Eszter and I combined well on this hand to defeat a 3NT that was made at every other table that played that contract:

NS Game, Dealer North

East opens 1 and West bids 3NT. Everyone passes and Partner leads (predictably) the Jack

You are South, and can see the following:

Jack led by North
                 East (Dummy)
                  J864
                  QJ4
                  KQ1074
                  K
South
  A9532
  10976
  A963
  -

The King wins trick 1 in Dummy (You discard the 3) and Declarer leads a small Diamond. How do you assess the hand?

Clearly someone has a boatload of Clubs on this hand, probably both West and North. Aside from that there's not much you can say at this stage of the hand, but on general principles I played low on this trick. Declarer won the Jack (Partner follows with the 2) and switched to the Queen, on which Partner discards the 8. How do you play?

Now we can assess the hand more fully: Partner is showing a Heart trick with the 8. Clearly West has 4 Spades, probably 5 or 6 Clubs, but bid 3NT, so probably only 2 Hearts (Kx or Ax) which makes the Jack a singleton. Does that suggest anything? Well it did to me, because Eszter's lead of a Club at trick one and my duck at trick 2 have killed Dummy stone dead. I can always prevent Declarer from reaching Dummy to establish or enjoy the Diamonds there., so I ducked the Queen, ducked the 10 which followed it, but took the 3rd Spade when Declarer led a small Spade to Dummy's Jack.

I now switched to the 9, on which Declarer played low. Eszter popped up with the Ace and led a Diamond to my Ace. When I switched back to Spades, Declarer was well and truly trapped in his hand, winning with the King, and Eszter discarded a Heart. Declarer cashed the King and the AQ of Clubs but then had to give a trick to Eszter's 10. On that penultimate trick Dummy has to discard either their last Heart or their last Diamond. Declarer chose wrong and threw away the King, and my 9 took the last trick for -2.

This would have been a better result except that lots of EW Pairs were  in 4 , going off because of the 5-0 split. 5 Pairs, however, were making 3NT, several with an overtrick, so this was a great result and a triumph for defensive counting by both of us.

I watched an interesting hand today where the defence was correct, at one table but wrong at the other. Neither defence worked, but it's a good illustration of how you sometimes need to try to mislead Declarer.

Suppose you are South, EW Game, Dealer West. West is my hero Benito Garozzo (sillafu) and East is one of his regular Partners, Tarek Sadek (tsadek). You hold

South
J105
93
9832
10742

Bidding (NS silent)
West         East
4            4NT
5            5
6

4NT was RKCB (I think), 5 showed 1 or 4 Aces, 5 was enquiring about the Queen, and 6 showed it.

Partner leads a small Heart, and this is what you can see:

5 led
               East (Dummy)
                -
                AQ76
                AKQ8
                AQJ85
South
J105
93
9832
10742

Declarer goes up with the Ace of Hearts and cashes 3 top Diamonds. Declarer follow to the first of these and discards the 8 and 10 of Hearts on the 2nd and 3rd. Now he cashes the Ace of Clubs and ruffs a Club in his hand. Now he leads the Ace and partner follows with the 2....

...If you're not immediately ready with the 10, then you have failed the test.

What has Declarer got? Clearly he started with 8 Spades, 3 Hearts and a singleton in each Minor. We know he has the Ace and Queen of Spades from the bidding. He cannot have the King as well as that would have given him 2 Key Cards and you'd currently be sitting through a laydown 7 contract. Clearly Partner started out with K2. How can you possible get 2 tricks on this hand?

The only possible way is to convince Declarer that you started with J10 stiff, by playing the 10 on the first round, without any hesitation. That gives Declarer a losing option of playing North for K52 and trying to pin your Jack on the second round of the suit. If you play a small Spade on the first round of the suit, his only option is to find either defender with the doubleton King.

At Garozzo's table South woodenly played a small Spade and inevitably Declarer brought in 12 tricks. At the other table, the bidding was identical and the sequence of play was essentially similar, except that Declarer didn't touch Clubs but ruffed a Heart after taking the 3 top Diamonds.

Jimmy Cayne (JEC) was sitting South and played the 10 on the first round of the suit, but Declarer either wasn't taken in, or decided that the 10 was too obvious a ploy, or simply didn't think about it and also led a small Spade on the 2nd round, but that doesn't detract from South's swift play of the 10 on the first round of Spades.

The thing is, misleading plays like this should be almost automatic, in the sense that you need to be working the hand out during the first 4 or 5 tricks. Given that Declarer probably started with 8 Spades, clearly East's top cards will take care of all of his side-suit losers. If Partner started with Ax, then the contract is off regardless, so you should only be thinking about partner having Kx, and be ready for the lead of the Ace from Declarer.

There are some sequences that are pretty rare in Bridge. Eszter and I experienced two of these curios in quick succession during our session today:

Hand 1: NS Game, Dealer North

Imagine you are West, holding:

West
  KQ109
  KQJ1086
  A
  AQ

Poor West, I had to feel for them afterwards. He was probably salivating over the prospects for this hand...

...until South (me) opened 1 in front of him. He doubled and Eszter found a MOTOR transfer to Diamonds:

Bidding
North     East     South     West
No           No        1         X
2 ⁽¹⁾     No        2         ??

Poor West! There is no 100% route open to them. As it happens his Partner has Jxxxx (and little else) and decided they didn't have enough to bid over 2 . West tried bidding 2 at this point, which I would take as a GF cue with a monster 3-suiter, but East just took it as natural and passed it (with a singleton in Hearts, that's not totally unreasonable). 4 of either Major is cold as the cards lie, and 2 +2 was a pretty good result for North/South. Even West passing 1 would have been a significantly better result (-3) at this vulnerability.


Two hands later, we ran into another curio:

Hand 2: Game All, Dealer South

This time you are East:

East
  Q8
  AK1062
  A32
  QJ9

After two passes, North opens 1 in front of you. You try 1NT, South passes, and West bids 2 , a transfer to Spades. It's a no-brainer to complete the transfer (after all, Partner might be void in Hearts), but East fancied his chances and passed the 2 bid.

In fact, 2 also runs into problems, because South has 5 of them and the defence get off to a really good start with Ace and another Club to North's King and a Club ruff, followed by a Diamond. 2 was also not a great success. Eszter didn't find the absolutely killing lead of a small Club and instead led a Spade, but even so Declarer was -2 by the end.

This is a curious game we play. Sometimes, even looking at all 4 hands, it difficult to be sure what the best line, or the best defence is. Double Dummy play only tells you what actually works if everyone plays optimally. Often, though, we ignore the psychological aspects to the game that sometimes lead Declarer (or the defence) astray if you can capitalise on them:

This was a curious hand, on which Paula and I were defending a contract of 1NT. Even now, I'm not sure what the best line for the defence was. Certainly GIB tells me the contract is 100% cold, and certainly Declarer could have done better:

NS Game, Dealer North

Bidding (NS silent)
West       East
               1
1          1
1NT         All Pass


You are South, and Partner leads the 8 against this contract. Dummy goes down and this is what you can see:

8 led
                   East (Dummy)
                    AQJ6
                    43
                    A1065
                    K42
South
K987
7
J972
AQ65

Declarer covers the 8 with Dummy's 10; you cover with the Jack and Declarer wins the Queen. Now they lead the 4 and finesse the Jack (Partner plays the 3). Do you win or not? GIB tells me winning this trick is better because I keep Declarer to 7 tricks, whereas ducking at this point means Declarer can make an overtrick.

That may be so double-dummy (and might be right from any viewpoint), but psychologically I felt it was better to duck at this stage, and possibly mislead Declarer about what was where. I know Partner has at least 5-card hearts, but if I win and lead my 7, Declarer will probably stand a better chance of getting the Hearts right (if that's possible).

Declarer now led a small Diamond off the table to their King and a 3rd Diamond to Dummy's Ace (North showed out). Now Declarer switched to a Heart off table, and my 7 was covered by Declarer's Jack and Partner's Queen. Paula led a Spade and when Declarer played low in Dummy, I took my King this time and Declarer showed out. I could, therefore, have won with the 7 but it makes no difference in the long run as I have to give Declarer their Spades anyway. I cashed my Diamond winner and exited with a Spade to Dummy's Queen.

Declarer now had 5 tricks and a 4th Spade was available to them, but he couldn't afford to cash it yet as he was still trying to make this contract. I feel sure that if I had attacked Hearts as early as trick 2, Declarer would have gone after the Clubs (which was actually his sure route to 7 tricks as he had 109873 and Partner the singleton Jack). As it was Declarer now tried another Heart off the table and played low when I showed out. Paula took 2 Hearts and led her Jack of Clubs and I took the last 3 tricks for -2 and +100, which was worth a princely 5½ IMPs.

I still don't know whether it might have been better to win at trick 1 and switch to a Heart immediately, but I can only lead Hearts once. I tried to suggest to Declarer that the Spade King was onside so they wouldn't look elsewhere (ie: Clubs) for their extra tricks. It would appear on this occasion that I succeeded, but this kind of strategy can sometimes misfire.

Paula stuck her neck out a bit on this hand, but played it well to bring it home. You are North, NS Game, Dealer East:

North
  J983
  A10
  Q62
  AJ95

Bidding
East     South     West     North
1       2         No          2NT⁽¹⁾
3       No⁽²⁾      3NT        All Pass

(1) Lebensohl
(2) Automatic over the 3 interference

Despite the vulnerability, I think I might have tried a penalty double over 3 rather than 3NT, but on this layout it would have been the wrong move.

East cashed 3 top Spades:

South (Dummy)
  7
  KQ972
  K3
  K7432

AKQ led

North
  J983
  A10
  Q62
  AJ95

On the 2nd and 3rd Spades Paula discarded Dummy's Diamonds. West followed twice and then discarded the 6. It might seem to some a little weird to discard the Diamonds including the King from Dummy, but it's the right play: Clearly you need to bring in one of Dummy's suits for 5 tricks. East can only attack Diamonds by leading them himself, so the Queen is safe enough with East on lead.

On trick 4 East duly led the 9. Paula discarded a Heart from Dummy. West won the Ace and returned the &, which Paula won.

Now what? Given the discard of the 6 by West on the 3rd Spade, Clubs is certainly the right suit to attack. Unless the 6 was a singleton and West has a big red 2-suited hand, Clubs should provide enough tricks for the contract. Since there are only 3 Clubs outstanding, it cannot possibly cost to unblock the Clubs by leading the 9 rather than the 5, and this Paula duly did. East showed out and the rest were Paula's. Well Done!


Nobody else found game on these NS cards, and most of the time the contract was played by EW in some number of Spades, usually going -1.

Agreed.


...obviously Opener is short in Spades on this auction. That's a given. Since 4th-in-hand is bidding 3NT rather than 4 , it's likely they have at most two of them, which gives Partner at least 4 and quite possibly a stop.

This was a poor Board for Eszter and me. We lost out partly in the bidding and even more in the play:

You are North, the Dealer, at Love All:

North
4
AK86
KQ4
AQ842

Bidding
North     East     South     West
1         2       No⁽¹⁾      3NT
??

(1) 0-7 any shape

First question is what do you do here? East presumably has in the region of 5-9 hcp for their 2 overcall, which gives West a maximum of  about a 17-count, and that's if Partner has a yarborough and East only a 5-count, so opposite a weak jump overcall, 3NT definitely comes into the region of speculative, with support for Spades that falls short of "good", since otherwise they'd likely be bidding 4 rather than 3NT. 6 Spades and the Ace falls well short of 9 tricks, though, so I think you have three choices: Pass, Double or 4 .

(1) 4 is an outside choice, but I think it's a poor third, myself, because (1) You don't know your side even has the balance of the points and (2) You have no idea whether Partner has some Clubs or not, but if they're weak, it's unlikely they're going to disturb 4 , because anything else might be worse.

(2) Double would, I think, be my second choice. It's not ideal, because it's essentially a Penalty double which might backfire, because although Opps probably only have 7 tricks on top (if Partner has nothing), you're likely to be endplayed on the optning lead and vulnerable to being endplayed again later on.

(3) Pass would be my first choice. Now if Partner has nothing they'll presumably Pass and hope 3NT is going off, but if they have some values they will probably double for penalties, especially when they have a Spade stop (which is entirely possible given the bidding).

As it happens, 3NTX is going for a telephone number. On best defence, Declarer is probably only getting 4 tricks (so +1100). Even on mediocre defence it's going for -800 and -500 for really awful defence is still going to net you a better score than any game NS might be able to make.

Inevitably (LOL) North decided to compete with 4 and everyone passed. East led the 9 and Dummy went down:

South (Dummy)
A853
10753
106
1075

9 led

North
4
AK86
KQ4
AQ842

No use crying over split milk, because you can see immediately that 3NTX was a far better spot, and even 4 might have had chances rather than 4 .

You cover the 9 with Dummy's 10, West plays the Jack and you win. You cross to Dummy's Ace of Spades (West plays the 10) and lead the 10. West covers with the Jack and you insert the Queen which wins, East following low. Now the King is taken by West's Ace, West switches to the Queen which you ruff. Now you cash the Queen and ruff a Diamond in Dummy. East plays the Jack on the third round.

Now what? Your play to this point has been fairly automatic and inevitable, but how do you view the hand from here? Clearly, East started with KJxxxx and Jxx. The 9 lead might have been a singleton or a doubleton. If it was a singleton, then they must have started with 9xx and if it was a Doubleton, then they started with two small Clubs. There are no other possibilities. As for West, they're known to have started with Q10, Axxxx, and at least KJ and 3 or 4 Hearts.

What else do we know? Well the main thing is that the lead (not to mention the bidding) pretty much marked West with QJx(x). The standout play at this point, therefore, is to play a Heart to your 8. This will win when East started with 2 Hearts and 2 Clubs, and East will ruff if his Opening lead was a singleton, but he'll be ruffing with a natural trump trick if that's the case, because he'll have started with 9xx.

If the 8 wins, now you can cash the Club Ace and exit with a Heart. West can win and take their King, but that is all - 11 tricks easy. Even playing a Club to your Ace at this point and then exiting with Ace and another Heart still assures you of 10 tricks. What you cannot afford to do is to play a Heart to your Ace and then exit with a Heart, because now you are allowing West to win and get a trump promotion by leading a 4th round of Diamonds for Partner to ruff with his 9.

-50 rather than +1100 is a big drop