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Daily Bridge in New Zealand

Unforeseen Danger.

A play problem for today. You receive a pretty friendly lead to your game contract. It should be an easy make…should be. Sometimes players can take their mind off the ball….

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East Deals
None Vul
J 4 2
J 6
J 5
A K Q J 10 3
   
N
W   E
S
   
 
7
A K 10 8 4 2
A 10 9 8
5 4
West North East South
    Pass 1 
1  2  3  4 
All pass      

 

3Spade-small is a pre-emptive jump.

The lead is Diamond-smallK. Presumably, you will win the ace…and then?

It is almost a case of how did a declarer manage to go down when trumps broke 3-2 and at worst, there would be a spade, a heart and a diamond loser. How did they?

You could call it greed…and there is nothing wrong with some “greed” when you are playing a deal of bridge and especially playing Pairs. You want those overtricks, don’t you? That does not mean you "throw caution to the wind.”

The route to -50

South saw a great opportunity to get rid of their spade loser on the third round of clubs…and that was fine, but they did so without touching trumps. That proved disastrous:

East Deals
None Vul
J 4 2
J 6
J 5
A K Q J 10 3
A Q 9 8 5
Q 9 5
K Q 4 2
2
 
N
W   E
S
 
K 10 6 3
7 3
7 6 3
9 8 7 6
 
7
A K 10 8 4 2
A 10 9 8
5 4
West North East South
    Pass 1 
1  2  3  4 
All pass      

 

South played a club at trick 2. West ruffed the second round of clubs and conscious that their partner had supported spades, albeit with a weak hand, might well have the Spade-smallK. So, they cashed the Diamond-smallQ and underled their Spade-smallA and were rewarded when East won their king to play a third round of clubs. The Heart-smallQ had to provide West with a fourth trick for the defence, no matter whether South ruffed low or high.

Greed with caution

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It may be but don’t be reckless!

The concept was fine and indeed planning to discard the spade loser was a good idea but what actually happened, while unlucky, was not that unexpected. Either defender could have had a singleton club. West had a certain trump trick on the bidding. So, they went looking for extra tricks elsewhere rather than leading their singleton for a ruff.

South should have led two high hearts first. If trumps broke 3-2 without the queen appearing, then their plan of playing three top clubs could not cost and could only gain. If hearts broke 4-1 with a defender having originally Heart-smallQ9xx, then the club play would then be essential to try and avoid four losers.

Alternative ways of playing the trump suit are not full-proof. In playing a club to dummy after cashing on high heart, and then taking a heart finesse, might be very costly if West had Heart-smallQ doubleton and East a doubleton diamond (losing a spade, a diamond and two trumps).

Leading low towards Heart-smallJ may lose when East has singleton Heart-smallQ and West a doubleton Diamond-smallKQ or just Diamond-smallKx though would normally restrict trump losers to just one.

Nothing is certain. Therefore, playing off one’s two top hearts at least is always correct when trumps break 3-2...and could gain "big time" on the "really good day below".

What is certain is that there was a big risk in simply playing clubs with South falling victim to that risk. It would be different if South had a singleton club and say two little spades. Bad trump breaks can make some otherwise very solid contracts unplayable. It is a pity, therefore, to go down when the trump break is favourable.

On a really good day, the Heart-smallQ will be doubleton and declarer can go on and make all 13 tricks. That would be a really good score at Pairs. So, go for the overs but take the best line to make your contract first. I think we have said something similar in previous articles!

Don’t be too cautious, either!

What bid should you make with the following?

 

     
South Deals
N-S Vul
 
N
W   E
S
   
 
A 2
A K 9
A K Q J 9 7 4
A
West North East South
      2 
Pass 2  Pass ?

 

A very nice hand. What now?

We will reveal all on Wednesday.

Richard Solomon

 

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