Killing defence
We're concentrating on defence with this hand, but the auction illustrates several really useful features that keep popping up every week, so do hang around for the bidding notes at the end.
OK. You're North, and you're reviewing the bidding in your head. East opened 1♥ and your partner overcalled 2♣ (needs a decent suit for that) and West doubled – aha, that's the negative double showing 4 of any unbid major, so in this case SPADES. You've raised your partner's clubs and now East bids 3♠: must have 4 spades, then. And they've ended up in 4♠.
Your partner leads the ♣8 and you go up with your ♣A ... on which declarer (East) throws the ♣Q. Hmm. Is that ♣Q really a singleton or is East being deceitful? Over to you – decision time!
Well, it depends on whether partner started with five or six clubs. A lot of players wouldn't be comfortable overcalling on just a five-card suit missing the AQ, so you decide that the ♣Q probably is a singleton. No point in leading a club back, then. So what to lead? Pointless leading a trump. A heart, then? Well, East opened hearts and her partner has shown up with the ♥K in dummy, so that's not very attractive either. A diamond, then? That's all that's left. So you lead your ♦2, Partner wins with her ♦A and leads the ♦6 back, which declarer wins.
Now declarer has the lead, she's going to clear trumps, like all good declarers do. She leads a spade to dummy's ♠Q and you win with your ♠A. What to lead now? Decision time again!
Same reasons apply to spades, hearts and clubs, and a diamond now looks a very attractive lead indeed. Why? Well, there's only been one round of trumps, so partner still has one. And that ♦A6 could well have been a doubleton. So maybe partner can ruff a 3rd diamond. No harm in trying, is there? You lead your last diamond and ... partner ruffs! Yey! You've got the contract one down!
Have a look at all four hands, and you'll see that a diamond switch at trick 2, followed by another diamond at trick 5 is the only defence that beats 4♠. If you continue wtih a second club at trick 2, declarer ruffs, starts to clear trumps, then comes in again with a second diamond, completes the trump clearance and then has tricks galore in diamonds and hearts. You never get your diamond ruff.
So well done if you found the killing defence on Thursday afternoon. If you did, you're on your own, because no-one on Wednesday evening kept declarer to only 9 tricks in spades.
Bidding notes
East's 1♥: With a 4-4-4-1 distribution, you bid the middle of three 'touching' suits. If you don't have three touching suits, as here, you bid the suit below the singleton.
South's 2♣: With 9 points and a 'suit quality' of 9 (6 clubs + 3 honours = 9), South is good enough for a 2♣ overcall. Gets in the way and indicates a possible lead for partner.
West's DOUBLE: Our old friend the 'negative double', showing enough points to respond and at least 4 of any unbid major. Here, the only unbid major is spades, so West's bid shows 4+ spades and 6+ points.
North's 3♣: With a couple of aces and 4 of your partner's suit (she has at least 5, remember) you're well worth an intrusive raise to three of partner's suit.
East's 3♠: Partner's double essentially means 'If that b***** South hadn't overcalled I would have responded 1♠.' So treat her double as a 1♠ response. You've got 16 points and only 6 losers, and that's a good raise to 3♠.
West's 4♠: With only 1 point above the minimum 6 points, West is on the cusp. Her ♥K (in partner's first-bid suit) makes it just worth a raise to game, but a pass wouldn't be wrong.
So, given that 4♠ goes off, was West wrong to bid on to game? No! It's far from easy for NS to find the killing defence, and with just one loser in each of three suits EW can consider themselves very unlucky not to make 10 tricks. Which is one of the things that make bridge such a fun game ...
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