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  A Certain Way.

You will probably say there is nothing certain about the problem given to you for today. Even that statement contains too much doubt! While we think we can make 3NT much of the time (slight tinges of optimism now!) with a combined 25 hcp and two flattish hands, the task seems much harder when one hand has 23 and the other just 2 hcps.

 

Your partner showed the utmost faith in you by raising with just a couple of jacks! West leads another jack, J and it is over to you. If you duck the opening lead, a low heart is played with East now playing Q. Make 9 tricks proving that partner's hand was indeed sufficient.

With the club suit looking extremely hard to set up, our best chance must be the spade suit though two tricks in each red suit and four in spades would not be enough. Meanwhile, the opposition are going about their business in the heart suit while extracting even one trick from clubs may be beyond us. In other words, “thank you partner, lovely dummy”! Not a tinge of sarcasm!

At one table, South ducked the opening lead and won the heart continuation. They tried to get to dummy with a low diamond with the aim of taking a spade finesse. However, East won their K and tried a low club with declarer’s guess being very unsuccessful. The carnage was great…four down!

It seems that perhaps the problems started at trick 1. While it is normal to duck the opening lead with our heart pips, it was significant that the Q had not appeared on the first trick. Hearts might break 4-3 while if you did manage to block the communication in hearts, the thought of a club switch was not very helpful for declarer. All finesses were into the danger hand, the hand with long hearts.

In addition, South never got to take any finesse because there was no entry to dummy in diamonds. At least South could have started with Q. It may not be ducked. However, South tried to enter dummy with the wrong suit. A low spade after winning the J would provide a certain entry to dummy to take the diamond finesse and might not subject South to that horrible club guess.

 

You really do need East to have one of the missing kings and by leading a small spade, you got a little lucky. West could not duck and neither did you when a second heart was played. Across to dummy with a second spade and the diamond finesse worked not just once but twice! Four spades, three diamonds and two hearts. The opponents could fight over the rest.

Had the spade and diamond kings been in the other hands, you would have been really struggling with the heart blockage (you may as well duck the second round) and a successful club guess being your only chances of getting nine tricks.

Maybe you earnt your luck by crossing to dummy in the suit in which you can certainly take a finesse later in the play as opposed to one which was likely to offer you no chance of one.

Of course, dummy was not just a two count. J10 and  J109 were just golden. Without them, you too could have been counting several undertricks.

In Search of the Queen.

 

After opening your very minor based weak no trump, East overcalls your partner’s Stayman enquiry. You retreat to 3 though partner soon has you in game.

West leads 4 which goes to East’s Q. Next comes A with West following with 3 and then 10 on which you and West each throw a small heart. You win with K and start on the clubs but East has singleton 10 and on the next three rounds throws  2, 3 and Q.Their signalling methods? Irrelevant. You and both defenders know West has very little...but how little?

You need 4 diamond tricks. How are you going to get them?

Richard Solomon

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