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Daily Bridge in New Zealand
Well Earnt.
It is always nice to see a contract played well by a declarer, made without any help from the defence. “Always” applies even when one is one of the unfortunate defenders. In the following deal, 10 declarers bid and made 6NT though all bar two received much more helpful leads than did the declarer at our table. So, what’s your line going to be?
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South Deals |
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West |
North |
East |
South |
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1 NT |
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Pass |
2 ♠ |
Pass |
2 NT |
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Pass |
6 NT |
All pass |
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1NT showed 14-16 and 2
was either a range-finder (it was) or a weak transfer to a minor. Although South showed a minimum, their partner felt the slam would be bid at the other table. So, to even the board, 6NT became the final contract.
West led 
9 to East’s K. East returned J with West following with a low club. You test spades and on the third round East discards a low club. What do you discard? Plan the play.
The declarer was Invercargill’s Greg Buzzard whose team had a strong showing in the Swiss Qualifying stage of New Zealand Open Teams, qualifying in 6th place. This deal, from Round 1 of the Swiss, helped their cause.
Greg Buzzard
Greg had won A at trick 2 and with spades not breaking had to rely on diamonds for producing extra tricks. At that point, he had three tricks in each major and just two in each minor.
He drew a good inference that West’s seemingly passive club lead might indicate that they could well hold 
Q or else they might have chosen a passive diamond lead instead.
So, after discarding a heart on the third round of spades, he played two rounds of hearts and then a diamond to the 10 in dummy. Success but he was not home yet. These cards remained:
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Greg played a club to the queen with West discarding their remaining heart though when Greg cashed 
Q, West had no answer. A diamond was thrown and Greg played three rounds of diamonds, small to the ace and back to his king, to make his slam.
These were the full hands:
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South Deals |
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Only an initial heart or club lead challenges Greg. He drew the correct inference about the possible location of the Q and then played out his heart and club winners to squeeze West out of his diamond hold. Nicely played.
Richard Solomon
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