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Leading partner’s suit: good or bad?

Zone 7: Seniors. Match 2.

The second half of the Zone 7 Seniors’ match between Australia and New Zealand took place last Saturday afternoon on Real Bridge. After 28 boards, New Zealand held a narrow lead of 6 imps.

The second half saw Jane and John Skipper and Julie Atkinson and Patrick Carter take on Paul Lavings- Robert Krochmalik and Avi Kanetkar – David Beauchamp. Australia won the next 14 boards by 19 imps and still led by 19 imps (less 6 imps c/fwd.) with just three boards remaining.

On Boards 26 and 27, New Zealand clawed back 3 imps and were thus 10 imps down with just board 28 to play. Maybe Patrick and Julie sensed that as they were a lot more aggressive than their opponents on this last board.

What would your initial action be with the South hand after this start to the bidding:

 

Pat Carter chose to double and was then on an unstoppable course to game:

West              North             East                South

Beauchamp  Atkinson       Kanetkar       Carter

Pass                Pass                1                   x

Pass                3                   Pass                3

Pass                4                   All Pass

In one sense, Patrick’s aggression was justified because the opening bid attracted the best possible lead for him, a low diamond from West. East took his ace and switched to a trump but the damage to the defence had already been done:

 

Patrick won the trump switch in hand and cashed KQ (important to cash both to avoid a diamond ruff on the fourth round of the suit) and then ruffed a diamond with J. He exited from dummy with a small club won by West who continued the suit.

Patrick could then ruff, draw trumps and make a successful heart guess (West played low on the first round of the suit but East was strong favourite to have A for their opening bid) to bring home the spade game.

 
Patrick and Julie whose aggression paid off at the critical moment

Meanwhile, at the other table, Robert Krochmalik chose to overcall John Skipper’s 2+  1 opening with 1. That attracted a 2 bid from West, Jane Skipper, and 2 from South, though there was no further bidding.

Jane got off to a good lead for the defence, 9. Surprisingly, this was allowed to hold the trick. That proved a good action for South as Jane then switched to a diamond, the defence following similar lines to the other table with South emerging with 10 tricks.

As long as the defence can avoid leading diamonds at any point, they will restrict South to 9 tricks. The best lead is indeed a trump though even after a club lead, covered with the J, South has one diamond too many. Declarer can win the trump switch in dummy and discard one diamond on the K.

A small diamond  from dummy comes next. East ducks and now declarer is stuck in their own hand. There should be no heart entry to dummy and the defence can draw a second round of trumps when they are next in. South will thus lose two diamonds, a club and a heart.

The only undefeatable making game is 3NT bid by North (6 spades, 2 diamonds and 1 trick from the other two suits), more of a possibility after a 1 than a 1 opening from East.

The result on the board was 10 imps to New Zealand leaving the match nicely tied at 67-67. The answer to the original question about leading partner’s suit is “maybe” because had East opened 1, then it was best for the defence to avoid leading that suit but after opening 1, a club lead was safe, as long as it was not continued by East.

Richard Solomon

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