Better Bridge in Barry County August 28 2014

Better Bridge in Barry County

By Gerald Stein

 

 

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

 

 

Dealer: Vulnerable: Lead:

North East/West 7♣

 

North Pass 2♣ 3NT	East Pass Pass Pass	South 1NT 2♥ Pass	West Pass Pass Pass

What happens to bridge players when they think they have a contract made? Do they rush the play of the hand only to go down to defeat with a perfectly sound hand? Have they thought out the plan that will insure nine tricks and perhaps even several overtricks? Let’s see what today’s South did to bungle a sure game in a 3NT contract.

With passes from North and East, South opened the bidding on today’s hand with 1NT. With eighteen high card points, perhaps South was a bit heavy for that bid, but the balanced hand seemed to call for it. After a pass by West, North bid 2♣, using the Stayman Convention, to ask for a four-card major suit. North was promising at least eight high card points and at least one four-card major.

When South responded with 2♥ promising four hearts, North with ten high card points placed the contract at 3NT, and all passed. West made an unconventional lead on today’s hand by leading the top of a doubleton. West led the 7♣, and North tabled a balanced hand and ten high card points. Looking at both hands, South smiled smugly. There were 28 high card points between them, and seven sure winners. South did not even consider the possibility of not making this contract. It looked too easy.

South won the first trick in his hand with the K♣, and he promptly led a diamond to the K♦ on the board. Playing a small diamond back, South played the J♦ and lost a diamond trick to the Q♦, an unnecessary loss for sure. West then attacked the spade suit by leading the Q♠ with South winning in the dummy with the K♠.

Finally, South realized that this hand might not be as easy as he first envisioned. Leading a high heart from the dummy and letting it ride to the West hand resulted in another trick for the East/West team when West produced the  K♥. Now West was relentless and led the J♠ driving out the A♠ in the South hand. South tried to change tactics and played the Q♣ winning. Then he played the A♣ also winning that trick. But his goose was cooked.

A diamond back to the two winners in his hand gave him eight tricks but not nine. East/West took the last two tricks when South had to lead a heart to the A♥ of West, and then West led a spade to East’s 9♠ who won and then returned a lowly 3♣ for down one.

Of course, South was sick about his misplaying the hand, but there is an important lesson to be learned here. First of all, South appeared to be too overconfident when he saw all of the points and all of the winners. South forgot an important bridge tactic especially in the play of no trump. When South looked at the two hands, he should have seen that he had three suits completely under control with several stoppers in each suit. This was his golden opportunity that he utterly missed.

Once the club lead was taken, South should have sprung into action with the heart suit immediately. With only the A♥ and the K♥ out against him, knocking out those two honors would have guaranteed the contract with overtricks as well. Even if West should duck the heart suit a time or two, South should have kept on working on that suit until it was under his control. Then, and only then, South could have gone after the other suits. Even losing the Q♦ did not have to happen as the cards lie. Leading the A♦ from his hand and then playing a diamond toward the K♦ would have produced the Q♦ and not a lost trick.

For his poor efforts, South had to grimace when he saw the score for that hand. He had no one to blame but himself when he saw a minus 50 on their side of the ledger and a 1.3% out of a possible 100%, a dismal score.

For today’s takeaways, it is obvious that rushing and not planning carefully can result in unfavorable results at the bridge table. South needed to establish the weakest suit first, and that, of course, was the heart suit. Once the heart suit had been set up, clear sailing was the call of the day. Most South declarers not only made the 3NT contract but also ended up with two overtricks for top scores. Today’s South could only groan and moan at what might have been.

 

Gerald Stein

August 22, 2014

Number of words: 914

 

Bridge Notes: With school about to start, consider taking bridge classes locally or at the Kellogg Community College Institute for Learning in Retirement program. Learning is not just for the youngsters. We can all learn something new if we only take the opportunities.