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Hand played on |
22nd November 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 ♠J9875 ♥K6 ♦T ♣A9874 |
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West ♠K43 ♥T4 ♦AK8654 ♣KQ |
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East ♠2 ♥AQ53 ♦QJ92 ♣J653 |
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North |
Bidding:
East |
South |
West |
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South ♠AQT6 ♥J9872 ♦73 ♣T2 |
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No No End |
No 1♥ |
No |
1♦ 2♦ |
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East / West were playing a strong 1♣ opening style, so the 1♦ opening showed 11-15 HCPs without a 5-card major. The 2♦ rebid confirmed a diamond suit. North led a spade to South's Ace and South switched to the ten of clubs to North's Ace. North returned a club, but Declarer made the rest of the tricks, eventually discarding a heart on Dummy's Jack of clubs, thus avoiding the finesse in hearts - which would have worked anyway.
As the cards lie, I cannot see any defence to defeat 5♦. The traveller revealed that at many tables the hand was successfully played in 3NT by East / West, so 2♦+3 proved to be a poor score for them. So how could East / West fare better?
Personally I would have 'had another go' on the East hand, and it seems in order to raise 2♦ to 3♦. Now, with 15 HCPs, West will be tempted to bid game, though 5♦ looks to be a long way away, and the black suit guards do not look good enough for 3NT. Clearly, at many tables West did in fact bid 3NT. On an initial spade lead, 3NT will pose some anxious moments: Declarer can count 6 diamond tricks, plus the spade on the lead, plus the Ace of hearts yielding 8 in total. Declarer is forced into the winning line - take the heart finesse - as he / she cannot afford to lose to the Ace of clubs, else the Defence will score a total of 4 spade tricks plus the Ace of clubs for one off. An initial club lead gives Declarer more options, as now there are two clubs tricks available to add to six diamonds and the Ace of hearts, and if the heart finesse is taken - a dangerous play given the flimsy guard in spades - an overtrick will materialise. Perhaps at our table East / West were a bit unlucky to score so badly with a diamond part-score, as 3NT is effectively a 50% contract.
One North / South pair earned themselves an above average score by venturing into the bidding. Their 3S contract was doubled but it only failed by one trick for -200, thus beating all the pairs who defended against 3NT. Interestingly, had the heart finesse failed for West in 3NT, 3NT would fail, but 3S* would now make, so NS would still be in for a good result.
So in summary, on this board bold bidding by East / West gives them a good result, whereas bold bidding by North / South sends the honours in their direction.