Number Nine!
That is the key number of tricks you should always have in mind when you are in 3NT. With that in mind, after you survey and thank partner for their dummy, you need to devise a plan to record a positive score on this board. You are playing Teams.
The lead is a not very helpful ♦️5. A heart away from the king would have been much more helpful, a heart lead from a hand not holding the king much less so! So, where do you win trick 1 and what do you play next?
North is at the upper end for their 3♣️ bid and will thus be expecting a plus score from 3NT. Unfortunately, that did not happen at some tables. Let’s see why.
The opening lead was won by ♦️Q in the South hand. South cashed the ♠️A and then played a second diamond to dummy, both opponents following. Next came ♠️K and then ♠️J won by East, again with both opponents following. The death knell for the contract was about to be played by East…. ♥️K.
South ducked ♥️K and then the heart continuation before winning the third round of hearts. A diamond was played to ♦️K in dummy and South cashed their 2 winning spades with West discarding a club and East a club and a heart. Declarer tried a club from dummy though West had a high diamond as well as the ♣️A…five tricks for the defence.
What had gone wrong? Declarer had forgotten to count to 9 at the start. It would be very naïve to think that when in with the ♠️Q, that the defence would not either switch to ♥️K if held or a low heart otherwise. If that is the case, then South would at best only have 4 spade tricks and 3 diamonds along with ♥️A..8 tricks.
They needed a club trick and should have tried to get that very early, after unblocking the ♠️A. They needed to play a club to the ♣️Q at trick 3. If East won ♣️A and switched to a heart, they should reassess. Unless there was a blockage in the heart suit (there actually was one though most declarers would duck 2 rounds of hearts thus eliminating the blockage if South then played on spades), there was not time to lose a trick to the ♠️Q.
9 tricks needed to come from elsewhere…♠️AK, ♥️A and three tricks in each minor (with an outside extra chance that diamonds broke 3-3). They would have to switch to clubs and hope not to lose a trick to the ♣️J.
However, here where ♣️Q scores, South has a choice of lines, both of which should be successful, either play on clubs straightaway or else losing a trick to the ♠️Q. South’s error was in not playing a club to dummy. On the above lay-out, they paid the price.
Better contract…and better lead option?
Both sides could reflect on what happened and might have improved on that. Pairs often creates the added lure of playing 3NT over 5 of a minor. In Teams, on a deal where both North and South hold singletons, South in their partner’s opening suit, 3NT might prove awkward.
It would be good judgement for South, knowing that their partner holds at least 9 cards in the black suits and with modest red suit holdings themselves, to veer towards 5♣️. The only 2 losers should be in the trump suit. On a good day, a declarer can make an overtrick.
Should West have found a better lead to 3NT than from 4 to the jack? South is marked with no more than 4 hearts on the bidding. West has few outside entries and that along with a reasonably safe heart holding might induce them to find a heart lead.
After ♥️J lead, South is likely to win the third round of the suit. If they play on clubs, they can make 3NT. So, too, if they win an earlier round of hearts, creating an unlucky blockage for the defence. However, South would still need to avoid losing a trick to ♣️J in order to come to 9 tricks.
Of the 15 declarers who received a red suit lead, 3 made 9 tricks after a heart lead and 4 after a diamond lead. 3 failed after ♥️J lead and 5 failed after a diamond lead. That last group probably forgot to count to 9. Only 3 pairs made it to the safety of 5♣️ and all scored an overtrick.
Keep counting…
Richard Solomon
