Better Bridge in Barry County
By
Gerald Stein
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North
♠ 6 5 2
♥ A 6 5
♦ 8 5
♣ A K 10 3 2
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West
♠ Q J 10 8 3
♥ 10 4 2
♦ K Q 4
♣ 9 7
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East
♠ A 4
♥ J 9 8 3
♦ 10 7 2
♣ J 8 5 4
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South
♠ K 9 7
♥ K Q 7
♦ A J 9 6 3
♣ Q 6
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Dealer:
Vulnerable:
Lead:
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West
Both
Q♠
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North
Pass
3NT
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East
Pass
Pass
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South
1NT
Pass
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West
Pass
Pass
Pass
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Today’s hand presents another no trump contract with
straightforward bidding. Did you notice the response bid from North? There was
no mention of 2♣ for the Stayman convention, nor was there a transfer bid to
either hearts or spades. What does that tell you and the defenders about the
North hand? Once again, by not using standard conventions of Stayman and Jacoby
transfers, astute defenders can learn a lot about the responder’s hand. In this
case, without mentioning the Stayman convention or the transfers, East and West
can be assured that North does not have the major suits. North must have help
in the minor suits and with eleven high card points, easily bid the 3NT
contract after South opened with a 1NT bid promising 15-17 high card points.
Bridge is a matter of counting the points.
West, as the one to plan the defense, took her time
to count what she knew. She knew this much:
North and South had at least 25-26 high card points out of the total of
40 in the hand. West herself had eight high card points. Her partner East had
at best six high card points. It would be tough to beat this contract.
West, with her knowledge of North’s bid and the
inference about no major suits, wisely chose the top of the spade sequence: the
Q♠. Leading that card promised the J♠ and most likely the 10♠ as well. With
five strong spades and a useful entry with the diamonds eventually, West was
confident that she could make a strong defense with a spade lead. She would, of
course, need help from her partner East with the defense.
Following the Q♠ lead, down came the dummy hand, and
sure enough, the major suits only had three cards each. The long club suit
would surely please South as declarer, especially since he needed help in that
suit. South thanked his partner for the three tricks showing, as well as possible
club tricks through promotion. South could count seven sure tricks with the
three heart tricks, the three club tricks and the one diamond trick. Setting up
two more tricks would be essential to making the 3NT contract. With seven cards
in each of the minor suits, it looked like clubs might be the easier suit to
establish for extra tricks.
South played low from the board on the first trick,
and East with the A♠ knew that she must unblock her A♠ and then return a spade.
Otherwise, there would be no way to return to the West hand. East took trick
number one with the A♠ and promptly led her remaining spade. South had a
decision to make at this point. Should he duck the second trick, holding up the
K♠ to cut the communication between East and West? Hoping that when East played
the A♠, that was a doubleton, South played the K♠, taking the second trick.
South promptly went to work on the club suit,
playing from the short side first. He led his Q♣ and played small from the
board with all following. A second club to the A♣ put him on the board, and
again all followed. So far, eight of the clubs had been accounted for. South’s
hope was that there would be one more in each of the defender’s hand as he was
out of clubs as well. South led the K♣ and discarded a small diamond. West was
forced to discard one of her spades. South then knew he must throw the lead to
East with a club and must hope that East had no more spades. Not taking the
heart tricks was smart as South needed to get back to the final club to make
his contract. East won the club trick with the J♣ and then led a small heart
hoping to make something happen with the J♥.
That is all that South needed to pull in the
remaining needed tricks. He won the heart lead in the dummy with the A♥, and played the final good club. Then a heart back
to his two good hearts and to the good A♦ gave
South a solid 3NT game. All in all, South took one spade trick, three heart
tricks, four club tricks and one diamond trick for his nine tricks and a good
score.
Can you see how South can gain an overtrick and even
do better than today’s declarer? At trick two, when South is trying to
determine whether to duck or to take the K♠, one and only one South declarer
decided to duck again, letting West win the second trick. Now West could have and
should have continued a spade lead but did not. Instead, West tried to make
something happen and led a top diamond, driving out the A♦ in the South hand. South then went to the dummy with
the A♥ and then led a diamond back with East
playing the 10♦, South the J♦, and West winning with the Q♦.
A diamond came back to South who now had tricks to burn with the diamonds all
set up. South made an overtrick, taking ten tricks by an alternate plan. South
did not work the club suit except to take the top three tricks. Well done,
North and South.
Gerald Stein
April 6, 2015
Number of words: 1033
Bridge notes: A beginning bridge class will start at
Kellogg Community College’s Life Long Learning program beginning May 4 from
4:30 until 6:30 PM and running through eight Mondays except Memorial Day.
Contact the Life Long Learning Center for more details at 1-269-965-4134.
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