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Been Around?

The auction you will see for today’s deal did not quite occur. It might have done and I imagine that you have been in far worse slams than this one. So, take a look:

 

Call them aggressive but your partner bid this deal up. Certainly, there is a lot of potential in that North hand opposite a strongish South hand with a guaranteed 6+ card spade suit. So, North checked on Key Cards and found there were three. That was enough to try for slam. Confidence in you they have. West leads A and continues with 10. How are you feeling?

North was unlucky to the extent that QJ were not useful honours for declarer to hold. Stick that Q in the diamond suit or even better the spade suit and slam would be very rosy.

So, what’s your line going to be? You can discard one heart and one diamond on dummy’s club honours and only need to ruff one heart. There’s just one other little matter, that of not losing a trick to the Q.

So, you do not play a high club at trick 2 as there is no rush to discard. Imagine East had started with a singleton club, too. Better to ruff in hand, just in case.

And then?

Beware of thoughtful declarers. That is my advice to West.

 
No cards in hand but deep in thought: that's Douglas

Our declarer wondered why West had started off with an ace and not just any ace but the ace of the suit bid by dummy. So, Douglas Russell, who has “been around” drew the right conclusion and at trick three, placed J on the table and when West played low, played low from dummy. He may have shut his eyes and when he opened them, he was very pleased with the outcome.

 

Yes, West had fancied his chances of a trump trick a little too keenly. West would have been absolutely safe had South both high spades, but not on this occasion.
Douglas could now play A and ruff a heart and then K, diamond to the ace, A and cross back to the K to eventually play those high clubs to good effect.

In the Open section, the board was played 10 times in spades, 9 times in 4 or 5 with 2 declarers making 12 tricks. Only one of the 6 Intermediate declarers made 12 tricks with all being in the safety of game.  Douglas had the most to gain and lose being alone in slam. He alone received the A lead though it would not seem to be a very sensible lead against a lower- level contract. A nice deduction to make at the vital moment.

Good Hand Going Sour?

You have a very decent opening hand, so much so that you feel like opening it 2. Hey, only 19 hcp but it seems to conform to our “Rule of 29” guideline. (our hcp and 2 longest suits’ length equals at least 29). Yet, it is not our turn to open:

 

2 is spades and a minor less than an opener. 3 is pass or correct style showing at least 4 cards in each minor. Any plan?

Richard Solomon

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