No Swing

9th May – Board 12: North/South Vul. Dealer West.

East could approach the treatment of his hand in different ways but ultimately whatever route he chose would most likely make no difference at all.

	North: S 5 4 H A Q 10 4 2 D K 9 3 2 C K 9
West: S Q 10 7 H 9 7 D Q J 10 C Q J 10 6 4		East: S A K J 9 3 2 H none D A 8 6 5 C A 8 7
	South: S 8 5 H K J 8 6 5 3 D 7 4 C 5 3 2

West	North	East	South
No	1H	Dbl	4H
Dbl	No	4S/No?	End

East has a close choice initially between a simple overcall and a double and the latter just about gets my vote in that it leads the way open to finding a possible diamond slam. Against that of course you don’t want to be left playing in 1S….Whatever you do South should pre-empt to 4H and West should double to show some general values. You might think that if East chooses to pass the double an 800 penalty would ensue but it is not as simple as that. Without second sight East will cash his top spades and then be endplayed. 

He will either have to concede a ruff and discard or cash an ace, thus promoting the king of that suit in declarer’s hand. On the other hand if he chooses to bid 4S he will make all thirteen tricks due to both minor suit finesses working. Indeed 6S is a good contract but hard to bid with any degree of certainty. Take away the ten of clubs and the jack of diamonds from West’s hand and the slam is virtually impossible and although bidding has come a long way it is just not that precise. So there you have it – 500 against 510, or no swing.

Embarass de Richesses

14^th June – Board 13: Game All. Dealer North.

With so many game contracts available on the featured hand it is no surprise that the bidding could and indeed did take many different routes. I have to say that as West I would be looking for a club slam after partner has bid the suit and that contract is not so bad in any event although it would be scuppered on the bad trump break.

4♦ is not an attempt to play in that suit of course because West had two previous chances of bidding diamonds if he was serious about them. Instead it is a cue-bid, agreeing clubs as it happens although East might not know that until the last moment. Several Wests looked no further than 3NT and were probably anxious on a low heart lead. However after running all the clubs, admittedly using up the only diamond entry in the process, South becomes burdened with too many high cards and is subject to an easy end-play if declarer exits with either a heart or a diamond. Of course what South should do is to smoothly reduce himself to the bare king of spades early on to save himself the ignominy of being thrown in to give two spade tricks. West won't know what is happening of course or shouldn’t unless South has made a big deal of it with an Oscar winning performance. Much easier said than done I have to agree.

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.

Cat and Mouse

24th March – Board 13: Game All. Dealer North.

Whose side would you put your money on if East declared a contract of 5D and South decided to lead the ace of spades and follow up with a trump? Winning in hand declarer would lead his singleton heart and South has to pass the test and duck! This may look far-fetched but in reality it is not so hard to find. It is true that South will never make a heart trick but by playing the ace he would give declarer two discards for his losing clubs. So your money is on N/S right? Wrong! Declarer would win the heart and ruff a heart back to hand. The spade queen is ruffed and dummy’s last heart ruffed before a club is led to the ten and North’s queen – who is now hopelessly endplayed. A major suit return would give a ruff and discard while a club would be up to dummy’s tenace. So E/W triumph after all. Of course in reality N/S would almost certainly compete to the five level and the following auction would not be too far-fetched:

West	North	East	South
	No	1D	4D
5D	No	No	5H
Dbl	5S	No	No
Dbl	End

4D might seem a funny bid but is just really a sort of super-Michaels showing the majors and a desire to play at the four-level in either spades or hearts. West will almost certainly support his partner but when South has one more West should get the maximum penalty from the save by doubling. The ensuing reward for all this would be +500 to E/W as opposed to +600 if they were allowed to play peacefully in their game.

Second Best

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.

Textbook Technique

3rd March – Board 13: Game All. Dealer North.

There were loads of different contracts and results on the featured hand but for once I am not interested in the bidding but the play in 6D from the North hand, as it should feature a smart play straight from the textbooks. Superficially it looks as though the contract depends upon the heart finesse, for if that works declarer has one spade, two hearts, six diamonds and three clubs. With the king badly placed you might think that declarer would lose two heart tricks but that needn’t be the case. Here is what should happen: Declarer wins the spade lead (say), draws trumps in two rounds and cashes the ace of hearts. He then crosses to the South hand with a club to ruff the remaining spade, cashes the remaining two clubs ending in dummy and leads a heart to the queen. If the king is well placed there is no problem, but if East holds that card doubleton then he will find himself endplayed. With only black cards left he will be forced to give declarer a ruff and discard and his twelfth trick in the process. It’s the same old story: so many times when a finesse is working you just don’t have to take it.

Superhuman Courage

17th February – Board 17: Love All. Dealer North.

There were all sorts of results on the hand shown above and I think it is fair to say that most auctions ended in tears for the declaring side. The only thing that is clear is that North should open with a weak two hearts if that bid is in his side’s armoury, but what happens after that is less than obvious. Sitting East I have a suspicion that I would wheel out a convention that we talked about ages ago…..

West	North	East	South
	2H	4D*	No
4S	End

4D is Leaping Michaels, showing diamonds and spades, and West would surely convert to the major suit game. After a heart lead declarer should play ace and another spade, but even so the defending side should get their ruff, leaving declarer to try and make all the diamonds without loss. After ruffing the second heart South is endplayed to some extent and as a diamond switch would be fatal he does best to play the ace of clubs. Declarer will ruff and play a trump for North to win who either has to return a heart or a diamond. But by now declarer knows that North started with four diamonds to South’s two, making the finesse twice as likely to succeed than playing for the drop. If East bids 3D over 2H then West would bid 3NT and after winning the heart lead he should test the clubs first – after all an obliging defender might have started with J,9 doubleton! When North shows out on the clubs a brave declarer might take a diamond finesse against the jack later in the play on the grounds that North probably holds more diamonds than South, but it would undoubtedly require almost Superhuman Courage.

Space-Age Acol

9^th December – Board 19: E/W Vul. Dealer South.

One of the most useful gadgets to have emerged in the last few years is undoubtedly the Jacoby 2NT, a bid used after partner has opened with one of a major to show a high card raise to game in that suit, or better. See how well it works on the hand shown above, when the following auction would probably take place:

West	North	East	South
			No
1H	No	2NT	No
3C	No	3D	No
3S	No	4C	No
4D	No	6H	End

There are many different ways to continue after partner has responded 2NT but a common method is for the opener to bid 3C to show an above average hand, with responder replying 3D to show the same. (Any other bid in a new suit would be a cue-bid.) 3S, 4C and 4D are cue-bids negating the need to bid Blackwood but it is hard to imagine that there are enough high cards in the West hand for the grand slam to be viable. (Remember that playing weak twos an opening bid of 2C shows either an Acol 2 somewhere OR a balanced 19/20, and West hasn’t done that.) Without Jacoby it is hard to see what East could sensibly do at his first turn.

The play is trivial. On a trump lead, say, declarer draws trump, eliminates spades and diamonds and runs the queen of clubs. South will win and is endplayed, and would be even if he had another club.