A Meckwell 3NT

[OliverC]

Really enjoyed this hand today: You hold:

  752
  52
  9854
  KJ86

Partner opens 1 and the bidding proceeds:

North     East     South     West
1           X          No            No
1           2       No            No
2           No        2NT          No
3           No        3NT          All Pass

West leads the 10 and Partner goes down with
North
  AKQ3
  KQ973
  QJ7
  4

South
  752
  52
  9854
  KJ86

East wins the Ace of Clubs and returns a small Club. Plan the play

Okay, so Partner is considerably weaker than you were expecting (maybe they should have doubled instead of bidding 2 ), but you now have to try and make this "Meckwell" style 3NT contract on a combined 21 hcp, only 1 potential entry to hand and the likelyhood that no suit is going to split well for you.

Well I figured some serious stuff was going to have to go right for me here, so I have to assume the Clubs and Hearts are relatively favourable. I inserted the Club 8 which held the trick, West playing the 2. I now played a Heart to the Queen, which held, AK of Spades (East contributed the 10 and the Jack) and exited with the Q , which East took with the King and led the J , which is allowed to run round to your King. Now what?

Well I decided I might as well go for it and play East for 2245 shape and West for the doubleton 10 and I now led the Jack of Diamonds to pin West's theoretical doubleton 10. East won the Diamond Ace and the 10 duly appeared from West, who (knowing I had the Clubs completely covered) returned a third Diamond.

Now I'm down to

  Q3
  97
  -
  -

  7
  -
  9
  KJ

...and the 4th Diamond and King of Clubs duly squeezed West in the Majors, so I ended up with an overtrick on a hand where I should probably be -2. Sometimes, the Fates really do smile on you!! Yes, the defence can do a lot better.

  West                 East
  9864            J10
  A1064          J8
  102              AK63
  1032            AQ975

(Worth noting that the 8 from my hand at trick 2 was fairly essential, if marginally risky, because it made it absolutely certain that East cannot successfully continue to attack the suit. If I'd played the Jack at trick 2, he can happily lead the Q when in with the K and force my King out and run the rest of the Clubs when in with the Ace of Diamonds)

[lute57]

These seem to get better with each one.

Betcha Ash is doing cartwheels on this one knowing how much he likes squeezes.

Thanks for sharing, Oliver I feel like I am getting a private lesson on declarer play by reading your three entries today.
 

[OliverC]

Defensive errors and a fair amount of luck on my part were the major factors on this hand, but also not giving up or panicking, and seeking a distribution (eg 10x with West) that would allow me get out with most of my skin intact given no entries to my hand after trick 2.


I read "Precision Bidding & Precision Play" and "The Expert Game", both by Terence Reese, about once a year, because they are two of the finest books on Bridge ever written. One of the best sections is on making assumptions. Here given the probability of 4-2 Spades and 3-5 or 2-6 Clubs, I had to hope for 10x in Diamonds with West, because that was the only way I could engineer a relatively safe exit from Dummy. West Ducking the second Heart was a bonus that allowed me the squeeze for the overtrick, but even without that, my line is still making 9 tricks given the early play.


East could have made my life impossible by ducking the Queen of Diamonds and taking the second one and cashing the Ace, because now when he puts me on table with the second Heart, I have no safe exit card and no way back to hand.


Glad you enjoyed the hands, anyway

[RogerPfi]

Featured as Deal  no. 2  in 'More from Oliver' in aaBridge

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Roger