The Hidden Hand

One of the beauties of bridge is that you can only see 26 of the 52 cards, unless you are someone like the player banned for ten years for "substituting his own cards for the ones provided by the organisers." I will leave you to look him up in Wikipedia under "Cheating at Bridge". The hidden hand was the theme of this interesting board from last night's Woodberry Pairs:

Playing 5-card majors, the auction will begin 1D-1S-2NT, and now it is important to know what bids mean. Stefanie and I realised here we had not discussed it properly, and have now adopted what is known as a Wolff sign-off after a jump rebid to 2NT. North would bid 3C, forcing 3D, when he wants to sign off at the three level in either his suit or his partner's suit, and everything else is game-forcing. This allows North to bid 3D, forcing, on the above hand, a slam try. Probably South should decline, but slam is about 50%, perhaps a litte more, so it is reasonable to bid as Stefanie did.

I certainly did not make the most of my chances here, although I would probably have gone down anyway. West led a passive trump, which is quite dangerous as her partner might have had the queen, and I won in dummy and woodenly took a spade finesse, for one off. The right line is to lead a club towards the king. In theory, East has to duck this, as otherwise the jack of clubs comes down in three rounds, but he can also, in practice, rise with the ace of clubs and play a spade. He has seen the ten of clubs from South, so he knows the jack of clubs is coming down in three rounds or South has it, so a spade is called for. I don't know the jack of clubs is falling however, so I will finesse anyway and go down; especially as if I rise I also need trumps 2-2. But I did not give him a chance to win the club and exit with a diamond for example, so my line of play was wrong.

When South opened 1H, the auction invariably reached 3NT, on a club or spade led with declarer making 10 or 11 tricks, for well above average. John Bernard, arseblog, opened 2H as East, which was Lucas. I am all in favour of that with the heart intermediates somewhat better than the Spurs midfield. South soon reached 3NT and West led a heart to the king which South ducked. Winning, crossing to a diamond and taking the spade finesse is an alternative line. That will only make nine tricks however, as West can win, put his partner in with a club, and the ten of hearts comes through giving four defensive tricks. After the king of hearts was ducked, East continued with the ten of hearts, and South foolishly ducked that as well. Now a third heart beat the contract. Covering with the jack would at least have made it. However, the defence can do better still. If East wins the king of hearts and returns a low heart (a no-cost play), declarer might well put in the jack, fatally as the cards lie. Don't forget South cannot see East's hand, and this is the way East should defend with Kx KQ9xx xx Jxxx. South now gets a juicy +660 if the jack holds, but as the cards lie he gets egg on his face.