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Hand Analyses 4th November, 2009
There’s an abundance of links on this page, here’s what they all mean: - Notations such as Bidding Quiz (North) are links to the weekly Bidding Quiz, a selection of the 15-20 most interesting bidding situations of the week. - Each week we pick out two or three hands which are suitable for presentation in problem format, as in Play Problem 203 (West), linking you to a page with only two hands on display. Solve the problem first, then see the solution and the entire deal. - Some analyses contain references to bidding conventions, and you’ll see links to articles in our Convention Library such as Roman Key Card - In BridgeOpedia we have categorized by theme the entire history of the most instructive Wednesday Game hands, two year’s worth. Occasionally you will see a purple arrow, linking to the relevant BridgeOpedia section. For example, in this week’s Board 1, Declarer conjures up an extra trick from a three-suit squeeze Adjacent to the text for that hand you will see the link >>BRIDGEOPEDIA: “ExoticSqueezes”>> which will transport you to the collection of hands with the same theme.
Let’s suppose that N-S are in a game-forcing auction here. What would you now bid with the North hand? Difficult, isn’t it? There’s no fit, but North is too good to bid only 3NT. Wouldn’t it be nice if 4NT was natural and slam-invitational? Well, it could be if you play Minorwood! If that is the case, 4♦ would be Roman Key Card (with Diamonds as trumps), freeing up 4NT as a natural bid, showing around 18-19 HCP. After a natural 4NT we suppose that South would pass.
Anyway, we predict that most pairs will get to slam going down. 6♦ has no play, but 6NT is actually cold, though the following line of play only makes sense if you can see all 4 hands. Let’s assume that North is Declarer: J♥ lead is won by Dummy’s Ace Spade to the King ♠K loses to West’s Ace Heart return won by Declarer Now Declarer runs the Spades and poor East is squeezed in 3 suits. 12 tricks! Of course, normal play would be to finesse the Spade Ten, after which it’s only 11 tricks. >>BRIDGEOPEDIA: “Exotic Squeezes”>>
North’s 3♥ was a game-invitational raise (some might achieve the same via a Bergen Raise). Yes, North was a bit light in the HCP department, but reckoned that the void and the nice Clubs had to count for something. That was enough for South to take a shot at slam (Roman Key Card would not have helped because of South’s Club void).
It seems natural enough for West to lead the ♣K, won by Dummy’s Ace (Declarer pitching a Spade). Now Declarer has a surprising 13 tricks! She ruffs 4 Diamonds in the Dummy (returning to hand with the ♠A and three ruffs of her own). Then the ♥A is cashed, and thanks to the singleton King the remaining trump can also be drawn. At Trick 13 Declarer cashes the now-established Diamond. It takes an opening trump lead to hold 6♥ to 12 tricks.
North has opening values (just about) but (a) her hand is all about Clubs and has little defense, (b) she is opposite a passed Partner, (c) she is White versus Red. So, in the circumstances, surely it is better for North to preempt with 3♣ here. As it happens this is likely to bounce E-W too high, and they’ll probably end up in 4♥ down two. Here is what might happen if North opens a pusillanimous 1♣: South West North East Pass Pass 1♣ 1♦ 1♠ Dbl 2♣ 2♥ Pass Pass 2♠ 3♥ Pass Pass Pass Again, E-W are too high, but here N-S get only +50 instead of +100. By the way, that was a “Fourth Suit Double” (known to some as Snapdragon) by West, showing 5+ Hearts, tolerance for Diamonds, and a hand not good enough to bid 2♥ directly.
South’s 3♦ was forcing, North’s 3♠ showed something in Spades, and South figured she had enough for slam, and went for all the marbles by trying for 6NT.
Against 6NT, West has an obvious opening lead of the ♠K, giving Declarer a chance to display her superior card-play technique. Please see the Play Problem where you are expected to make an overtrick!
7♣ is not a bad contract. If East fails to find an opening Heart lead, Declarer will unblock the ♦K, cross to the ♣A, ruff a Diamond, and draw trumps. Now the ♥A provides an entry to the good Diamonds. It takes the hard-to-find opening Heart lead to knock out Dummy’s entry and beat 7♣. As for 7♦, that fails when the trumps misbehave.
West certainly has a maximum for his 1NT and East barely has enough to invite game. Those square 8-counts are often not worth an invitation, but, fortunately for E-W, East liked the Tens and Nines and they got to game. Other pairs (for example, those playing 4-Suit Transfers), will be unable to invite game directly, and will invite via a Stayman sequence. Against 3NT, North leads a low Spade and the defense takes the first four tricks, but that is all they get.
As South, would you be tempted to pass, planning to rattle off 7 tricks against their 3NT contract? Well, maybe one time in a thousand that strategy will work. But the other 999 times you’ll be better off preempting the auction with a 4♣ bid. Better to disrupt their auction on a regular basis than to hope for a small miracle once every decade or so.
Over 4♣ West guesses to bid 4♠ and lands on his feet when East turns out to have 4 Spades. Over 4♠, should South now bid on to 5♣? Well, that certainly is the winner on the actual board, but that’s only because 4♠ actually makes. As often as not, the 4♣ preempt will have bounced the opponents into a bad contract, and it will be better to defend. Let’s also bear in mind the Partner Factor. If South unilaterally bids 5♣ and it turns out that Partner does indeed have 4♠ beaten, she will not be a happy camper. In the interests of partnership harmony, better to pass and hope that the preempt has successfully done its job.
Against 4♠, North leads a Club, and Declarer ruffs the second Club high. An ambitious Declarer will try to make 12 tricks. Where are they coming from? The only realistic possibility is from 4 Spades in Dummy, 3 ruffs in Declarer’s hand (a Dummy reversal!), the ♥A and 4 Diamonds. What’s the best chance for 4 Diamonds? Yes, play North for the Jack! The long Clubs are in the South hand and the odds are that North has the longer Diamonds and is more likely to hold the ♦J. That might be enough to steer Declarer into this exotic line of play: Club lead is won by South’s Jack Club continuation is ruffed high by Declarer (North will be pitching Hearts) Spade to Declarer’s Eight Cash the ♦A (in case South has singleton Jack) Club ruffed high Finesse the Diamond Ten! Club ruffed high Diamond to the Queen Cross to Dummy with a Spade Cash the last Diamond, pitching a Heart Now all that remains is to cross to the ♥A and cash the last two trumps. +690! Top board! >>BRIDGEOPEDIA: “RememberingTheAuction”>>
After this auction it is common knowledge that South should be far more inclined to lead from her 4-card major than from her 4-card Club suit, the reason being that Declarer has denied a 4-card major and will usually have Clubs on this auction. So, all things considered, it seems that a Spade lead stands out, but unfortunately that is the lead that allows 10 tricks. Declarer crosses to the ♥K and plays on Diamonds for 10 easy tricks. If Declarer gets greedy and takes the Heart finesse at Trick 2, he’ll score only 9 tricks if South finds the Club switch. And, perversely, an opening Club lead also holds Declarer to 9 tricks. A bad hand for conventional wisdom.
South’s Double was Responsive, and when North guessed to bid 4♦ her side ended up in their 8-card fit instead of their 9-card fit.
The Play in Diamonds: East leads a Spade, West inserts the Jack and Declarer ruffs. Next the ♦A is cashed (good play!), over to the ♣K, and the ♦9 is finessed. It doesn’t help for West to get a Club ruff, so East persists with Spades, again ruffed by Declarer. Now the ♣A is ruffed by West, but eventually Declarer scores 10 tricks, losing the ♦K, a Club and a Club ruff. 10 tricks!
The Play in Clubs: If North ends up playing in Clubs, then 11 tricks are possible: Spade ruff, ♣A, ♦A (again it’s a good play!), ♣K, ♦9 is finessed. East can cash his Club winner but that’s all that the defense gets.
The Play in Spades: Yes, with 10 combined trumps E-W might have competed to the 4-level. It turns out that E-W have a very lucky 9 tricks, provided that they are able to guess the location of the ♥T.
North’s 1NT opening is a bit off-shape and somewhat deficient in the majors but it still looks like the most practical opening bid to us. After South’s 2♥ transfer bid is doubled, North has extra options available. Here is one way to use those options: - Pass shows a doubleton Spade (after which Redouble by the Transfer bidder is a re-Transfer) - Redouble shows 3 Spades and a maximum (seems more useful than trying to play 2♥ redoubled once every couple of decades) - 2♠ shows 3 Spades but less than maximum - Other bids can be your regular super-accept methods, whatever they may be.
Using those methods, South Redoubles as a re-Transfer and then investigates 3NT by bidding 3♥. North cannot bid 3NT, of course, so 4♠ is the final contract.
Against 4♠, the defense will cash two Hearts and shift to a Diamond. Now it will be 9 or 10 tricks depending upon how Declarer plays the trump suit. All things being equal, the percentage play here is to lead twice towards the long hand, playing a high honor both times. This has a 60% chance of success, whereas finessing the Nine has only a 49% chance. However, the odds change when West is presumed to be long in Hearts, and some Declarers may be persuaded by the auction to finesse the Nine. That may be a well-thought out choice, but it is also an unlucky one! >>BRIDGEOPEDIA: “PlayingThePercentages”>>
Suppose that West neglects to double 2♥. Now North will end up in 3NT and the very absence of a Double of 2♥ may persuade East not to lead a Heart. A Diamond lead would be most unfortunate, allowing a chortling Declarer to scoop up 9 minor suit tricks.
Looking only at the N-S hands, one can see no fewer that 7 potential losers … a Spade, a Heart, two Diamonds and three Clubs. But, in fact, everything is as friendly as can be. After the ♥J opening lead is won by Declarer, how would you play the trump suit? West’s overcall suggests that he is more likely than East to be short in Spades, but is also more likely to have the missing high cards. Happy guessing on this one, if you get it right you’ll make an astonishing 10 tricks when both minor suit Aces are predictably onside, and when the ♦A also happens to be doubleton (Declarer can lead towards the ♦Q and then play low from both hands on the second round).
That was a frustrating deal for North, who never got into the auction with her 16 HCP. The play in Hearts is complicated, we’ll just say that Declarer can scrape up 8 or 9 tricks despite the 4-1 trump break. But back to North, any thoughts as to how she might get into the auction? She might risk a 1NT overcall … that works well on the actual hand, but would work less well when South holds 5 Hearts and transfers to them. We rather like the 1NT overcall, but that’s probably a minority opinion, and could certainly backfire.
How would you raise Spades here? - 4♠? This will be a popular choice, though it’s far from ideal with that outside Ace. - 3♠? This shows a limit raise (the Bergen Raisers have their own alternative, of course). - 4♥? A Splinter bid … perhaps a little too much for this hand. None of these bids seems quite right to us, and there happens to be a useful gadget to cover this very situation. East bids 3NT, which can conventionally be used to show a 5-card raise, with one defensive trick outside the trump suit. Exactly what East has! If we didn’t have that convention available, we suppose that we would just boot out 4♠, being prepared to offer a groveling apology if our side were to miss slam … or if our Partner took a phantom sacrifice at the 5-level, not expecting us to have that defensive trick.
There is nothing to the play, it’s 10 easy tricks. That should be a flat board but we wonder if one or two tables might languish in part-score after 1♠ 3♠ followed by a feeble West Pass.
East’s hand passes the Rule of Twenty, but it’s not a hand that needs to be opened. That singleton ♣Q is not pulling its full weight, and the hand has other defects, such as no Aces and no Tens. Simply not an opening bid.
How about South? We really do think that passing here is utterly feeble, a 3♣ preempt is surely required. True, N-S are vulnerable, but then so are the opponents. Worried about preempting with a 4-card major on the side? There’s no need, it’s the opponents’ hand, and N-S will never be playing this one in Hearts. Worried that South has only 4 HCP? Bad thinking, that weakness makes the preempt all the more appealing!
If South does get in there with the stand-out bid of 3♣, West will have quite a problem on his hands! Doubling with only two Hearts is unattractive and 3NT is a bit much, so West’s best choice is probably 3♦. They should still be able work their way to 4♠, however (East will try 3♥, West bids 3♠, and East bids the game).
As it happens, the inferior 5-2 Heart fit makes the same 10 tricks as the 4-4 Spade fit, which is most fortunate for those West players who were confronted with a 3♣ preempt and chose to double.
With the North hand, would you make a Takeout Double of 1♠ or would you overcall 2♦? Those three Hearts are not perfect for a Takeout Double but neither are they a deal-breaker. The bigger danger is that, if North doubles, East will bid 1NT, and South (on lead against a No Trump contract) will start out the defense with Hearts. Better, we think, to get those Diamonds into the auction.
After North bids 2♦, East is not quite good enough for a game-invitation, and will probably bid just 2♠. That will be a missed game when the Spades are 3-2, assuming that Declarer successfully guesses the Clubs (which he should). If, instead, East dredges up a bid of 2NT he’ll go down in 3NT after a Diamond lead.
South’s hand is way, way too good for a Weak Two, and South also has a clear 5♥ call over East’s 4♠. Perhaps not so clear is whether East should bid 5♠. Bidding “five over five” is often a losing proposition, the conventional wisdom being that “the five-level belongs to the opponents”. Maybe so, but on this deal the five-level happens to belong to E-W as they have a profitable save at this vulnerability. 5♠ doubled is down only three.
How many tricks can South make in Hearts? 12 are possible if Declarer can guess the Heart situation, but there is no good reason to do that, so 11 tricks at most tables.
After that strong start by E-W, South’s 2NT can hardly be a natural bid. Surely, in this case, 2NT is for the two unbid suits, at least 5-5, and another manifestation of the Unusual No Trump. The vulnerability is well-suited to a N-S sacrifice, and that is exactly what South’s 2NT suggests. Not that the South hand is perfect for a 2NT bid, it would be so much nicer if that ♣K were a red King, that would give N-S less defense (a good thing when sacrificing) and more offense (another good thing!).
Over to the West seat. South has shown the red suits, and clearly E-W have game values. West expects North’s next bid to be some large number of something red, so what’s the best way to help out Partner before the bidding gets stratospheric? Without the 2NT interference we would take things slowly and rebid our Spades, but with the interference it might be better to support Clubs while we still can. So, our choice would be a simple 3♣.
What would 3♦ and 3♥ mean in this situation? There’s no need for Unusual vs Unusual here, as East and West have both already shown a good hand. So, 3♦ and 3♥ would both show something in the bid suit, presumably in an attempt to reach 3NT.
If South does bid 3♣, North (who has zero defense against a Club contract) will bid 5♦, after which East has a pretty clear-cut 6♣ bid, wouldn’t you say? South will be happy to defend that (she does have two Key Cards after all!), but who could blame North for sacrificing in 6♦? Not us! Anyway, 6♣ rolls home with 13 tricks and a near-top result. The 6♦ sacrifice by E-W goes for 800, beating all those N-S pairs who defended a slam, but losing to those pairs who defended a game. That was a lot of hard work by E-W for what will probably be about average!
There are some Souths out there who will overcall 1♠ with that muscular 4-card suit, and we confess to being fully paid up members of this particular society. But most won’t so we have offered you a less adventurous auction: East’s Double showed 3-card support, South’s cue-bid showed a good Spade raise. 3♠ is down one, there’s not much to the play. Nothing, actually.
9 tricks. Not a very exciting hand. We’ll save our cyber-ink for something more thrilling. The next hand certainly qualifies.
Let’s assume that N-S are playing a 2/1 system. After North responds 2♣ (it’s game-forcing and rock-bottom minimum) South bids a simple 2♦ (no need to jump in this forcing auction), North shows her Hearts, and South supports Clubs. Now North cannot bid 3NT (nothing in the unbid Spades), nor can she bid 3♥ (that would imply 5 Hearts), nor does she have a good reason to head off in the general direction of 5♣ or 6♣. So, for want of an alternative, she bids 3♦.
By now, both players have bid both minors. Which one is trumps? At this point we would say that neither is. It’s up to South to bid 3NT (which she won’t, her hand is way too good), or to set the trump suit. Diamonds clearly look like a better trump suit, and the next question is “What does 4♦ mean?” In a game-forcing auction, where trumps are a minor suit, many players use Minorwood, it’s a cheaper and more effective way of using Roman Key Card in these auctions. If available, then Minorwood would be perfect for the South hand. Then, when North replies 4NT (two Key Cards without the ♦Q), South can be confident about 6♦.
Post Script At the risk of getting too complicated (perhaps we already did), South should really try for the grand, in case North has ♥A and ♣AKQ. How to do that? If N-S have an agreement that the “cheapest non-signoff” over 4NT is the King Ask, then that should be South’s choice. But what is the cheapest non-signoff? It would take a well-oiled partnership to be able to bid 5♣ with confidence that it won’t be passed out, so perhaps the best (safest) grand slam try is 5♠. North may not be sure what that means, but she will know that her side has solid trumps and all the Aces. If she happens to have ♣AKQxx then she should feel free to go to seven, and she might as well offer 7♣ as an alternative, just in case those Diamonds are not as solid as they could be. But it’s academic on this hand, North is not going to seven this time.
A slightly raunchy 3♠ by West and a clear-cut 3NT by South. If West routinely leads a 4th best Spade, Declarer has 10 easy tricks. West might well try an opening Heart lead instead, and now 10 tricks are more challenging. Please see the Play Problem.
Some optimistic bidding by both North and South, we can see a number of N-S pairs playing this one in 3♣ (which is 11 easy tricks when the Diamond finesse works). But our pair gets to 3NT and West starts out with a low Diamond. Declarer wins the first Diamond, cashes the ♣A and loses a Club. The Diamond continuation is ducked, Declarer takes the third Diamond, and plays on Hearts next (she will need the Clubs later for transportation purposes). West might craftily duck, but Declarer has ♣T85 and Dummy has ♣976 … these holding provide two entries to Declarer’s hand (one to knock out the ♥A and one to get back for the second Heart winner) … and provide one entry to Dummy (to reach those Spade winners at the end of the play). Nicely done for 10 tricks! >>BRIDGEOPEDIA: “EntryManagement”>>
East sensibly decided that his anemic suit was not worth a Red vs White Weak Two. But the vulnerability did not stop West from overcalling 2♣ (which in this case was DONT, showing Clubs and another suit). In this situation, many N-S pairs would play that a Double of 2♣ is Stayman and that the rest of their No Trump system is on. That being the case, North’s 2♦ was a transfer to Hearts. West’s 2♠ looks risky to us, considering that his Partner has just shown some values in his void suit. And after all that bidding by West, East must have been sorely tempted to compete to 3♠.
The Play in Hearts: After a Spade lead the defense scores two Spades, a Diamond ruff and the ♥A. But that’s all, and it’s 9 tricks for Declarer. Surely, though, West is more likely to lead a Club after which Declarer cashes three Clubs (pitching a Spade). How will he play the trump suit? Declarer might reasonably deduce that West has the ♥AQ. Why? The clues are (a) West didn’t lead a Spade so presumably does not have both the ♠A and ♠K, (b) West doesn’t have the ♦K (East doubled 2♦). So, it seems that West must have one high Spade and the ♥AQ for his vulnerable bidding. That being so, the correct Heart play is to lead the ♥J, hoping to squash a singleton Ten in the East hand. The good news is that East does indeed have the singleton ♥T. The bad news is that West rises with the ♥A on the first round, and plays on Spades, after which Declarer cannot get back to her hand (for the second Heart finesse) without running into a Diamond ruff. 9 tricks, nonetheless. >>BRIDGEOPEDIA: “CardReading”>>
The Play in Spades: Declarer can be held to 8 tricks with this line of play: Diamond lead is ruffed; North wins Club return; another Diamond ruff; South wins the next Club and returns a Heart won by Declarer’s Ace; South wins another Club and returns a Heart ruffed in Dummy. Now Declarer cashes two high trumps, but must still lose a trump and a Heart.
E-W have balanced hands and a combined 23-count, so it’s hard to see them getting to game. But with all those fillers doing good work, and with the cards well-placed, there are no fewer than 10 tricks available in game if Declarer guesses the Hearts.
Not an exciting board. South will probably make 8 tricks in 2♠, or 9 if she somehow manages to guess the Spade situation. There is no obvious reason why she should.
West chose to make a Negative Double of 1♠, which was reasonable enough, but it meant that he never got the chance to support Clubs at a safe level. Well, that is not quite true, because it turns out that 5♣ is makeable provided that Declarer guesses the Heart situation (which he should in light of the auction). And, although the double Diamond finesses works, there’s no need to take it, those potential Diamond losers can go on the Hearts. But, in all likelihood, South will declare 4♠, going down one.
Some intrepid Norths may back in with a balancing Double of 2♠, and if they do they will probably live to tell the tale. True, 3♣ by South is down one, but it is unlikely to be doubled, and West will no doubt compete to 3♠ based on the double fit. 3♠ makes an easy 9 tricks.
If West leads a Diamond: This seems like a normal enough lead but it hands Declarer 4 Diamond tricks. Declarer uses her two Diamond entries to take Club finesses, and the successful Spade finesse takes the total up to 12.
If West leads a Spade: This lead gives Declarer a third Spade if she inserts Dummy’s Nine (which East should not cover, in case Declarer has the doubleton Ace). Even so, Declarer cannot manage more than 11 tricks, he just does not have enough entries with which to take the three minor suit finesses.
That 2=2=7=2 shape is far from exciting and the Diamond suit is less than stellar. Nonetheless, at favorable vulnerability, who could possibly resist opening 3♦ with the West hand? Not us, and on this board the preempt works rather well when it pushes N-S into 4♥, which is only their third best game contract.
The Play in Hearts: This is a straightforward 10 tricks, with Declarer losing the ♦A and two trumps.
The Play in Spades: If West feebly fails to preempt in Diamonds then South will declare 4♠. The play might go as follows: ♦Q is led and holds the trick Heart shift, the Queen losing to East’s King Spade shift won in Dummy Diamond ruff Cross to the ♣Q Two rounds of Spades, ending in hand Now, when the ♣J falls early, Declarer counts 4 trumps and a ruff, one Heart, one Diamond and 4 Clubs. That adds up to 11 tricks.
The Play in No Trump: Can you see how to make 11 tricks (double dummy, perhaps) if North declares 3NT and gets a Club lead? No problem! Win the ♣Q and cash the 4 Spades, ending in Dummy. Look what happens to East on the fourth round of the Spades: - If East discards a Diamond then Declarer cashes three more Clubs and throws in East with the last Club. East can cash the ♦A but is now end-played in Hearts. 11 tricks. - If East discards a Heart the Declarer sets up the Hearts with one loser in the suit. 11 tricks. - If East discards a Club then Declarer gets an extra Club trick and, in the end-game can conjure up an 11th trick. North’s last 4 cards are ♥AQ and ♦Kx, and, whichever red cards East comes down to, he can get end-played.
2NT is reasonable enough, but certainly not ideal with that good 5-card major and the unstopped Club suit. South transfers to Spades and West chimes in with a 4♣ bid. Now, what do you bid as North? That hand is suddenly improved enormously! There’s a big Spade fit and it appears that South might be short in the enemy suit. So, North is clearly too good merely to bid 4♠. What are the alternatives? The obvious slam try would be a cue-bid of 4♦, but we suggest that there is a better bid available, namely 5♠! When the opponents have bid and we are in a strong auction, a jump to 5 of our trump suit is generally used to show two (or more) losers in the enemy suit. Perfect! Is there any danger that 5 Spades will be down one when South also has three Clubs? Actually, no, that surely means that East is void in Clubs and cannot lead one!
Let’s look next at the South hand. That 5♠ bid announces that North has little or no wastage in Clubs, so where are her 20-21 HCPs? We would expect North to hold the three missing Aces for that 5♠ bid, but perhaps the ♠K is not a complete certainty. So, rather than bidding 7♠ directly, perhaps South does better to cue-bid 6♣, showing a void and interest in a grand slam (with the same hand and no ♦K, we suggest that South settles for 6♠). After the 6♣ cue-bid, we’d expect North to bid 7♠ when holding all four missing key cards.
Not everyone will like that 2♦ bid, but in it’s defense let’s note that E-W are non-vulnerable, West is in third seat, and has a nice chunky suit that has some lead-directing value.
With or without the Diamond bid, North is likely to declare a Heart contract, probably in game at most tables. 4♥ is a poor contract but it makes with this delightful line of play: Diamond lead is won by the Ace ♠A is unblocked! Heart finesse ♠K is cashed (pitching a Diamond) Spade ruff Heart finesse Spade ruff Cash the ♥A By now, all the Spades and Hearts have gone and this is the end-position: North ♦ 3 ♣ AJ74 West East ♦ KQ8 ♦ ♣ Q9 ♣ KT862 South ♦ J75 ♣ 53 Declarer has a perfect count on the hand, and knows that West started with 4=2=5=2 distribution. The best hope for Declarer is that West’s doubleton Club includes the ♣K or ♣Q, so she cashes the ♣A and exits with a low Club. Now, if East grabs his ♣K he will crash West’s Queen and set up Declarer’s Jack. So, East ducks the Club and when West wins the Queen he is end-played in Diamonds!
In the above line of play, note the importance of ruffing those Spades early in the play. If Declarer had failed to do so, then the Spade suit would have provided the defense with safe exit cards. >>BRIDGEOPEDIA: “CountingDistribution”>>
N-S can make 11 tricks in Clubs (but never got the suit into the auction), while E-W can make 12 tricks in Diamonds. That’s 23 total tricks with only 19 total trumps, not exactly a triumph for the Law of Total Tricks! East’s 4♦ was a value bid, not a preempt, he has excellent playing potential and is inviting game.
Against 5♦, South leads the ♣A which is ruffed by Declarer. Now a Heart is lost and the defense persists with Clubs, again ruffed by Declarer. Three Heart ruffs will be taken in Dummy and that’s 12 tricks.
If South had held a trump (say that her distribution was 4=5=1=3) would a trump lead beat 6♦? No! When a Heart is led at Trick 2, North wins and returns another trump. Now there are only two Heart ruffs available, not three. No matter, 12 tricks are still possible. After ruffing those two Hearts, only South can guard that suit so, when East rattles off all his Diamonds, South finds herself being squeezed in the majors. 12 tricks once again!
After the excitement of Boards 29, 30 and 31 we end the set with something of a damp squib. North can make 3♦ but seems more likely to be defending 3♣ (down one).
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