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Hand played on |
24th May 2007 |
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Board number 13 |
Red Section |
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Dealer |
North |
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Vulnerability |
Both |
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Submitted by |
Alaric Cundy |
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North ♠ Q9864 ♥ Q ♦ QJ95 ♣ A74 |
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West ♠ AKT3 ♥ 7 ♦ T83 ♣ QT652 |
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East ♠ J752 ♥ AT542 ♦ AK ♣ 93 |
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North |
Bidding:
East |
South |
West |
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South ♠ - ♥ KJ9863 ♦ 7642 ♣ KJ8 |
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No No |
1♥ 2♠ |
No End |
1♠
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Both North and South had aspirations of coming into the bidding here - but not when their opponents insisted on bidding their respective suits! Though the bidding here looks to be routine, the hand was played in a variety of contracts at other tables.
At our table North led the ♦Q, taken in Dummy, and on which South played the ♦7 - suggesting a heart switch. Declarer found what appears to be the key play of a club from Dummy at trick 2, which was taken by South's King, and diamonds were continued, won again in Dummy. The remaining club was played from Dummy to the Ten and North's Ace. North dutifully led the ♥Q, won in Dummy, and West attempted to ruff a heart, but it was over-ruffed by North. North now faces difficult choices, but in practice tried a trump, won by Dummy's ten. Declarer played a spade from table to reveal the bad news, but then played winning clubs, and the defence could now do no better than to come to one more trump trick, to yield a just-above-average score of +140 for East / West.
The same contract was played at a total of four tables - twice making nine tricks and twice making seven. Twice East / West played in No Trump part-scores, making nine or ten tricks, and at another table South had an unhappy experience in 3♥. At the remaining table the hand was played in 3♣ by West, failing by one trick.