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A Nice Play on “Jan’s Day”

You can sometimes, maybe quite often, rely on poor defence to assist you to make a difficult contract. However, it is so much nicer when you can manage to make your contract based on your own good play. Can you?

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West Deals
N-S Vul
A Q 7 6
Q 3 2
10 3
A 9 5 3
   
N
W   E
S
   
 
K 8 5 4 3
J 8 6
A Q 5
K 2
West North East South
2  Pass Pass 2 
Pass 4  All pass  

 

2Diamond-small is a Weak Two in diamonds, 8-11 hcp. West led Club-small4 to East’s Club-small7 and your king. East started with Spade-smallJ92 and four clubs. What’s your plan?

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Jan Cormack

The Clue’s in the Bidding

“The bidding was the clue to the declarer’s winning line on today’s deal from a major Teams event. Even when the four hands are displayed, the successful play does not exactly leap out and hit you in the face! These were the four hands:


West Deals
N-S Vul
A Q 7 6
Q 3 2
10 3
A 9 5 3
10
K 10 9
K J 8 7 4 2
J 6 4
 
N
W   E
S
 
J 9 2
A 7 5 4
9 6
Q 10 8 7
 
K 8 5 4 3
J 8 6
A Q 5
K 2
West North East South
2  Pass Pass 2 
Pass 4  All pass  

 

West led the Club-small4. Looking at all four hands, it appears South must lose a diamond and three heart tricks unless the defence is kind enough to play hearts first for you. Can you see the way to 10 tricks?

Our clever declarer won Club-smallK in hand and then played a club to the ace. Next came a club ruff followed by Spade-smallK and then two further rounds of spades finishing in dummy. Dummy’s fourth club was ruffed with South’s final trump.

Now came the coup de grace as South played Diamond-small5 away from Diamond-small AQ! This was the 6-card ending before that diamond was played:

 
7
Q 3 2
10 3
K 10 9
K J 8
 
N
W   E
S
 
A 7 5 4
9 6
 
J 8 6
A Q 5

 

West had to win the trick when Diamond-small5 was led but was now without resource. A heart exit allows South to score a heart trick, losing just two hearts and a diamond or else a diamond into South’s Diamond-smallAQ allowing a heart discard from dummy for the same three losers.

Alternatively, West could duck the first diamond meaning dummy’s Diamond-small10 will score… and South will just lose three heart tricks.

On the bidding, South knew that the diamond finesse was almost certain to fail. This valuable piece of information gave South the clue to the winning line.

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As long as trumps and clubs are eliminated before a diamond is played and as long as West holds both Diamond-smallKJ, there is no way for the defence to defeat 4Spade-small as long as it was played by South.

Had East the Diamond-smallJ, South is no worse off than taking the losing diamond finesse. The big gain came when West held both diamond honours.”

Notice also that were East to win the first diamond trick with Diamond-smallK (i.e. the finesse would have worked), the defence can still only take two hearts and one diamond trick.

A Minor Monster!  For less experienced players … and others.

 
 
5
A K J 10 9
A J 9 8 6 3 2
West North East South
      1 
Pass ?    

 

Your system is Standard American based where 1Diamond-small is always 4+ and a 1NT opening is 15-17. The game is Pairs. Where to from here?

Richard Solomon

 

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