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Hand played on |
2nd August 2007 |
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Board number 13 |
Summer Club Pairs Championship |
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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 ♠ KT3 ♥ KQ95 ♦ 65 ♣ 9842 |
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West ♠ Q762 ♥ J7 ♦ AK83 ♣Q73 |
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East ♠ AJ9854 ♥ A842 ♦ 4 ♣ AJ |
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North |
Bidding:
East |
South |
West |
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South ♠ - ♥ T63 ♦ QJT972 ♣ KT65 |
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No No
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1♠ 4♠ |
2♦ End |
3♠
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Some players commented that they do not like the computer dealt hands because they are too unusual. The fact of the matter is that the computer carries out a 'perfect' shuffle, whereas when the cards are shuffled manually on ordinary club nights, the likelihood of an incomplete shuffle leading to a 'boring' flat hand increases. Here is a good example of the sort of challenges that a proper random deal can throw up.
South made a half-hearted attempt at disrupting proceedings by overcalling 2♦ but that action could not keep East / West out of the obvious game contract in spades. The main interest with this hand is to consider just how many tricks can Declarer accumulate? With the King of spades sitting well and the King of diamonds providing a parking place for the potential club loser, it looks as though 12 tricks should be feasible - but it takes great care to collect that many.
If Declarer simply sets about drawing trumps, then he / she will unavoidably lose either two hearts, or a heart and a trump. It's a lot easier to see the best line of play the following morning, with all four hands on display!
After the likely diamond lead, Declarer can win in Dummy and immediately cash the second top diamond and discard the Jack of clubs. Declarer needs to 'shorten his / her trumps' and it is best to ruff a diamond at trick three, on which North must discard - and the choice of discard could be critical. In practice, North is likely to throw a club. Declarer ruffs cheaply, cashes the Ace of clubs, and the Ace of hearts, and exits with a heart. That will put North on lead, who is likely to return a club, ruffed in hand by Declarer. Declarer now ruffs the third heart in Dummy, and leads the Queen of spades from Dummy. North must cover, but now Declarer is able to trump the last heart in Dummy and then lead a trump from Dummy to take the marked finesse against the ten.
So can North stop this line of play and collect a second trick? At trick 3, when choosing a discard, North could instead select a heart, and then when it comes to the crunch North will be able to over-ruff Dummy when the fourth heart is led. The only problem is that if North parts with a heart, then Declarer's 8 becomes established simply by giving up one heart and ruffing one, so Declarer still makes the 12 tricks.
In practice, at our table Declarer amassed the more obvious 11 tricks, which gave East / West a better-than average score, as throughout the room only three Declarers made 12 tricks, and several East / West pairs bid too high and / or failed to take 11 tricks. Special congratulations to Tim Connett & Steve Ensor who were the only pair to bid and make a slam.