9th May – Board 14: Love All. Dealer East.
How would you feel if the
opponents bid freely to 3NT and you – not on lead – held something like: S xx H
xxx D AKQJxx C xx? Partner of course won’t lead a diamond unless you do
something about it and the standard way is to double, essentially asking
partner to find an unusual lead, which is often his shortest suit. Using that
sophistication would have led to a certain amount of frustration on the
following hand:
North:
S A K Q J 7
H A 9 5
D 9 8 4 3
C 7
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||
West:
S 6 2
H Q 4
D K Q 10 7 5
C A J 9 5
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East:
S 10 9
H K J 3
D A J 2
C K Q 8 6 3
|
|
South:
S 8 5 4 3
H 10 8 7 5
2
D 6
C 10 4 2
|
West
|
North
|
East
|
South
|
No
|
No
|
1NT
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No
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3NT
|
Dbl
|
End
|
North
would probably double the final contract hoping that partner was short in
spades and could find a spade (or heart) lead, but the awful irony is that
South would probably be deflected from doing the right thing and lead a diamond
whereupon a delighted declarer would rattle off the first ten tricks.
At our table N hesitated quite a long time before passing 3NT, and I(E) fearing he might have solid spades considered retreating to 5C! Feebly I passed and went 2 down, but on the likely lead of S's singleton diamond would have made 12 tricks!
ReplyDeleteChris A.
That's quite droll! It's difficult but you do make inferences about opponents' hesitation at your own risk. North might have been wondering whether Andy Murray was going to win his match and 3NT might have been the best spot all the time. I think it's amusing that if North did not double he would expect a club lead whereas if he did he would expect a spade lead and all the time it's the other way around.
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