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Hand played on |
December 17th 2009 (Christmas Party) |
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Board number |
14 |
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Dealer |
East |
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Vulnerability |
Love All |
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Submitted by |
Theo Todman |
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North ♠ K943 ♥ J954 ♦ 86 ♣ J98 |
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West ♠ A76 ♥ T3 ♦ AKQ9742 ♣
A |
East ♠ QJT85 ♥ AQ62 ♦ J3 ♣
63 |
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North |
Bidding:
East |
South |
West |
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South ♠ 2 ♥ K87 ♦ T5 ♣ KQT7542 |
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1♠ End |
4♣ |
6♠ |
Theo writes:
We had problems on hand 14! It's a real stinker - and I had to play in 6♠, going one off. I see others went off in 4♠, but my relative success was due more to a defensive error than to my excellent declarer-play. It kept me awake last night going through all the permutations, and in the end I can (I think) see how to make the contract, and it jives with what I thought at the table after I'd gone off. It looks a bit double-dummy, but I think the proposed line would work against a number of actual lies of the cards, and is suggested by South's pre-emptive action, which warns of a bad trump break.
As East, I scraped up an opening 1♠, South overcalled 4♣ and my partner bid 6♠ in true party spirit. South led ♣K, won in dummy. There are so many ways to play the hand. In spades, the key issues are
(a) losing contact with dummy if North holds up his ♠K and then ruffs diamonds when you're trying to run the suit
(b) losing a club if N gets in with ♠K after dummy's trumps are exhausted and the clubs aren't 9-1 (I took the view that South only had at most 8 clubs or he'd have bid 5♣ over 1♠; I also assumed spades would break 4-1)
(c) losing a heart if I come to hand with ♥A and then the opponents get in with trumps and cash the ♥K.
So, because of (b) I decided I needed to ruff my losing club. The trouble was how to get back to hand. If I choose ♦J
(i) it might be ruffed and
(ii) I would lose contact with dummy if North leads a diamond when in with ♠K before his last trump is drawn.
If I come back to hand with ♥A, then (c) applies. So, I took the losing Heart finesse at trick 2. South then led his diamond round to my Jack, and I was then forced to hope that South also had ♠Kxx, and led the ♠Q. This lost to North's ♠K. North should then lead another diamond, which would stop me running the suit (as in (a)) - then I'd lose another couple of hearts for 3 off.
I think the winning line is an example of Morton's Fork. North is put in a bind when I lead the low trump from dummy - whatever he does, the contract gets home:
If I play a low trump at trick 2 from dummy, North must duck - or I'll then ruff the club return in dummy with the Ace, draw trumps and cash the diamonds. So, he must duck, and I need to win in hand with the 10. I now rejoice at having got back to hand, ruff my losing club with the Ace, and then play Dummy's last trump. Whatever North does, I'm in control. If he wins the ♠K, I can then win any return, draw trumps and cash diamonds. If he ducks, I win with the 8 and lead trumps until he takes his King, and then win any return in hand and cash the diamonds, first drawing the last trump if necessary.
My grateful thanks to Theo for alerting me to this hand - and also for suggesting the solution!