Better Bridge in Barry County August 9 2012

Better Bridge in Barry County

By Gerald Stein

	North ♠  A10 ♥  Q85 ♦  AJ965 ♣  AQ8
West ♠  98543 ♥  74 ♦  K732 ♣  52		East ♠  J76 ♥  9632 ♦  104 ♣  KJ109
	South ♠  KQ2 ♥  AKJ10 ♦  Q8 ♣  7643

Dealer: Vulnerable: Lead:

South None 2♦

North 6NT	East Pass	South 1NT Pass	West Pass Pass

Today’s column continues to look at demystifying some bridge players’ fears of playing no trump contacts. In today’s hand, South opened a standard 1 NT bid with 15 high card points, three suits stopped, and a balanced hand. Those players who bid 1 NT openings with 16-18 high card points might have missed the information-sharing that this one no trump bidder gave to his partner. In this case, North, South’s partner, knew exactly the shape and the number of points in South’s hand, and North bid directly to six no trump.

Playing one no trump contracts or playing six no trump contracts, the steps are still the same: take a moment to pause, thank your partner, and make your plan. Your objective is straightforward. Take all the tricks except one. Take your twelve tricks, and you will have bid and made a small slam. Can you do it?

First, as we did last week, count up the winners you have in both hands. In no trump contracts, that is always the procedure. In trump contracts, you count your losers, but that is another story. How many winners do you have without giving up the lead?  In spades, you have three winners, the Ace, the King, and the Queen. In hearts, you have four winners: the Ace, the King, the Queen, and the Jack. In diamonds, you have one winner: the Ace. In clubs, you have one winner the Ace. You have only nine sure winners. How will you win three more tricks to make your small slam?

Here is where the second part of your plan comes into action. The lead is the 2♦, most likely the fourth down from the longest and strongest suit by West. The lead of the two suggests that West has only four diamonds, and the King of Diamonds is probably in the West hand. Knowing that bit of information helps you decide that extra tricks can come from the diamond suit. Will it be enough, or do you need another trick in clubs? If so, a finesse might be necessary to win an extra trick in clubs. This should be a last resort, however, since finesses win only 50% of the time.

With your plan firmly in your mind, you prepare to take your tricks. The lead of the 2♦ is helpful to you, and you play low from the dummy (second hand low), and East plays the 10♦, and your Q♦ wins the first trick. The 8♦ is led from your hand in an effort to drive out the K♦, but West ducks the trick smoothly and in tempo, refusing to admit he has the K♦. This is an excellent defensive strategy to hold up at times to make it difficult for the declarer to set up a long suit, in this case diamonds.

South abandons the diamonds for now, and then leads the 10♥ to the Q♥ in the dummy. Leading the A♦ next and discarding a small club from his hand reduces the diamonds to only the K♦ in the West hand. Here is the next important strategy. Lead a diamond, any diamond, and give up the diamond to the K♦. You have kept your winners so that no matter what the lead is, you will have a stopper to use the remaining diamond winner.

Back came the 5♣ from West, and you dare not take the finesse. You need to put up the Ace to avoid losing a finesse to the K♣ in the East hand. You take your winning diamond winner, and you take three spades tricks and three more heart tricks to make your contract of six no trump. All in all, you have taken four diamond tricks, four heart tricks, three spade tricks, and one club trick. Your plan has been successful. You knew your objective; you counted your winners, and you found a way to set up a long suit, keeping stoppers to keep control of the hand. You did not need to take the club finesse which would have lost, and you would have been set one trick, instead of making a small slam and 990 points for your partnership. Well done.

By the way, did you notice that North/South can make twelve tricks in hearts and diamonds as well as in no trump? So you have extra choices if you really want to explore them.

Gerald Stein

August 2 2012

Number of words: 862

Answer to last week’s bridge question: Can you pick up an extra overtrick by trying the spade suit? Indeed you can and should. Count the spades: you have four and three for seven; each opponent has three. Give up one spade trick to the opponents, cash your two spade tricks, and keep an entry to take the 13^th spade for an additional overtrick.