trump finesse after entering dummy with a club and upon regaining the lead with a club drew the remaining trumps in one round. He then played a spade to the ace and a spade to the queen. Even though that lost West was endplayed having only minor cards to play, and the spade loser in declarer’s hand vanished. All very normal you would think except that two pairs sitting N/S bid and made game. Bidding it I can sort of understand but making it I can’t. Even if West leads the king of spades at some time declarer still has a loser in that suit. I remain, Puzzled, Southampton.