Better Bridge in Barry County July 10 2014

Better Bridge in Barry County

By Gerald Stein

 

 

	North ♠  A K 10 7  ♥  J 10 ♦  K 6 5 4 2   ♣  J 10
West ♠  9 8 5 3 ♥  Q 9 7 4 ♦  8 7   ♣  7 6 3		East ♠  6 ♥  K 6 3 2 ♦   A J 10 3 ♣  Q 9 5 2
	South ♠  Q J 4 2 ♥  A 8 5 ♦  Q 9   ♣  A K 8 4

 

 

Dealer: Vulnerable: Lead:

West North/South 8♦

 

North   1♦ 2♠ Pass	East   Pass Pass Pass	South   1♠ 4♠	West Pass Pass Pass

After a routine auction between North and South, a final contract of 4♠ was reached easily. It was South as Responder who knew the most about both hands, and, with a fit in spades, South placed the contract in the major suit. The play of the hand, however, was a different story on today’s hand.

West chose the top of a doubleton as her lead, tabling the 8♦. South appreciated the hand that Partner North placed on the table, and she mentally began to make her plan for taking the ten tricks needed to reach the 4♠ contract. While the trumps looked especially strong, there is always that underlying fear that the opponents may have a trump split that is not helpful to a declarer. In this case, South planned to use the dummy trumps to remove losing cards from her hand before drawing trumps.

With the lead of the diamond, South was assured of at least one diamond trick, two club tricks, one heart trick and four spade tricks, leaving her three tricks short of the goal of ten tricks. Drawing trumps on this hand was not the way to take ten tricks. Those who failed to make the contract began by drawing all or most of the trumps. When they ran into the West hand with a four-one split in spades, the results were not pretty. Four spades should and will make with the right play of the hand.

South won the first diamond trick with the Q♦ when East elected to play the J♦. The chance to use the A♣ and the K♣ and then trump one of the club losers with a low trump was South’s first move. All played to the first two rounds of the club suit, and South led the 4♣ next and trumped it with the 7♠. That left the dummy with all high trump cards, a useful strategy to remove the other losing club in the South hand.

South used the 10♠ to draw just one round of trumps and exited the board with the J♥ letting it ride and losing to the West’s Q♥. A savvy West would have been smart to play a small trump from her hand removing two for the price of one, but that did not happen on this hand. Instead, West led the 7♦, hoping for a diamond ruff later in the play. East won the trick with the 10♦, and then she played the K♥. South won in her hand with the A♥.

At this point, South was assured of her contract, as she had two high spades on the board and two high spades in her hand. Leading the 8♥ from her hand, she trumped it high on the board with the A♠. A small diamond back to the South hand was trumped high with the J♠. Another club was led from the South hand and trumped with the remaining K♠ on the board.

Trying for an extra trick, South played the 5♦ from the board and trumped it low with the 4♠. West had finally prevailed and overtrumped the 4♠ with the 5♠, making the diamond lead pay off after all. The final trick, however, went to South with the Q♠ making ten tricks and a score of 620.

What is today’s message regarding this hand? Drawing trumps right away was a bad decision as there were too many losing cards in the South hand. This South declarer made good use of the high trumps, effectively removing club and heart losers and not bothering to draw all of the trumps first. Those fourteen declarers who drew trumps first regretted it as soon as they realized that the trump split was 4-1. While that split is uncommon, a 4% occurrence, still it does happen from time to time, especially when you are least expecting it. The more common 3-2 split is what most bridge players expect and hope for, but that does not always happen that way. Running out of trumps can be disastrous especially when the defenders have control of the other suits.

Those players who tried for a small slam in spades were disappointed too when that effort failed. While one clever declarer did make five spades on this hand, the norm was a 4♠ contract bid and made. For those of you who enjoy no trump, this hand also makes 3NT for a positive score as well. The takeaway? Use good judgment when drawing trumps. Even though many bridge students are taught to “get the kiddies off the street,” sometimes it is better to wait and pay attention to that yellow caution light!

 

Gerald Stein

July 2, 2014

Number of words: 883