Every Little Helps

8^th August – Board 22: East/West Game. Dealer East.

There were lots of exciting hands last Thursday but the one featured below was probably the best. The bidding might take several different turns but the proffered auction is not unreasonable. However the play’s the thing.

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

West	North	East	South
		1H	No
2H	5D	5H	6D
End

West might barrage with 4H at his first turn and the final contract might be doubled but see what happens on the queen of hearts lead. Declarer can enter dummy by leading the eight of diamonds and overtaking with the nine to cash the ace of clubs, pitching a spade. A club is then ruffed and dummy re-entered with a low trump. Another club is ruffed and when the king falls dummy can be entered for a third time to cash the remaining club suit and make an overtrick. If the king of clubs does not make a welcome appearance declarer would still have the chance of playing a spade to the jack, hoping the queen was with West, when the last spade could be ruffed in dummy. Declarer has to recognise that dummy has three entries – easy now but perhaps not quite so in the heat of battle.

Master Play

18^th April – Board 20: Game All. Dealer West.

The bidding at the table didn’t exactly go as detailed but the final contract was the same and East led a low club….

	North: S A 4 3 H A 9 6 5 2 D A 7 C A K 10
West: S K J 7 6 H J 10 8 4 D K Q 8 C Q 3		East: S 8 5 2 H Q D J 10 5 3 C 9 7 5 4 2
	South: S Q 10 9 H K 7 3 D 9 6 4 2 C J 8 6

West	North	East	South
1NT	Dbl	2C	No
No	2NT	No	3NT
End

Sitting West I played the club queen without much thought and North won in hand. A heart to the king allowed declarer to play one back to the jack and ace but now the jack of clubs furnished an entry to dummy for another heart lead. When the smoke cleared declarer emerged with nine tricks via one spade, four hearts, one diamond and three clubs. Looking at it now I see that if I had made the master play of following with a low club on the initial lead declarer would almost certainly have won with the ten but would now be denied the entry to dummy to pick up the hearts. 

Too Many Finesses

29th November – Board 14: Love All. Dealer East.

West has a choice of bids at his second turn and while I would only bid 2♥ if partner had responded 2♣, the healthy diamond fit makes a game forcing rebid of 3♥ just about viable. As a matter of interest I would also rebid 3♥ if partner had responded 1♠ because the spade fit is a positive asset although of course 3♥ is now not forcing.

The play is interesting on the ♣Q lead and continuation. Declarer only has two entries to dummy and really would like to take three finesses – two in hearts and one in diamonds – but that is impossible. However the diamond finesse is the one that really needs to work for if it doesn’t declarer has to play the heart suit without loss and that will only happen if South holds precisely king and jack doubleton. So ruff the second club and play a spade to dummy to take the diamond finesse. When that works lay down the ace of trumps, cross to dummy with a spade and lead the remaining heart and either hope that an honour appears – as it does – or you make an inspired guess as to whether to play North for doubleton king or doubleton jack.

Plan The Play

 8th September – Board 7: Game All. Dealer South.

Guest Blogger: Nick

When this was played at our table, it seemed like it would be a pretty flat board. We were all surprised to see that at least twice 3NT had gone down. This perhaps illustrates the importance of planning the play as declarer.

South	West	North	East
1H	No	2D	No
2H	No	3NT	End

At our table, S5 was led to trick one. Declarer has 8 top tricks, S A, K, H A, D A, K, Q and C A, K, and has two potential sources of a ninth trick – diamonds or hearts. Diamonds will give the crucial ninth trick if they break no worse than 4-1 (and will give a tenth trick if they break 3-2). To gather an extra trick in hearts, the plan would be to finesse twice, hoping that East holds King or Queen of hearts to two or three (in which case declarer will make 12 tricks, and bemoan that he is not in slam). Declarer can afford to lose the lead once, at which point the opponents will clear the spades, and then may have enough spades to cash to get him down. How to choose which line to follow? Can declarer combine his chances and avoid putting all his eggs in one basket? If he comes to hand with a diamond at trick 2, one of his questions will be answered. If both opponents follow, then he can play on diamonds for his ninth trick (he doesn’t need to make 12 tricks, 9 is the target) - just play out three more rounds of diamonds, losing the fourth round to East’s jack, but securing the 9th trick with his fifth diamond. If West shows out on the first diamond, it means that diamonds are no good for declarer and he can try the hearts by finessing twice.

Some observations:
If you exchange the diamond 9 and 7 in the north and south hands respectively, declarer can overcome a 5-0 diamond split if East has the void - he should therefore play the diamonds by first cashing the queen in dummy, because if East shows out, he can finesse twice against West’s J,10, and force the 9th trick in that way. And there’s nothing the defence can do to stop him!! However, this doesn’t work with the current diamond pips, and declarer may need DQ as an entry to dummy, so he should start with a low diamond to the King or Ace.

It's not all about declarer - as West, did you think to play your SJ under the Ace at trick one, to unblock the suit – if you didn’t, then declarer can get home even if diamonds are 5-0 with East – losing just three hearts and a spade.

The only really impossible situation is if diamonds split 5-0 with East, and West holds the heart honours, and unblocks the spade – in which case there is nothing much to do, other than rail against fate!!

I know that sometimes in pairs, if things aren’t going well, you may try to ‘shoot the moon’ going for 12 tricks and a ‘top’, rather than just securing your contract – but such strategies are probably well beyond all of us on a Thursday night – I for one am just glad when I make the contract (my partner is both glad and surprised!!)