Automatic

13th June – Board 12: North/South Vul. Dealer West.

Anyone who might have bid to a slam could consider themselves to be lucky when the adverse cards laid kindly for them.

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

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

The above auction could not be criticised for remember that responder will hold at least five hearts for his 2H bid so that North with his six-loser hand is entitled to bid game. South might consider cue-bidding in diamonds but that would elicit a sharp retreat to 5H from his partner. In any event West has a natural club lead and it does look as though declarer has another loser in diamonds but see what happens when he runs all his trumps. West is unable to guard both diamonds and spades and twelve tricks will automatically roll in.

Left Boot

23rd August – Board 19: East/West Vul. Dealer South.

With a little science and good visualization the pairs sitting North/South should have enjoyed the following hand:

6♣ is an excellent contract on the two hands and the above auction cannot be considered too outrageous. East might feel compelled to bid more at his first turn with a seven card suit but 7-2-2-2 hands always play like a left boot and at the unfavourable vulnerability I think caution should be advised. When North hears of a good hand opposite with a spade stop I think a bid of 4♣ is justified – forcing of course, because you never remove a game contract into a partscore. Then when South shows first round control of hearts he can hardly stop short of a slam. With the trumps dividing nicely declarer can set up a long diamond in dummy by ruffing the fourth in hand, and take the heart finesse for the overtrick. Indeed with East showing values 7♣ is a good contract but maybe too difficult to reach with any confidence.

Those who reach 6NT will find they make all thirteen tricks without really trying but only by keeping a little alert. On the run of the clubs West is in all sorts of difficulties. He has to keep the diamonds guarded so must come down to just a doubleton heart. Now, after cashing three diamonds declarer is forced to take the heart finesse and finds he makes three tricks in the suit. In all he makes, one spade, three hearts, three diamonds and six clubs.

Unnecessary Risk

5th January – Board 19: East/West Vul. Dealer South.

East took the right view in the bidding but the wrong view in the play leading to a catastrophic result, but as so often happens when under pressure all reasoning goes out the window.

West	North	East	South
			No
No	4H	Dbl	End

To my mind it is clear-cut that East should bid 4S over 4H and not double. Too many times I have seen games making in both directions so if for no other reason I would have taken out insurance. Maybe playing pairs things are different and certainly the winning action here is to defend as neither game should make. However… East started correctly by cashing two top spades and a top club, getting the correct count signal from his partner in both suits. (Hi-Lo = even, Lo-Hi = odd). Now if partner has the ace of diamonds it is not going to run away so a trump exit looks safe but in the heat of battle East switched to a diamond, but unfortunately for him the nine. You can see what happened. With the super diamond impletion declarer covered with the ten and that was that. Even if East had started with more than two diamonds he would have been squeezed in the minors on the run of the hearts. If East had been a little more patient and with careful discarding his side would have come to the setting trick in diamonds in the fullness of time.