April 30, 2014

This week, I will focus on two play problems.
1.

With both sides vulnerable, you open one spade in fourth seat. Partner raises and you bid game. West leads the club queen. Plan the play.
2.

The auction, with no one vulnerable, was:

 

West leads the spade queen, which wins, and shifts to a trump. Plan the play.

This second problem is purely hypothetical. At the table where North opened the light hand, South tried a negative double over 2S, and passed partner’s 3C rebid. This was way too conservative. With 12 points, and a cramped auction, South really has to force to game. Bidding 3H the first time seems normal. Once South opted for the negative double, passing partner in three clubs has to be wrong. You have already contracted for nine winners, and haven’t found a fit yet. Over three clubs, I would bid 3NT. You might not make it, but partner might not make three clubs either, and there is a bonus if you bid and make game. Three clubs did, in fact, go down a trick. 3NT might also go down, but it would take very tough defense.

At the other table, North passed – pretty reasonable, and the bidding went 2D (Multi) P 2S (Pass or Correct), back to North. Well, North has a singleton spade and a maximum for a passed hand, so double is clear-cut. That would lead to either three hearts or four, but North passed, and two spades made easily. So one North-South pair went -50 in three clubs, when game in either of two strains would probably score, yet won IMPs over the -110 at the other table.

The biggest swing of the set came on board six, where our pair held:

Not well bid! Obviously four hearts is a much better game, and made an overtrick at the other table, while 3NT failed when the heart queen did not drop. So, what went wrong?

South has a tough choice over two diamonds, with two features that might be important to partner – the four hearts and the diamond stopper. South chose to emphasize the diamond stopper, and lost the heart suit. Bidding two hearts looks better to me. When in doubt, choose the cheapest option. After 2NT, it is hard to show the heart suit, but there is plenty of time to bid notrump later if South bids two hearts now, and partner has no fit.

However, North gets the bulk of the blame. North had an easy rebid over two clubs, a natural and forcing two hearts. The cue-bid gained nothing, aside from muddying the auction.

On to the play problems. The first problem is very easy – too easy, really, for your level. There are nine obvious winners, six spades, two clubs, and a heart. The tenth must come from hearts, and that suit will yield an extra trick if either

1.  East has the heart king, or
2. West has the heart jack.

Simply take two finesses. Draw trumps and lead a heart toward the queen. If that loses, play a heart to the ten next.

Our declarer, inexplicably, started hearts by leading the queen. Since West had the heart king, this error cost nothing, but that’s why I’m here. I get to yell at you even when the play went unpunished.

Now for the second play problem. Assuming trumps split, there are eight obvious winners, five trumps, two diamonds, and a club. We need two more. Our first instinct is likely to be to trump two spades on the table. Let’s look at that:

Say we win the trump in hand, trump a spade, diamond to king, spade ruff. No, that’s no good. We have to trump with the ace and we’ll lose a trump trick. Okay, say we win the ace, diamond to the king, spade ruff, diamond ace, diamond ruff, spade. That is better, but there are a couple of problems. Getting back to hand to draw trumps may be hard. A fourth round of diamonds is likely to promote a trump trick for them, either by an overruff, or an upper-cut, so maybe we shouldn’t cash the diamond ace early. Also, West might trump the third spade with the jack, and play another trump, holding us to only one spade ruff.

Let’s consider that scenario: Trump ace, diamond, spade ruff, diamond ruff, spade. West trumps with the jack and plays another trump. We win the ten, trump another diamond, and, if diamonds were 4-3, we can get to dummy with the club queen and score the long diamond. Five trumps, one club, one ruff, and three diamond tricks. Contract made.

Now we are getting somewhere. Our best bet, by far, is to forget about trumping two spades, and simply set up the diamond suit. On the auction, and lead, West will hold the club ace and only two spades, so we can get to those diamonds with the club queen.

So, win the trump in hand, diamond king, trump to the ace, diamond ruff, spade ruff, diamond ruff, draw trumps. This will leave:

 

If diamonds have split, we play a club to the queen and win two diamonds. This will work even if West started with five diamonds – club to the queen, diamond ace, diamond, throwing spades. West will win, but have to give us our club king. In fact, this line succeeds when diamonds split and trumps don’t.  The full hand:

 

Playing to set up diamonds works very well. Trying to trump two spades in dummy would likely fail. Here, West can trump in front of the ten, and give East a club ruff. Too bad neither declarer was tested. You can’t very well make four hearts if hearts are never bid.