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Daily Bridge in New Zealand

A handy card.

Safety Does it.

A nice controlled bidding sequence to 6Diamond-small. It’s your chance to ensure nothing goes wrong in the play. So, take a look below and plan the play after Club-small10 lead from South.

 

South Deals
Both Vul

   

K 10 8

4

A 9 8 3

A Q J 7 2

 

N

W

 

E

S

 

A 6 4 3

A Q 2

K J 6 2

K 3

 

West

North

East

South

 

 

 

Pass

1 ♣

Pass

1 

Pass

3 

Pass

3 

Pass

3 ♠

Pass

4 ♣

Pass

4 

Pass

4 ♠

Pass

4 NT

Pass

5 

Pass

6 

All pass

 

 

 

The first 3 bids were natural (West might have bid 3Heart-small, a splinter agreeing diamonds) were followed by 3 cue-bids and then 4Diamond-small Minorwood. East showed 3 key-cards (Spade-smallA, Heart-smallA, Diamond-smallK) and then denied holding the Diamond-smallQ by bidding 5Diamond-small. 4NT asked if East held that card. With East also showing Club-smallK, the cue-bid (it is unwise to cue a singleton in partner’s opening suit), West had enough strength and knowledge to try for small slam.

One worry for East was that that the opening lead was a singleton but it could equally be from the top of a sequence. If a trick was not lost to the Diamond-smallQ, then all 13 tricks could be made in comfort. However, there was another nagging card missing, Diamond-small10. Being negative, two trump losers would not be a good outcome.

This deal, which occurred in the final of last weekend’s Auckland Easter Teams offered a reward to those who knew their safety plays. Some safety plays offer the best chance of a bad outcome. Others offer 100% success, like the trump combination we have here.

We all know the horrible feeling of playing low to the Diamond-smallA and then see North discard on the second round of the suit. Once bitten, safely in future. That Diamond-small9 in dummy offers you salvation no matter which opponent has Diamond-smallQTxx.

Start off with the high honour in the hand that holds Diamond-smallJ. Both opponents follow. If South discards on the second round, you will see that and play Diamond-smallA and then a diamond towards the then Jx in the East hand. Only one diamond loser…no need to worry about whether to finesse Diamond-smallJ or go for the drop of doubleton queen. However, that was not the lay-out on this day:

 

South Deals
Both Vul

Q 5 2

J 10 9 5 3

7

9 8 6 5

K 10 8

4

A 9 8 3

A Q J 7 2

 

N

W

 

E

S

 

A 6 4 3

A Q 2

K J 6 2

K 3

 

J 9 7

K 8 7 6

Q 10 5 4

10 4

 

West

North

East

South

 

 

 

Pass

1 ♣

Pass

1 

Pass

3 

Pass

3 

Pass

3 ♠

Pass

4 ♣

Pass

4 

Pass

4 ♠

Pass

4 NT

Pass

5 

Pass

6 

All pass

 

 

 

On the Diamond-smallK, South played Diamond-small4 and then when you led Diamond-small2, they played Diamond-small5 hoping you will play the ace. However, you just cover South’s card by playing Diamond-small8 which wins the trick. Diamond-smallA takes Diamond-small10 leaving just Diamond-smallQ as the only trump trick for South.

It does not matter when they ruff as you run the clubs or if they do not ruff at all. You can play 5 rounds of clubs discarding two spades and a heart and eventually ruff West’s Spade-small10. There is no second trick for the defence.

 

The safety play is 100% guaranteed for no more than one trump loser. It works when the queen and 10 are missing and requires you not to take the finesse of the jack but to lead the suit in the way described above. When South holds Diamond-smallQx, you have the bonus of not losing a trick in the suit.

safely does it.jpgDiamond-small

Safely Does it

On this deal, the defence does have a counter. Had South played Diamond-small10 on the second round of the suit, East could no longer make the contract. It is a hard contract to make and requires East to start with a low diamond from hand and not playing dummy's ace unless Diamond-small10 appears. In practice, taking the safety play was a good start, ensuring success if the Diamond-small10 was not played. 

Without Diamond-small9, this safety play does not work and, of course, if you cannot afford to lose any tricks in the suit, then the simple finesse, low towards the jack, offers you the best chance.

So, hopefully, your play matched your bidding and you secured your small slam.

Richard Solomon

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