MOUNTNESSING
BRIDGE CLUB
Meets
every Thursday at 7.25 for 7.30
at
Mountnessing Village Hall, Roman Road, Mountnessing, Essex, England,
CM15 0UG
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Hand played on |
1st June 2006 |
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Board number |
19, Red Section |
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Dealer |
South |
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Vulnerability |
EW vulnerable |
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Submitted by |
Alaric Cundy |
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North ♠ 73 ♥ AK976 ♦ 62 ♣ 9754 |
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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West ♠ AQ82 ♥ QJT3 ♦ Q9 ♣ JT2 |
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East ♠ 54 ♥ 42 ♦ AT87543 ♣ 86 |
The Bidding |
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South ♠ KJT96 ♥ 85 ♦ KJ ♣ AKQ3 |
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North
1NT 3♥ |
East
No No |
South 1♠ 3♣ 3NT |
West No No End |
There were mixed results on this board, but several pairs tried 3NT. Personally, I would have re-bid 2NT on the South hand as 3♣ is game-forcing opposite what could be as few as 6 high card points. Well, against 3NT East makes the natural lead from the 7-card suit, and Declarer has an immediate guess. At one table (at least) North guessed wrongly, so West won the opening lead with the Queen and returned a diamond, allowing EW to take the first 7 tricks. West signals for a spade switch by whatever means available.
Unfortunately, with 5 discards to find, Dummy is under pressure, and a six-card ending as below is understandable.
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North ♠ - ♥ AK976 ♦ - ♣ 9 |
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West ♠ AQ82 ♥ QJ ♦ - ♣ - |
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East ♠ 54 ♥ 42 ♦ - ♣ 86 |
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South ♠ KJ ♥ 8 ♦ - ♣ AKQ |
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Now when East dutifully switches to a spade, West takes the next four tricks, for a total of 11 - i.e., Declarer goes 7 off! Just to cheer up South, he / she might realise that it only takes a correct guess in diamonds to bring 4♠ home, and indeed one pair made 4♠+1. It's only a game!
POSTCRIPT (provided by Tim Prior): 4♠ can be beaten if West leads a diamond at trick 1, which East ducks. When West gets in with a trump, he /she now plays the second diamond to partner’s Ace, who leads back a third diamond to give West a trump promotion for the setting trick.
It’s still better than 7 off in 3NT!
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