Misdirection

29th September – Board 15: North/South Vul. Dealer South.

Sometimes the brain gets distracted from taking the right approach because we are so used to following a certain path, and that was certainly the case on the featured hand where most pairs failed to make their no-trump game because they didn’t look far enough ahead.

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

I’m not sure that the above bidding is the route that I would have followed but the game is sound enough and it doesn’t really matter whether it is played by West or East. On a club lead (say) it looks tempting to play on spades hoping for a kindly break, but the sad reality is that when that suit doesn’t behave there are five losers in one spade, two diamonds and two clubs. If the spades are breaking they can be kept to later and the suit that should be attacked from the start is diamonds. When the nine obligingly falls at an early stage declarer can rack up the contract by making three spades, two hearts two diamonds and two clubs.

Keeping The Lead

1st September – Board 18: North/South Game. Dealer East.

Guest Blogger: Jill

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

Again, you might not agree with the bidding (I’m not sure I would usually open that West hand, but it was practically the last session and I hadn’t played a hand; also North might double and when South bids 2S, I’ll pass; and partner’s 4H shows more confidence in my play than my usual partner!)

North led a club and, at the time, I thought the opponents were uncharacteristically generous in letting me make the contract – there are two top hearts and two top diamonds to lose, and I might lose a third heart if I guess wrongly. But actually, as the cards lie, unless a red card is led at trick one, you can always make the contract as long as you don’t let them in to take their winners. Win the CQ, play SA and ruff a spade. Next play CA and CK. You might discard 2 spades, but that still leaves the same four top losers. So discard the two diamonds from hand which means you can ruff a diamond and then ruff a second spade. Now play the CJ. South can ruff with the HK, but that’s a natural winner, and you just discard your last spade, and can afford to lose two more heart tricks. If he ruffs with the J or 9, you overruff, and then lose two trumps and a spade. At the table, he discarded a diamond, so I discarded my last spade. Another diamond ruff means I have to lead away from my remaining H Q1076. As long as North doesn’t play the Ace (why ever would he?), opponents take three trump tricks, but the contract is safe.