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Hand played on |
July 31st 2008 |
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Board number |
Blue section 9 |
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Dealer |
North |
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Vulnerability |
East West Vulnerable |
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Submitted by |
Alaric Cundy |
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North ♠74 ♥QJ76 ♦83 ♣J9853 |
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West ♠AK62 ♥K95 ♦KJ962 ♣2 |
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East ♠QT3 ♥T843 ♦Q74 ♣AQ7 |
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North |
Bidding:
East |
South |
West |
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♠J985 ♥A2 ♦AT5 ♣KT64 |
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No End
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No |
1NT
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2♦ |
On the surface this board looks a bit mundane and uninteresting, but just to show that even boards like this one can require careful play...
Anyone playing a 12-14 NT opening will choose such a bid on the South hand. West's action will depend on partnership agreements, but here EW were playing a natural defence and the choice of 2♦ was passed out. West gave thought to a sporting double - one HCP light for such a bid, but with a good suit to lead, it could provide EW with a good score if left in - 4 diamonds, (at least) three spades, (at least) one club, and a heart, and EW could have been looking at a telephone number in the plus column. North would probably not allow this to happen and a club contract by NS would not play badly.
Anyway, back to our 2♦ contract. Given that the spades do not break and that the ♣K is off-side, Declarer seems to be facing one spade loser, two hearts, and a trump. If the club finesse is tried then declarer can swap a heart loser for a club - still nine tricks.
For the opening lead, North chose to try his doubleton spade, and the trick went ten, Jack, Ace. The Jack of diamonds was led, taken by the Ace. South tried Ace followed by small heart, hoping to get a ruff in, but Declarer rose with the King and led a trump to the Queen. This line of play on the trumps allows Declarer to 'pick up' ATxx in the South hand, but as it happened it was an unnecessary safety play. [North cannot hold four diamonds as South had opened 1NT]. Declarer finished drawing trumps, but then a spade to the Queen and a spade back to the King revealed the bad news in that suit. Not so bad though!
Declarer now had a complete count on South's hand: South was known to have started with 4 spades and three diamonds; the play of the hearts suggested two of those, so South's last five cards appeared to be a winning spade plus four clubs. So West 'threw South in' with the last spade and South was forced to lead a club round to Dummy's AQ, providing a 'parking place' for Declarer's last heart. 2♦+2 gave EW a near top score on the board.