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It's time to take one!

Bid ’em up: play ‘em well.

That might seem a forlorn message with respect to the deal below because there seem four impossible losers to avoid and the contract is 4S. Nevertheless, there is no point in conceding at trick 1. There might just be a way. 

 

What’s your line in 4 on a low heart lead from West to East’s J? Say alternatively, West led 10. What then?

Only a few South players found their way to game on the above cards. With no help from their opponents, many got stuck in 1 and most of the rest were in very safe 2 or 3 contracts. Yes, that really was high enough. Were Pairs the game, then making the extra overtrick would be really important if you can. Yet, the game was Swiss Pairs. There was an imp to be gained if you could make 10 tricks, not the winning or the losing of a tournament (well, not usually!) but you, or I, or everyone gives away plenty of 1 and 2 imps. So, it’s time to recover at least 1 imp. Can you?

However, a few did find their way to 4. At one table, it was very fast arrival. South opened 4!

The 10 lead was made at 8 tables but only one of those declarers found a way to come to 10 tricks. A low heart lead was found at 22 other tables. Altogether, 13 declarers out of 44 made 10 tricks mainly through sloppy signalling by their opponents. Only two declarers found a nice way to come to 10 tricks and one of those was the declarer who opened 4. 

There is one way which has a small chance of success. Declarer can win the lead, draw trumps (though maybe better not to, to avoid defensive signalling) and cross to K to lead a club from dummy. A sleepy East might find a reason to duck. Would that have worked?

Not today! At least South would have tried.

Let’s look at those tables where 10 was led. There is just one other way to dispose of a minor suit loser, to find that hearts break 3-3. Before that can happen, you have to lose a heart trick.

So, lose one…..straightaway! That’s what Auckland’s Graham Wakefield did and he was in game. Look at the situation from West’s point of view when the 10 held that first trick. Their partner had played 7 and Graham had tried to create further confusion by playing 8 from hand.

Yes, the 2 seemed to be missing, though perhaps East was giving natural count? It was very hard for West not to continue hearts and West did indeed play a second heart. Graham could then win in hand and run 7 rounds of spades. He did not need helpful discarding. He had 2 further heart tricks to come and had made his game for a healthy imp gain.

The other player to duck the opening heart lead was Jeremy Fraser Hoskin who was in part-score. He received a small heart to the J and ducked that. The defence had to unravel their 3 minor suit tricks very quickly and in playing 3 rounds of diamonds did not do so.

For the defence, giving count is vital where J scores at trick 1 or even where declarer ducks a heart later. East needs to lead K and then Q and recognise their partner also has 4 diamonds.

It must be better for East to play a high diamond before a club though if there were 2 cashing club tricks, East would probably start with Q rather than a lower club.

Suddenly, by the duck at trick 1, the onus is on the defence to do the right thing quickly…and it is not so easy. Well done to the two declarers who took their best chance at trick 1 and profited. For one of those declarers, the profit was significant though for the other, that imp was still worth having.

Richard Solomon

 

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