All News

Daily Bridge in New Zealand

The Hot Seat.

That was the case of those players who sat North in one match of last Sunday’s Auckland Provincial Teams. Yesterday, we gave you the problem of what to open with 9 diamonds to the AJT and HA. The opening bid dictated the type of auction which followed.

Today’s deal is the board that followed with North having this time a much shorter suit, only 8 cards long! This time, North was 4th rather than first to speak and the bidding had reached the 3 -level by the time they had a chance to bid. No worries in the bidding as a leap to game ended the auction at some tables.

Bridge in NZ.pngnz map.jpg

 

Board 18
East Deals
N-S Vul

K Q J 10 8 5 3 2

7 4

J 8 7

   

N

W

 

E

S

   
 

7

10 8 5

A K 10 9

K 10 8 7 2

 

West

North

East

South

 

 

1 

Pass

3 

4 ♠

All pass

 

3H was invitational. East leads Heart-smallK, then switches to the Club-small6. You play Club-small8 from dummy covered by West’s Club-small9 and you ruff. You try Spade-smallQ won by East’s Spade-smallA and East plays Heart-smallA followed by a heart to West’s Heart-smallQ which you ruff.

You need the rest of the tricks. There’s a rather significant card missing, Diamond-smallQ. Do you know which opponent holds it? Can you find the Diamond-smallQ and make your contract?

One of the event winners, GeO Tislevoll, had this problem and showed he could make his contract despite coming to a rather depressing conclusion. With GeO as North, the play started as above.

From West’s play to that first round of clubs, GeO could surmise they held Club-smallAQJ9 and they had already owned up to the Heart-smallQ. That’s 9 hcp and yet the 3Heart-small bid promised a little bit more…and the only “little bit” left with no spade honour is the Diamond-smallQ. All well and good if West held Diamond-smallQx but not so good if West held Diamond-smallQxx. However, GeO showed he could make his contract even if that was the case. Over to GeO:

“I pictured West to have started with Spade-small94  Heart-smallQ96 Diamond-small Q43 Club-small AQJ95. Time to play out all bar one of my trumps to reach this four-card ending:

 

8

J 8 7

Q 4 3

A Q

 

N

W

 

E

S

   
 

A K

K 10

Yes, you are right. West has five cards while North and South have only four! This is because West hasn't yet discarded to the second last trump!

If West discards a diamond, you cash Diamond-smallAK and ruff a club back to the North hand to enjoy the high Diamond-smallJ at trick 13. Alternatively, if West discards Club-smallQ, declarer plays a diamond to dummy and calls for the Club-smallT on which West has to play Club-smallA. North ruffs and returns to dummy with Diamond-smallA to enjoy the now high Club-smallK at trick 13.” (a criss-cross squeeze)

 

"There was though a catch. It was possible that West had started with 6 clubs and only 2 diamonds, in which case the second scenario above would not work as West would still have Club-smallA at trick 13.

The key is that on that second last trump, West discarded not Club-smallQ but a low club, meaning West still had Club-smallAQ… and therefore only 2 diamonds. So, despite the club being discarded, I played Diamond-smallAK to drop the queen, with these being the four hands:

Board 18
East Deals
N-S Vul

K Q J 10 8 5 3 2

7 4

J 8 7

9 4

Q 9 6

Q 3

A Q J 9 5 4

 

N

W

 

E

S

 

A 6

A K J 3 2

6 5 4 2

6 3

 

7

10 8 5

A K 10 9

K 10 8 7 2

 

West

North

East

South

 

 

1 

Pass

3 

4 ♠

All pass

 

 

As stated, I could then ruff a club to return to my hand to enjoy Diamond-smallJ at trick 13.”

 

Maybe you worked out that West was very likely to hold Diamond-smallQ and that you had to hope that the queen was singleton or doubleton. Good point counting if you did. GeO showed how he could still make his contract even if Diamond-smallQ was protected by two little cards.

It required visualising West’s hand and which cards they would have left with the all-important discard at trick 8. Nice card-reading from one of our top players.

GeO 2021.jpg 
GeO

 

Something a little more straight-forward, though not exactly normal for tomorrow:

East Deals
N-S Vul

   

A K Q 10 7

Q

10 6

K 8 5 4 3

 

N

W

 

E

S

   

 

West

North

East

South

 

 

Pass

Pass

?

 

 

 

What’s your choice of opening bid? Be ready for there could be a big surprise in store next time round:

 

Richard Solomon

Go Back View All News Items

Our Sponsors
  • Tauranga City Council
  • TECT.jpg