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Daily Bridge in New Zealand

but for which side?

 Happy Ending?

That is what you would hope for as declarer on the deal below. It was indeed the ending for all players as it was the last of the 96 boards played at last weekend’s Taranaki Teams. For most declarers in a standard 3NT, it was not to be a happy one. How about you?

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East Deals
N-S Vul

A J 4

K J 10 9 3

10 6 3

J 2

   

N

W

 

E

S

   
 

Q 3 2

A 2

K 9 7

A K 9 8 5

 

West

North

East

South

 

 

2 ♠

2 NT

Pass

3 

Pass

3 

Pass

3 NT

All pass

 

East’s Weak 2 opening is in the lower end of the range, round about 3-7 hcps. You call your strong 2NT after which partner shows 5 hearts and then leaves you to find at least 9 tricks in 3NT. Actually, 9 would be lovely.

West leads Diamond-smallQ. What do you play at trick 1?

Sometimes, the opposition helps their side and sometimes they help the opponents. Without any opposition bidding, declarers had no idea of the true lay-out of the defenders’ hands. Indeed, in the crucial match between Fraser Hoskin and Chen, the lack of an opening bid by North contributed to determining the top three placings. For Fraser Hoskin, Max Morrison had no opposition bidding and received the Diamond-smallQ lead. He ducked and South switched to the Spade-small2. Max finessed and quickly lost a spade and four more diamond tricks to be 2 down.

 

At the other table, John Wang had a much clearer picture:

East Deals
N-S Vul

A J 4

K J 10 9 3

10 6 3

J 2

5

Q 7 5 4

A Q J 4 2

Q 10 7

 

N

W

 

E

S

 

K 10 9 8 7 6

8 6

8 5

6 4 3

 

Q 3 2

A 2

K 9 7

A K 9 8 5

 

West

North

East

South

Jeremy Fraser Hoskin

Gary Chen

Jack James

John Wang

 

 

2 ♠

2 NT

Pass

3 

Pass

3 

Pass

3 NT

All pass

 

 

Again, the Diamond-smallQ was led. John decided to take the Diamond-smallK at trick 1. 5 heart tricks (finesses do work!), three top black cards and the Diamond-smallK add up to 9. So, he played Heart-smallA and took the successful finesse, noting the fall of the HHeart-small8 from East on the second round of the suit. Finesse working but, although Jack could have been false-carding, it seemed likely that the break was not the 3-3 he needed.

So, he took the slightly risky (South might have started with 6 diamonds) line of exiting a diamond…but before he did that, he made the key play of cashing the Spade-smallA. John knew how the spades were breaking.

Jeremy, West, found himself on lead and he could take 4 diamond tricks with John discarding spades from both his and the dummy hand. Jeremy knew the heart exit was fruitless and tried a club… 9 tricks to Chen. Victory to the Richardson team with Chen second.

In the Richardson v Carryer match, neither declarer succeeded. Neither East bid. When Carol Richardson was declarer, she was about to make at trick 10 but exited with a second round of spades instead of a small club. An unlucky guess.

Jenny Millington showed that the board could be made even without interference. She was blessed with a low diamond lead and thus won trick 1 with Diamond-small9. She played Heart-smallA and took the heart finesse and played a third round, giving West (Judy Pawson) the lead with the fourth round of hearts.

Judy obeyed her partner’s encouraging spade signal and switched to her spade. No finesse for Jenny. Up with the ace and the fifth round of hearts to be followed by Club-smallJ to the ace. Judy could see the writing on the wall. She was about to be thrown in with the third round of clubs. She threw the Club-smallT under the ace and the Club-smallQ under the king but it was Jenny who held the all important Club-small9 for her ninth trick.

The key to the deal is knowing that West has only one spade. If declarer ducks an opening Diamond-smallQ lead, they must play Spade-smallA at trick 2. Then, they can play four rounds of hearts throwing West in and await the club exit.

Declarer can also make 9 tricks if after winning Diamond-smallQ, West exits with Diamond-smallA and a third diamond. South can take a losing spade finesse and win the club return. Now, three rounds of hearts to be followed by two more rounds of spades finishing in dummy. West has to discard diamonds. A fourth round of hearts sees West left with just their clubs and three more tricks, 9 in total for South.

So, a happy ending for the declarers? Alas mainly not, with only 7 of the 29 declarers who tried to make 3NT succeeding.

Yesterday saw the ending of three days from the Taranaki Congress with the Swiss Pairs. 80 pairs in total with the top placings being:

1

Graeme

Tuffnell

Pam

Livingston

94.82

2

Jenny

Millington

Barry

Jones

 

93.84

3

Grant

Jarvis

 

Bob

Hurley

 

91.25

4

Dean

Sole

 

Pat

D'Arcy

 

88.58

5

Murat

Genc

 

Arleen

Schwartz

87.62

6

Kate

Terry

 

Judy

Pawson

87.23

7

Fiona

Temple

 

John

Kruiniger

86.17

8

Kate

McFadyen

Gwyn

Lobb

 

86.07

               

 

Pam Livingston 2021 (2).png    
Pam Livingston

Double Trouble?

Well, you doubled. So, you had better defeat this contract.

West Deals
E-W Vul

10 2

A 5

K 10 8 7 6 3

A 4 2

A

Q 10 7

A Q 9 2

K J 10 8 5

 

N

W

 

E

S

   

 

West

North

East

South

you

dummy

   

1 ♣

2 

Pass

2 ♠

Pass

2 NT

3 

3 ♠

4 

4 ♠

5 

5 ♠

Dbl

All pass

 

 

A fast and furious auction with your partner being a late arrival but then pusing the auction to the 5-level.

You lead Heart-small7 taken by dummy’s ace. Declarer plays a second heart which is ruffed in the South hand. Next comes Diamond-small4 which you win with your ace, partner following with Diamond-small5. What now?

Richard Solomon

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