This week has the EBU Simultaneous Pairs. It is generally thought that the hands are jazzed up for simultaneous events although it is always denied. The hands tonight certainly proved that they are not - a very boring set to say the least.

 

The commentary was provided by many times Ladies Champion Sally Brock. It featured several auctions that would not be replicated at most tables in a club event, including aggressive preempts and opening a weak NT with 5 decent spades and 2 small hearts.

 

Today's hand is a typical pairs hand involving not seeking close games, not allowing the opponents to play a comfortable part-score and accurate play and defence. It is board 6.

 

Neither East nor South has an opening bid, and West has an easy weak NT. North passes, and East has a decision to make with a balanced 10 count with 5 spades. It is my belief that you should always transfer into a 5 card major, although it could be wrong if partner has only a doubleton in support. The upside of transferring is that there could be a game if partner is able to break the transfer to show a,maximum with a good fit.

 

South passes, and West has a decision to make. He has a near maximum with superb support for spades. However the shape is 4333 meaning that there is nothing to gain from ruffs. Therefore West settles for bidding 2S . I would suggest to you that you never break a transfer with 4333 distribution.

 

North passes, and East has a clear pass with only 10 points opposite a weak NT. South turn has come and he knows that his partner has fair values as the opponents have stopped in a part-score so he should risk 3C. West cannot  defend with such a good spade fi,t so he bids 3S.

 

North knows he is facing a partner who has passed twice before he balanced with 3C. Therefore he has no reason to bid 4C which East would double for 2 down. He passes and hopes that 3S goes down. East and South pass leaving the contract at 3S by West.

 

Now the spotlight is on the defence. North will lead a club - partner's suit. Declarer can see a club loser, 2 possible diamond losers and 3 possible heart losers and needs to play carefully. When South plays the JC declarer ducks. If South continues clubs declarer wins and ruffs a club. He draws trumps ending in hand. Then a diamond for the winning finesse of the queen, followed by the ace and another diamond. As the cards lie, North has to win the third diamond and is end-played to lead away from the ace of hearts to give the 9th trick. Contract made for +140 to East/West.

 

But what if South is awake? When he wins the JC he should stop and think. Partner would not underlead an ace so it is held by West.To make tricks on this hand it has to be in hearts. So we play a heart at trick 2. If the card we play is the 7 or 8 declarer can cover with the 9 and the end-play still works. But what if we play the 10H? The defence can cash 3 heart tricks and with the club trick already taken and a late diamond winner for North the contract is 1 down for a plus score for North/South.

 

So how do these possible results score on the night?  3S made by E/W is an average whilst 3S one down would be a top for N/S as the winning defence was hard to find.

 

It shows that accurate defence is worth buckets of points, as it is the weakest part of the game for most players and partnerships. Time and effort spent on carding and signals will really pay off.