21.05.13 Board 1

My partner, East, opened a Benji 2 clubs on this board. South made a rather fanciful overcall of 2 spades. I bid 3 hearts, and partner bid 4 diamonds. We then reached 6 diamonds after a RKCB sequence.
The 3-0 diamond split was a slight problem, but a diamond finesse and a spade ruff enabled the contract to be made.
I was surprised that we were the only pair to have found this slam. I invite readers to contribute their ideas for a good bidding sequence (with or without the intervention).

D NV North ♠ 10 5 2 ♥ J 9 3 2 ♦ Q 8 3 ♣ 9 8 5
NV West ♠ 7 4 ♥ A Q 10 8 5 ♦ 7 6 5 ♣ A 6 3	Board1	NV East ♠ A Q 8 ♥ - ♦ A K J 10 9 4 2 ♣ K 10 7
	NV South ♠ K J 9 6 3 ♥ K 7 6 4 ♦ - ♣ Q J 4 2	3 17 10 10

07.05.13 Board 23

"Careless Defence Costs Tricks"

This was board 23 of the EBU Spring Simultaneous Pairs on 7th May.

Brian Senior's commentary correctly states that 6 spades cannot be made because of the identical N-S distribution. However, at Woodberry 8 out of 11 pairs in spade contracts were allowed to make 12 tricks (6 of these were in the slam).

How could this have happened?

On a club lead from West, South should draw trumps and eliminate clubs. Declarer may elect to take a heart finesse at this stage, but life is more difficult for the defence if declarer plays ace and another diamond immediately.

West must win this trick, because if East wins he will be endplayed.

If West now leads the 10H, North will cover, and the contract will be made by a finesse of the 8H.

So West instead leads 5H. North plays low, and East must play 9H to defeat the contract.

If you got this wrong, console yourself with the thought that this was a pairs competition. If you had been playing teams, a 17 IMP swing would be likely to have cost the match!

V North ♠ K Q J 9 3 ♥ Q 4 3 ♦ A 8 ♣ A K 9
V West ♠ 2 ♥ 10 7 5 ♦ K 10 9 6 2 ♣ J 10 8 7	Board23	V East ♠ 5 4 ♥ K 9 6 2 ♦ Q J 7 4 ♣ 6 4 3
	D V South ♠ A 10 8 7 6 ♥ A J 8 ♦ 5 3 ♣ Q 5 2	19 6 4 11

02.04.13 Board 20

V North ♠ A 10 7 ♥ J 9 7 2 ♦ 10 9 ♣ Q J 6 4
D V West ♠ Q J 6 5 ♥ K 10 4 ♦ A J 7 4 2 ♣ 5	Board20	V East ♠ K 9 8 4 2 ♥ 8 3 ♦ K 6 ♣ K 9 7 2
	V South ♠ 3 ♥ A Q 6 5 ♦ Q 8 5 3 ♣ A 10 8 3	8 9 11 12

I am writing about this hand to illustrate a principle about opening fourth in hand.

I suspect that most players West players would open one diamond as dealer. However, at our table, there were three passes to South. I passed the hand out because my singleton was in spades. At most tables, East played in 2S making with overtricks due to the fortunate lie of the cards. So we achieved a good pairs score.

The point I wish to make is that, where the points are equally shared between the two partnerships, the side with a spade fit will usually win the contract. Therefore, if you do not have spades, you need a good hand to open in 4th position. 

A good rule of thumb is the "rule of 15". You should open in 4th position only if your high card points plus your number of spades equals 15. The extra "spade points" are sometimes known as "Pearson points".

05.03.13 Board 3

Should you make a passive or an attacking opening lead?
Often a passive lead is better in pairs scoring, because an attacking lead could give away a vital overtrick - not so important in teams where your priority is to defeat the contract. But there are exceptions.

NV North ♠ 5 3 ♥ K J 8 6 ♦ 9 7 5 ♣ K 7 3 2
V West ♠ K Q J 10 9 7 ♥ 9 7 2 ♦ Q J ♣ Q 10	Board3	V East ♠ A 8 4 ♥ A 10 4 ♦ K 8 4 3 2 ♣ J 8
	D NV South ♠ 6 2 ♥ Q 5 3 ♦ A 10 6 ♣ A 9 6 5 4

On this board, South dealt and N-S passed throughout. The bidding was 1S-2D-2S-4S.
North can tell that the diamonds are likely to break, and the bidding suggests that West may have losers to discard on the long diamonds.
So it is important to cash your winners before declarer can establish his suit.
The North players who found a heart lead (or cashed their club winners first) were rewarded; and those who made a "safe" lead of a diamond or a trump were punished.

29.01.13 Board 5

The law of total tricks

This is from the cross imps session last Tuesday,

If you don't use this law much maybe this hand will persuade you of it's importance.

The law tells you that normally both sides can make a total number of tricks which add up to the total number of cards in their best suits . So here it's a total of 21 tricks based on spades and clubs. Its not exact but always a good guide.  So here north south should compete to at least 5 spades and east west to at least 4 clubs.  But east west are green so they should be the most aggressive especially east when partner bids clubs.

At our table the bidding went 2 spades pass 4 spades 5 clubs pass pass 5 spades passed out.

North south have bid to their  "level of fit" based on their number of trumps. East west should know this given the vulnerability. They should not allow north south to play  there. East west have a known fit and should bid 6 clubs probably passed out and making. Allowing opponents to play at their level of fit is usually bad.  Here if 5 spades makes they go off 2 in 6 clubs. If 5 spades goes down 2 then 6 clubs should make. So LTT takes any guessing away.


Hand 5 date: 29. 01 13                          

                          North
                         ♠ K Q J 10 7 2
                         ♥ J 10 7
                         ♦ 6 3
                         ♣ 7 4


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



                              South
                             ♠ A 8 6 4 3
                             ♥ K 9 5 4 3
                             ♦ J  10
                             ♣ A


Dealer:      North
Vul:            NS

12.02.13 Board 24

You have done well to reach 6NT by South on this board.
West leads the KS and you plan the hand before touching the dummy.

rth ♠ A 7 5 4 ♥ J 7 ♦ K Q 10 7 6 ♣ A Q
D NV West ♠ K Q J 6 3 ♥ 10 9 4 3 ♦ 9 5 ♣ 9 4	Board24	NV East ♠ 9 2 ♥ Q 8 6 ♦ J 8 4 3 ♣ 7 5 3 2
	NV South ♠ 10 8 ♥ A K 5 2 ♦ A 2 ♣ K J 10 8 6	16 3 6 15

You see that you have 11 top tricks, and, if the JD drops, you can make all 13.
But you realise that most pairs will not have reached 6NT, so you must maximise your chances of making the contract.
You have potential threats in three suits, so you prepare for a squeeze by ducking the opening lead. This is the key play to make your contract. It is known as "rectifying the count".

You win the spade continuation, cash the Ace and Queen of clubs, cross to hand with AD, and cash the clubs.

This is the position before the last club is led:

N: ♠ 7  ♥ J  ♦ K Q 10 7       E: ♥ Q 8 6  ♦ J 8 4        S: ♥ A K 5 2   ♦ 2  ♣  6      W: ♠ J   ♥ 10 9 4 3  ♦ 9 

On your last club, West discards a heart, you throw a diamond from dummy, and East must discard a heart in order to keep his diamond guard.

You then cross to the KD and cash QD.
Now West has a problem. He must keep JS, so he discards another heart. 

You return to hand with a heart, and make the last three tricks with AK5 of hearts.

Well played!

Note: If you win the opening lead, East will be able to keep his hearts and the squeeze will not work.