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N/S
Vul Dealer:
E |
ªJ10862 ©J9 ¨104 §A643 |
|
|
ªQ973 ©8652 ¨- §QJ1052 |
|
ªAK ©K10743 ¨K9752 §7 |
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ª54 ©AQ ¨AQJ863 §K98 |
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1H
2D 2H P
P
2NT X 3C
P
3D 3H 3S
P
3NT X All Pass
Jim Mason leads
CQ - your plan?
It's not easy playing against Jim because you're never
too sure what he's up
to. Goodness only knows what he thought he was doing
doubling 2N and perhaps
we should be brave enough to pass it out. But 3N also
seems to be odds on to
make. Surely you can get 5 diamonds and 2 hearts (or 6
diamonds and 1 heart)
to go with your 2 club winners? But you've only one
easy entry.
After much pondering, I went up with CA and led D10. Odams
covered and Jim
showed out - disaster! Now I'm looking at 2 diamond losers. I
tried leading
a spade instead but Jim correctly played low. The defence
now played on
hearts and I made just 2 hearts, 3 diamonds and 2 clubs for
-500.
The contract was 3N undoubled at the other
table
1H 1N 3H
3S
P 3N All Pass
and CQ was also
led. Paul Bowyer won in hand and led a D to the 10. Bingo!
East gains nothing
by ducking and whenever he wins a trick, he is forced to
lead a helpful red
card. 9 tricks - what a great start!
Bowyer's a good player and it
looks like he simply played it better than me
but I still feel it's a very
close decision. Once W has shown up with CQJ,
you can be sure E has at least
one red king, but which one? Even if DK was
wrong (which I expected), I felt
reasonably confident that the defence would
have to open up hearts for me at
some stage.
2. Also from the Leics game. You hold at love
all
KJ
Q72
1073
AJ852
92
Q8743
J109843
6
A2
54
KQ6
109743
A1065
AK5
KQJ986
-
2H X P
3N
P 6D All Pass
Your
lead?
Rob was in 6D and Odams led CK rather than the killer HJ. Flat
board as
Keith found the same lead after a similar sequence. Not easy to get
it
right, I agree!
3. The other hand from a challenging first round v
Leics:
A106
J954
Q1086
A4
KQ72
93
Q6
832
93
K72
KQ973
J10652
J854
AK107
AJ54
8
P P 1H
2C
2N 3C 4H All
Pass
2N shows a good high card 4-card raise to 3H.
Mason leads CK.
You win and lead HJ. Odams plays the 2 in tempo. Run it?
Would it make a
difference if SK had been led (E playing the 9)?
I think it makes a big
difference. With the threat of a spade ruff, Bowyer
played hearts from the
top and scored an easy 12 tricks. But Jim (the
so-and-so) led CK against my
4H and I wasn't facing the same threat. The
theoretical odds favour a finesse
but you have to consider that W has not
led a trump, so in my view it's a
very close decision at pairs. I took the
finesse and made 10 tricks. Say I
get the hearts right, can I avoid the 2nd
spade loser to flatten the board?
Draw trumps, finishing in dummy, clear the
diamonds, ruff a C and lead a
spade, but can W still exit with a club? I
think he's squeezed on the run of
the diamonds, unable to hold on to SKQx
and an extra club. So I might have
flattened the board.
Quite some three boards to start with! But the heavy
defeat put us on the
wrong foot and it was about six games before we won
one.
4. All Vul v Merseyside, you
hold
A1074
AQJ5
542
97
Q965
J3
432
10987
96
KJ10
KQ52
A643
K82
K6
AQ873
J108
P P 1NT
P (1N =
12-14)
2C P 2D
P
3N All Pass
Your lead?
Not much to choose
between the black suits, is there? Keith led a spade and
gift-wrapped the
entire spade suit for declarer. Clubs were led and cashed
at our table and
there was no way to avoid a 5th loser. So it went!
5. v Norfolk, All
Vul
7
AJ43
875
AQ642
10642
AK985
9862
KQ107
QJ42
A93
7
8
QJ3
5
K106
KJ10953
P P 1C
X
XX 1D 1H
1S
3N All Pass
Partner leads S2 - you play 2nd/4th.
Your plan?
This was the problem that faced Rob. The textbook play is to
rise with the
Ace (i.e. false-card) and lead a small one back, in case
declarer has Q10x,
as seems more than likely. But you need a different
textbook here. Declarer
wins the 2nd spade and runs five clubs finishing in
dummy. Which 6 cards
should Rob keep? He came down to SK9 HKQ DA9 (I think)
but declarer now led
a diamond towards the K for his 9th trick. This was
roughly what happened.
If he bares DA to keep an extra spade, declarer
overtakes the 5th club to
lead the 6th round, squeezing Rob out of a spade
winner before throwing him
in with DA - i.e. a criss-cross squeeze in NT, a
rare beast indeed!
Needless to say, our teammates, like virtually
everyone else in the room,
played in 5C and lost two diamonds and a
spade.
Is there a defence to beat 3NT? One of Rob's problems was that
declarer had
a spade trick already AND a spade menace. If he switches to HK,
declarer's
communications are a lot poorer, i.e. he can't cash the 6th club
and get
back to dummy. But now declarer can lead a D to the K quite safely -
no
spades are set up (losing 2 spades, a heart and a diamond). What
about
playing off SAK and then a 3rd round? On the run of the clubs, he and
dummy
can keep four cards. I think Rob can keep S9 HKQ and DA if dummy keeps
3
hearts and one diamond. If dummy keeps two of each red suit, you still
keep
that. Declarer can exit with a D to your Ace and dummy throws HJ on
your
spade winner - still 9 tricks, I think. Better stop there before my
head
starts spinning!
6. v Middx, love
all
A102
Q542
K
A9875
KQJ85
643
K
1076
85
Q10964
KQ1042
63
97
AJ983
AJ732
J
P 1H 2H 4H
All
Pass
2H = spades and a minor, weak or strong
Dhondy leads SK. Your
plan?
Tricky when you don't know what strength West is or even what his
2nd minor
is likely to be. I won SK, cashed DK and ran HQ. Oh dear! At the
other
table, the Middx declarer played entirely on the cross-ruff in the
minors.
By the time W was able to ruff in with HK, the spade loser had
disappeared
from dummy. If you hesitate but don't ruff in, declarer has a
good count on
the hand and drops your HK. 12 tricks either way.
My
intention had been to take just one round of trumps (winning!) (a)
to
discover a 4-0 break and (b) to prevent W ruffing or
over-ruffing
inconveniently, before trying to get my 3 D ruffs in dummy but
it looks like
I've been outplayed again. Tough game.
7. Last board of
the competition for you (although only half way) as you are
deserting a
sinking ship, v Notts (Graham Kirby and Rob Sharpe) who ended up winning the
event.