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A Smooth Duck?

Well, it has to be smooth, doesn’t it? There is no point in going into a 90 second huddle and then ducking. The secret is out: you had something to think about…and not whether you were playing D4 or D6! If you are going to duck, then you should have prepared yourself mentally in advance. You might even want to prepare your apology for partner as well if it is wrong! A smooth duck can reap its rewards a ‘plenty.

 

1NT shows 15-17 and 2   5 hearts.

You lead 9 against 3NT. This is ducked all round, your partner contributing 4 (encouraging). Declarer wins your 8 on the second round with dummy’s ace, 7 from your partner while declarer has played 2, then 6.

Declarer leads 2 from dummy to 3 and their K. Do you win and if so, which card do you play next?

The easier question to answer is what would happen if you took your ace because you would surely continue with a third round of clubs. You know where the J is. It would be very strange for a declarer not to accept the “gift” of scoring the J at trick 1 if they held it, whether or not they held K. Therefore, the J is with your partner and a third round of clubs is indeed safe. The question is whether safety is good enough. Let’s see all four hands:

 

South wins the K to play Q and a third round of the suit won by East. A low heart switch comes from East with declarer taking their ace to play two more rounds of diamonds. Which two cards does West discard?

Although West has only seen 12 of declarer’s 15-17 hcp (A, KQ K, they must realise that South does not hold the K. Not only did the bidding suggest South had only 2 hearts (yes, they might have three with a very flat hand….but 5 diamonds and 3 hearts? They would surely have bid 4.). If that second heart was the king, why would they abandon a decent looking heart suit for a flimsy diamond suit? West can throw a heart safely. Their second discard has to be a small spade. West needs to look like they have reason to keep their club.

East throws a heart and a spade…and declarer is left to work out who does have the Q. A wrong guess and they are one down. Had West thrown two spades, the chances of a wrong guess are much reduced. That was what had happened at the table, a shame for West who had done well to lead a club rather than a spade at trick 1.

Did you? Could you? A small diamond on the first round of the suit. Look at it from declarer’s point of view. They could come to 9 tricks without a spade guess if East did hold A, without the need of any spade guess, especially if diamonds were 3-3. So, across to the A (or maybe a spade to the jack on the way?) to play a second diamond. A spade to the jack will enable West’s 4^th club to score a trick (2 clubs, 2 diamonds, a spade for the defence) while a spade to the ace and a second diamond will eventually see South having to lose one heart, one spade, two diamonds and a club. (Note that the same duck would be available if the first round of the diamond suit had gone 10, J, K.)

If West does duck smoothly, declarer must continue diamonds from their own hand to give themselves a chance to guess the spade situation correctly late in the play. Well done to them if they do that. Well done to West if they manage to duck the K in tempo, to give the defence a great chance of beating the contract.

Fast and Furious

Well, the bidding certainly was. Three bids and already at the 6-level.

 

You did not expect to have such a decision a few seconds earlier…but is this the end of the bidding or are you going to introduce your second suit?Oh, it is Teams....could be a lot of imps at stake!

A fun hand for Saturday.

Richard Solomon

 

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