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Hand played on |
21st June 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 ♠ AT5 ♥ T ♦ AQ952 ♣ AQ85 |
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West ♠ J94 ♥ AK4 ♦ T874 ♣K32 |
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East ♠ K732 ♥ 9875 ♦ K63 ♣ T6 |
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North |
Bidding:
East |
South |
West |
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South ♠ Q86 ♥ QJ632 ♦ J ♣ J974 |
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1♦ 1NT
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No End
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1♥
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No
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This is one of those hands where events could take a very different course if the context was 'teams-of-four' Bridge rather than match-pointed pairs. North had choices for his re-bid, and chose to describe his hand as a '15-16 HCP No Trump hand' after partner conveniently bid his weak suit. With such poor top entries and a bit of 'shape', at 'Teams of 4' Bridge South almost certainly would have re-bid 2♣, but this was match-pointed pairs, and who wants to risk playing the hand in a minor suit part-score... I think that with hindsight, with so few top controls, South should have tried 2♣ even in this style of Bridge. It might have found a 5-3 heart fit - or even a 5-2 heart fit could play better than No Trumps with such a lack of entries.
Against 1NT, East led the fourth highest spade, and now the best Declarer can do is to collect 2 spades, 2 diamonds, and 3 clubs for a score of +90.
Those pairs that ventured into a club part-score fared better, as North can give up a diamond but then establish the diamonds, to yield one loser in each suit, for a score of +110. In fact, if Declarer gets the second spade trick early and the defence do not lead trumps, then the hand can be played on a cross-ruff, making 2 spades, one diamond, three diamond ruffs in dummy, two heart ruffs in hand, and if the timing is right, Declarer will be left with AQ of trumps over the King, adding up to ten tricks in total.
In practice, there was a very mixed bag of results on this hand. Only one pair made ten tricks in clubs, and another made the more obvious 9. One Declarer was doubled in 1NT, and one pair somehow bid and made 3NT - presumably courtesy of being allowed to enjoy Dummy's long heart suit, which on a good day might yield three tricks. Two other pairs took a 'pairs Bridge view', but chose to play in too many No Trumps.