Hand of the Fortnight
(Note: This little beauty came up
playing at home when 41º C outside suggested “Stay indoors!”)
Dealer is West.
North:
S: A Q 7 6
H: T 5
D: A J 5
West:
East:
S: K T 4 3
S: 9 2
H: A Q 8 6 3
H: K J 9 7 4 2
D: 8
D: Q
C: K 7 5
C: A J 6 3
South:
S: J 8 5
H: -
D: K T 9 7 6 4 3 2
C: 9 4
While the opening bid for West is easy, what happens after that depends a lot on how brave / daring /
perhaps rash South is.
(1) The usefulness of the bid “Double” for North and
(2)
The power of distribution. South has 4 HCP but
the
Heart void is powerful as is the Diamond length
BIDDING
could go:
W
N
E
S
PLAY:
Assuming West leads HA, before reading beyond and mainly
thinking from N/S hands,
plan your play (with South as Declarer). Even with perfect defence by E/W, 11 tricks are
there – albeit possibly needing a “ruffing finesse” of the CA at some stage.
Trick 1:
HA
H5
H9
D2
“ 2:
D3
D8
DA
DQ
“ 3:
HT
HJ
D4
H3
That’s the 1st stage completed.
Now if
E/W lead a Heart, you can discard from South’s
hand.
Stage 2: Attack Clubs before Spades. You currently have a probable Spade
loser.
Trick 4: C4 C5 C8 CJ (East wonders where the CK is!)
No matter which way the black cards are led back to you by East, you should lose no more tricks apart from 1 Club trick. You should soon have a Club established in Dummy to discard the S5 or S8.
If East leads S9 (unlikely – seeing what Spades are in Dummy), don’t waste the SJ.
A
trump lead overtaken from Dummy (North) may be needed later to get back into
South’s hand when it comes time to lead the SJ through SK.... after a Club is
established in Dummy.
NOTE:
5H (E/W) goes down on DA lead and a safe trump exit – leaving 2 definite
Spade losers. Don’t cash the SA! You set up the SK
and they make!
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