Mountnessing Bridge Club

A weird but difficult hand

Hand played on	October 1st 2009
Board number	24 Blue Section
Dealer	West
Vulnerability	Love All
Submitted by	Roger Hayward / Alaric Cundy

	North ♠ QT ♥ Q84 ♦ AJT854 ♣ J4
West ♠ J32 ♥ K65 ♦ K72 ♣ AQ86		East ♠ 976 ♥ 932 ♦ 963 ♣ K752	North	Bidding: East	South	West
	South ♠ AK854 ♥ AJT7 ♦ Q ♣ T93		1♦ 2♦ 3♠	No No No	1♠ 3♥ 4♠	No No End
			1♦ 2♦ 3♠	No No No	1♠ 3♥ 4♠	No No End

On the surface NS have game values. The first odd thing about the board is that it is not easy to reach game on it. The next odd thing is that if you do reach game, then it requires either defensive slip-ups or masterful declarer play to make it! At the table nobody bid game, but most pairs made 10+ tricks in part-scores.

The detailed traveller is included with the Blue Section Results for October 1st - have a look at it.

The auction shown above evidently didn't arise in practice, but it is a suggested route to a contract of 4♠, which I believe is the only makeable game contract, unless the defence slips up.

The first three bids are completely routine, assuming that NS are playing a standard ACOL-based system. The critical point is what does South bid after the 2♦ bid from partner? South has sufficient values to force to game after partner opens the bidding. I'm not too keen on the suggested 3♥ bid, but it is necessary to bid something that partner will not pass out on a minimal opener. North should be content to play in a 5-2 spade fit, as there is no way he can bid 3NT with that club holding.

So, let's assume that we have reached 4♠ by South. The first bit of good news for Declarer is that West has a horrible choice of opening lead. I think that in practice I would choose a small trump, though note the big risk that partner may hold Queen doubleton, and if that is the case then such a lead might well have sacrificed the Defender's trick in that suit.

As it happens, this lead offers Declarer a false 'gift', which if accepted will very likely lead him into a losing line of play... Supposing Declarer plays the Ten from Dummy and allows it to hold the trick. Whilst in Dummy, Declarer must make good use of the entry, and the likely play is to try running the ♥Q. That loses to West's King, who fires back a second trump. That is likely to be won in Dummy, and Declarer will now cross to hand with a heart, and draw the outstanding trumps, to leave this position:

Now everything hinges on the diamond finesse - and how West plays his cards in that suit!

From Declarer's perspective, if the diamond finesse loses, the defence will also be able to cash three club tricks to take the contract two off. Given that the finesse is actually right, West has to be alert when Declarer leads the ♦Q. If West is of the fraternity who slavishly follows 'cover an honour with a honour' then Declarer will make this contract, with two overtricks for good measure, as all the diamonds will 'come down' yielding discards for all of Declarer's clubs. If West plays low, then Declarer will not be able to enjoy the diamond suit, and will lose three clubs, for one off.

So how should West know to play low on the queen? When the queen is led, West can see 10 cards in the suit. If Declarer has a second one, it matters not what West does. For example, if Declarer has one small card to go with the Queen, he will 'run the Queen', then follow with small to the Jack, and the whole suit will 'come in'. West can see that if he covers the Queen, his side will definitely 'lose out', so he should play low, just in case that Queen is a singleton...

So how can Declarer avoid this problem? He needs to win the initial lead in hand, and immediately play the ♦Q, which should be ducked all round. But now Declarer still has an entry to Dummy in the shape of the Queen of trumps, so do that, throw a club on the Ace of diamonds, and now Declarer only loses two clubs and one heart. On best defence Declarer needs to decline what looks like a free gift at trick 1 in order to make his contract....