I'm not a naturally greedy person but... It's always worthwhile to ask yourself exactly what all of the bidding means before settling on a line of play. This hand was a good example: You are North, at Game All, and Partner was the Dealer.
North
A9863
AQ10
5
A872
BiddingSouth West North EastNo No 1
No
1NT X 2
No
3
X All Pass
East leads the
Jack and Partner puts down
South (Dummy) Q1054
854
A6
KJ105
Jack ledNorth A9863
AQ10
5
A872
West plays the
King at trick 1, which was pretty sporting of them, I thought, but in essence is makes no difference. So how do you view the bidding?
West is a passed hand but you have to take their initial double as a takeout double of
Spades (at least, 99% of the Bridge World will play it as that). Does the second Double by West cancel that message out?
Absolutely not!. Indeed, it seems likely that it was
still 100% for takeout, and Partner East (who presumably is sitting there with
KJxx) simply decided to
pass it for penalties.
Crossing to the
Ace and leading the
Queen is definitely
not the best move in the world, therefore, because it's a line that is only
gaining when East has the singleton
Jack or when West has both the King and the Jack, and if the bidding has told you anything it's that West is
short in Spades.
Eszter still made 2 overtricks in 3 !SX, but these were
vulnerable doubled overtricks and so doubly precious! LOL. As the cards lie, 12 tricks in this contract is pretty simple once you start trumps with the Ace from hand. West held
Qxx, which was also effectively suggested by the bidding, so there's only the
King to lose.
