As ever,
counting the hand proved to crucial on this deal with Eszter yesterday:
Game All, Dealer North. You are South, holding
South
xx
K73
AKJ1073
A3
The bidding goes:
North East South WestNo 3
(1) 3
3
4
No ??
(1) Pre-emptive
What now?
.
.
.
I felt that Partner being a passed hand, it was unlikely we had 11 tricks available to us here. Mine is a nice hand, but it's not that nice. I have no shape and felt it would be punishing Partner's 4
bid to try for one more.
West led the AK of Spades and Partner put down
North Q3
A102
Q98
Q10975
South xx
K73
AKJ1073
A3
On the two top Spades everyone followed, and West now switched to the 4
. How do view your prospects? Initially it doesn't look particularly good: West is obviously void in Clubs. West might have led the 4
from
Q984 or similar, in which case you can eliminate the Heart loser by playing small from dummy at trick 2 and East will have to play their honour to beat your 7 and now you can take a 2nd-round finesse against the Queen in West's hand.
The downside to playing small from Dummy at trick 3 is when West has led from
QJxx, in which case your only chance for your 10th trick has just disappeared.
The only glimmer of hope is that you can see the 3 and 2 of Hearts, which suggests West might have led from a 4-card suit. If that's the case, then that almost certainly means the Diamonds are 2-2 (West will have 7 Spades, 4 Hearts, no Clubs and therefore 2 Diamonds, and East will have 2 Spades, 3 Hearts, 3 Diamonds and 6 Clubs). If that is the case, it doesn't matter who has what Hearts (read on).
I played small from Dummy and took East's Jack with my King. Two top trumps revealed the 2-2 split and now I knew I was home: I knew for certain that West had no Clubs and East had started with 3 Hearts. I played the Ace of Hearts and then exited with the 10
, coming down to this position:
North -
-
Q
Q10975
South -
-
AKJ7
A3
It doesn't matter
who wins the 3rd round of Hearts. If West wins it he will have only Major suit cards left, any of which will give me the ruff-'n'-discard I need to rid myself of the Club loser. If East, on the other hand turns up with the 3rd Heart trick, they will only have Clubs left and will have to lead
away from their
KJ8xxx.
There is another sure-fire way to play this hand, which I held in reserve in case the Diamonds were
not 2-2: As long as you preserve Dummy's Ace of Hearts allow yourself to win the
3rd round of Diamonds in Dummy, you can lead Dummy's Queen of Clubs. This forces the King from East and you simply win the Ace and concede a trick to East's Jack and have a good Club in Dummy left to take care of your Heart loser.
...and so it proved: East won the 3rd Heart and led the Jack of Clubs, but I just let it run around to Dummy's Queen. 10 tricks. Perhaps surprisingly, this turned out to be the par score of -0-07 IMP, because lots of West fell in love with their hand and were competing to the 4-level (and beyond) in Spades and going for -200 or -500. One lucky NS Pair even bid 1NT-3NT on the hand (no opposition bidding) and received the lucky lead of... ...The Jack of Spades! 10 tricks, thank you - NEXT!
