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Carefully does it.

Sometimes, when you are in 3NT, 9 tricks stare at you in the face. On other occasions, you have to be a little careful…and then there are deals where they appear to stare at you but you must still be a little careful!

 

2 is a Weak Two. You overcall a strong 2NT and are raised to game. West leads 4 and East covers dummy's 8 with 9. Your Q takes the first trick. What now? Would you play any differently if instead East wins A and returns a second heart?

Well, 9 tricks do stare at you in the face except here if you were a little careless, the opponents might grab five tricks before you get your nine. Oh, which 9 tricks are you counting up? Four club tricks are certain as areAK and you can be pretty sure of a second heart trick even if East does not win trick 1 as surely East holds A even if it was withheld. It would be rather strange for West to have led 4 from A4 doubleton.

Let’s look at the 2 situations. Firstly, East took their A at trick 1. It would be a rather strong weak 2 to hold AK and AJ. So, assuming they do not hold both high spades, it is safe for declarer to play on spades for the ninth trick. Declarer can cash their club tricks and play on spades. South is in control.

Playing on diamonds will usually yield a 9^th trick but where the suit breaks 4-1 and West  holds QJxx, South must be careful not to cash AK first or else they will record a minus score.

Tougher Defence

What though when East ducks the first round of hearts? South still has to get their second heart trick as well as develop trick number 9. When diamonds are 4-1, declarer will be in trouble even if they avoid playing the top 2 diamonds. Let’s look at the actual lay-out:

 

 

Going down!

     Rather than play a second high diamond, you played a low diamond towards dummy but West will take J. They cannot continue diamonds (without giving you two tricks) but they can give you your spade trick by leading a low spade. You win but when you play a second round of hearts from dummy, East will win and return a spade for West to take three spade tricks which along with a diamond and A defeats the contract.

The dangerous but successful way

The way to make 9 tricks after the duck at trick 1 was to win Q at trick 1 and cross to dummy by playing a club to play a second round of hearts. However, this line works only when West has both top spades as otherwise East can regain the lead with a high spade to cash their remaining heart tricks.

Thus, be thankful if East won A at trick 1. Otherwise, the winning line is to get a second heart trick and then play on spades. It would seem safer to play then for that 9^th trick by playing a diamond ducking to West…except on this day!

With East the danger hand, you had to hope both high spades were with West. All the defence could take was two top spades, A and a diamond. You had your “9 top tricks” the hard way.

You should not to give the defence the chance of two diamond tricks, whether or not they won trick 1 . Had you played carefully, this time, the favourable lie of the top spades enabled you to come to your “nine top tricks” eventually but maybe only if East took their ace at trick 1. Tricky. That 9^th trick was not so easy to find after all.

Richard Solomon

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