16th August – Board 19: East/West Vul. Dealer
South.
The bidding might have
proceeded in one of several ways on the featured hand, but whether East chose
to go slowly – via a simple overcall of 1♥ – or in more bullish mode by
overcalling 4♥ – the game contract is likely to be reached one way or another.
Note that when South bids 1♠ over 1♥ he is showing a five card suit because
with just four he would start with a negative double and the upshot of this is
that North can raise with just three-card support. If South decides to bid 4♠ over 4♥ West will be tickled pink and express an opinion as to the outcome of
that contract but in fact 4♠ is only three down and would show a profit against
the vulnerable game.
With trumps breaking 2-2 declarer in 4
♥ can engineer a diamond ruff in dummy so that the success of the contract would appear to hinge on a successful club finesse against the king, but that is not entirely the case. Those nice clubs in dummy represent an extra chance for after drawing the last trump ending in dummy, declarer should run the nine of clubs and although this would lose to the jack declarer can later take a finesse against the king after ruffing his losing diamond. The advantage which might be gained is that North could have started with both the ten and the jack of clubs when an initial finesse against the king would result in the loss of two tricks.
