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Well, the contract, that is!

Recovery Day.

What do you do when you count up the number of tricks you think you can make and that number equates to the number you need? The answer is you play the board with renewed confidence.  Great, until something rather unfortunate happens early in the play and your number of winners decreases by one!

 

 

1NT promised 15-17. North was very interested in a major suit fit but Stayman revealed there was not one. So, with 18 opposite a minimum 15, they went straight to 6NT.

West led 4 and after declarer played low from dummy, East produced Q and declarer A. All declarer needed was 4 diamond tricks which along with 3 tricks in each major suit and AK added up to 12 tricks.

So, South made the standard play of a diamond to K with West playing 2 and East 9. South was going to next play Q as until 9 appeared, there was only one way to play the suit if a defender held Jxxx. The appearance of 9 changed that. If West did hold J642, then the 4-1 split would be revealed with a diamond to South’s ace and all would be well. Obviously, if both opponents followed to the second round of diamonds, South would be playing for the overtrick.

So, a diamond to the ace…and one opponent did discard…but it was West! Suddenly, 12 tricks had become 11. What’s to be done?

This situation arose at more than one table and some declarers basically gave up, certainly after the other legitimate play, that of a 3-3 heart break did not materialise. East held doubleton Q9 and West could comfortably cover South’s 7 to ensure there were only three heart tricks for South.

So, disappointment for those South players who believed 9 as a true card rather than from J964. Only at one table did South recover from the wrong play in diamonds. Did you?

Firstly, South tried the heart suit as above, finishing in dummy with K. Then, they cashed K, crossed to the South hand with Q and played A discarding the heart loser from dummy. West had discarded a club on the second round of diamonds and East a club on the third round of hearts. Both defenders followed to both rounds of clubs. Can you see the position which South hoped for:

South would play their two top spades and then exit from dummy with the losing spade. If West held J, the contract would be two down with West having a high heart and then a club winner at trick 13.

However, when East held J, the outcome would be very different with East forced to give the declarer two diamond tricks at tricks 12 and 13.

East was unlucky. Had they followed low to the first round of diamonds, South would have played that suit the correct way and claimed at least 12 tricks. South had to hope that East had started with 4 spades and only three clubs and thus created the end-play.

These were the four hands:

 

Good defence but good play won the day.

Richard Solomon

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