|
Hand played on |
21st December 2006 |
|
Board number 13 |
Blue Section |
|
Dealer |
North |
|
Vulnerability |
Both |
|
Submitted by |
Alaric Cundy |
|
|
North ª 4 © AQT962 ¨ A96 § Q74 |
|
|
|
|||
|
West ª QJ87 © KJ84 ¨ K7 § 952 |
|
East ª KT653 © 7 ¨ QJ32 § K86 |
North |
Bidding:
East |
South |
West |
|
|
|
South ª A92 © 53 ¨ T854 § AJT3 |
|
|
1© 2©
|
No End |
1NT
|
No
|
|
|
|||||||
|
North's 1© opener is routine - but what happens next rather depends on what action, if any, East takes. If East passes, then the hand is likely to be played in 2© by North.
Clearly the contract is fairly secure here - when Dummy goes down it looks as though the worst that can happen is to lose 2 diamonds, one club, and then Declarer can stand two trump losers, and still get home. At match-pointed pairs it is important not to rest on your laurels!
The spade lead was won in Dummy, and a heart played to the 9, which held the trick. Now a club to the ten also held, and allowed a second trump lead from table. In practice, West went in with the jack, but it doesn't matter much which card is played. The bad trump break was revealed. North now played the Queen of clubs, covered by the King and Ace. When everyone followed to the Jack of clubs, Declarer continued by playing the 13th club. West ruffed and Declarer discarded a losing diamond. The defenders eventually came to a diamond trick, leaving Declarer with three overtricks, for a score of +200.
At some tables East overcalled 1ª - and now it is fairly easy for EW to bid too high! There are three unavoidable club losers, plus three more aces, restricting Declarer to seven tricks in a spade contract. A few early Christmas presents flowed towards NS when they were able to find a double. Well it was the Christmas party! |
||||||||