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TALES OF AKARANA
The “Get out of Jail Free” Card.
How can a lead be right and be so wrong? We will come back to that but will firstly look at a play problem. You have reached, or been pushed to the 5 level by the usual frisky non-vulnerable opponents. You are looking at:
Board 19 South Deals E-W Vul |
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West | North | East | South |
You | Dummy | ||
3 ♦ | |||
4 ♥ | 5 ♦ | 5 ♥ | All pass |
You would seem to have a club loser and will have difficulty in avoiding losing a trump trick! So, it all seems to boil down to that spade guess/finesse. Pre-emptors are allowed to hold the K and will do so when you ask them nicely. So, trumps 2-2, please. Maybe play one high club and then a trump to the queen (come on, the pre-emptor will not have both the
K and the
A, will they!) You would not appreciate South ruffing your
K on the second round of the suit, would you! If they ruff, let them ruff thin air!
So you have a plan? Oh, incidentally they led a diamond enabling you to dispose of that little spade. Then a club...well, you will see what will happen on that line very soon.
Of the 14 tables in play, 4 North-Souths played in 5x, once making and three times one light. One East- West pair had an easy ride in 4
while another found the going just too tough in 6
xx. The rest were in 5
. Three times it made and four times it failed.
Are you counting? There was one other table where the bidding did not end with the 5 bid.
West North East South
3
4 5
5
x
All Pass
When was the last time you saw a pre-emptor double a 5 level contract? As North, I could not recall but I did know that something was up as I was the one with both the K and the
A. Holding a 6 card club suit, I had a fair idea who was void in that suit. So, keeping partner happy, and hearing the message about not leading his suit, I led a club…but which one? Oh the wrong one? Which lead did I want back? Not a spade! Ouch, I chose somewhat naively the
Q.
Board 19 South Deals E-W Vul |
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Partner got his ruff and returned a low spade and declarer took stock. If the finesse lost, there would surely be a second ruff and a terrible -500 (in reality -800!). So, declarer decided to cut his losses and play A. The losses were non-existent, +850.
Shame on me. I could have, should have led a low club asking for a diamond back. A decent declarer would eventually take the spade finesse for one down. At least then, I could not be blamed if partner disobeyed and played a spade at trick two. Yet, even then, I was not really blameless.
The only North who found the only 100% way to beat 5 was the pair defending 6
xx where the lead recorded was the
K! Is it so hard to find when partner has doubled 5
? Lead it. Win the trump played at trick 2 and then play
Q asking, demanding, pleading partner to return a spade.
If you did that, you would not have the embarrassment of 5 making, even greater embarrassment when doubled. Partner was right about not leading a diamond and the double of 5
should have guided me if not to the best defence (and maybe it should have!) but at least to a defence which was likely to beat the contract rather than one which gave a desperate declarer a very lucky “Get out of jail free” card.
Richard Solomon
ps. On the line stated initially above, if South ruffs at trick three and returns a spade, declarer will either make or go three down depending on which spade he plays!
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