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An interesting inference.

I wonder if at trick 2 below, you thought to ask one rather relevant question. It might just help your defence. Making the wrong decision below will not prove fatal but it would save both you and your partner a lot of braincells…and that surely is quite an important consideration!

 

Not much to say about the bidding. We can see that North did not expect to lose the first trick! They had hopes of a fairly low high-card point slam. The right Kx in a side suit or perhaps the wrong lead and they hoped to be looking at +920.

You start off with a pretty normal K and all is normal until declarer plays to trick 1. They call for dummy’s 2 and with your partner playing a reverse count 6, you are left on lead as declarer follows with 9. Which card do you play to trick 2?

6 was an interesting bid. South had opened 5 second in hand not vulnerable. There was only one opponent to pre-empt against, you. They might well have a decent hand, 8+ diamonds and something on the side.

It would seem South had a club loser. If East had an even number of clubs, they are likely to have played a lower club than the 6 (unless T6 doubleton in which case South would have 4 small). Thus, it would seem most likely that both East and South have an odd number of clubs, probably 3 each. That would give South 8 diamonds (by inference for the opening bid), 3 clubs and 2 cards in the majors.

South would then like to ruff a club loser in dummy. So, should you switch to your trump to prevent that happening?

Question Time:

A lot of questions asked by defenders are fairly irrelevant but it seems when left on lead, there is a useful one for you to ask before you play to trick 2? “Do you play a gambling 3NT?” If the answer is “yes” (and that shows normally a solid 7 or 8 card solid minor with no outside ace or king), then you should go passive on your defence and continue a second club.

Why? Simply because South did not open 3NT. There is thus a strong inference that South’s diamond suit is not solid and that your partner would not appreciate a trump switch at trick 2. The club continuation is what happened at the table. South got their ruff but not their contract:

 

Kx (if South had 9 diamonds) or Qxx (if they held 8) were likely holdings for East. South won 8, played A and a second heart ruffing, then ruffed a club before returning to the South hand to get the bad news.

The slam should still be defeated if a trump is played at trick 2. East in particular would need to stay focused and not bemoan their partner’s play. South does not have enough entries to set up a major suit for one discard unless one defender held either KJT or KQx. Declarer’s only chance on the actual lay-out would be to play out 7 rounds of trumps with East retaining 3 cards in whichever major suit declarer left in the North hand. Say the major left in dummy was A98, then these cards would need to be retained:

A spade to the ace and spade ruff would leave East with a spade winner at trick 13.

Now, that may seem logical but strange things can happen when defending to a long suit. That is why the question and the club continuation at trick 2 make it rather easier for the defence. Of course, if North-South do not play the Gambling 3NT, West might need to switch to a trump at trick 2.

Several declarers failed in 5 presumably by not ducking at trick 1 and losing 2 clubs and a diamond. Certainly, the duck either in 5 or 6 is the right play by South. Alternatively, South should win and play a second club themselves. That play also almost certainly guarantees 11 tricks (unless West had Q842). 

At one table, South did open a Gambling 3NT and played there on the  same K lead. There were 11 tricks there if South won to take the diamond finesse but only 8 if they did not. Alas, for South, they played for the drop. For most, though, the South hand did not qualify for 3NT opening: hence the valid question when on lead to the slam.

We will put the Panel on lead to a different slam tomorrow.

Richard Solomon

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