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Attention to Detail.

Short and swift bidding today. A deal to plan your play and a special reward if you can name the most important card in the two hands you can see below:

 

West leads a dutiful A. Plan the play. We do think ruffing the opening lead is a good idea. You are playing Pairs.

After this deal, West might start going off the idea of leading their partner’s suit. 

Not that it is particularly relevant, South can deduce West has not got both high heart honours or else they would surely have led one. Anyway, as South, your contract is secure now since you can draw trumps and cross to dummy with a club to the ace and use K to discard a heart. Give up 2 heart tricks and claim.

Yet, other than a rather unusual 3NT by North which should not make any way, you are not threatened by being outscored by being in your long minor suit. So, you should be taking advantage of a fortuitous lead and look to make overtricks if you can.

You need some more good fortune to get overtricks but why not try? It’s time to ask you which card you played at trick 1 when you ruffed. Here’s hoping 3 was still in your hand at the end of the first trick.

 

As West, I would have tried bidding 5 with the vulnerability in your favour. If you could find 6 lead against 5, then diving would be the wrong decision. Otherwise, the dive may only cost you one down if you can play hearts and clubs correctly. Maybe South bids on to 6! Then surely West should look elsewhere for an opening lead?

Back though to 5 where South ruffed the opening lead with 7. It takes 2 rounds to draw trumps and after that, you play K and a club to the ace and ruff with, well, any remaining trump except the 3!

Nothing lost if there is a 4-2 club break since you can still return to dummy to discard one heart on the K. However, when the club honours come clattering down, as above, your carefully preserved trump entry, 3 to dummy’s 6, allows you to discard two more hearts on the established clubs.

Seem simple? Well, there were some A leads against 5 but no declarer made more than 11 tricks.

So, no tangible reward (offer cancelled!) to say that the most important card in the North-South hands was the 3! Hope you did not squander it at trick 1! With that card in your hand, you could try for grand as long as West can be trusted to lead their ace! 

Richard Solomon

 

 

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