* It is not an Acol 2H opener. There are not eight playing tricks.
** Having 4 spades and 10 points, this is exactly what this bid says.
*** This bid is the clue as to how to play the hand and make it, although it remains a challenge.

A diamond lead would make it easy. Win with the A take the spade finesse. Play the ♥ 8, not covered by East. Now the ♠A and ruff a spade. A club to the A, and ruff the fourth spade.

Dealer South

With 20 points, North wants to open with a strong bid. Those who choose to ignore basic rules will open 2NT. If South takes the not unreasonable view that, his spade-suit is nothing to write home about, he will bid 3NT and the heart lead will give North the result he deserves.

Alternatively, North may decide that without 23 points and, not possessing a flat hand that 1 Club is the better opener. South will respond 1 diamond and North will now bid 3 Spades. A new suit at the three level is forcing and North is entitled to do so as he now believes that his side has 26+ points. South will bid 4 spades which is a happy contract.

Now if you play "Walsh", and many people do without knowing it, South will respond one spade over the 1 club. "Walsh" you bypass even 5 or 6 card minors to bid even the poorest of 4 card majors. The bidding is likely to proceed with north jumping to 4 Hearts as a splinter and even if South signs off with 4 Spades North may push on and eventually stop in 5 spades. North must trust his partner.

A third approach is for North to realise he has 5 quick tricks and enough shape to do a game force? I personally do not think so. If your partner cannot respond to a 1 Club opener you are unlikely to make game. You need a bit more shape, 6 - 4 or 5 - 5 or better intermediaries.

The play is easy in 4 Spades, you plan to loose 2 spades and a club, so assuming a heart lead win and duck a spade. The best continuation is a second heart. Ruff in hand and play the spade Ace. Now play Club A, then cross to dummy with a diamond and take the club finesse. If that looses and your left hand opponent has the last trump he may cash it but can do you no more harm. Four spades essentially always makes if the spades break 3 - 2 i.e. in the most common manner.

The case of the Infallible Losing Finesse.

♠ K 7
♥  A 10 9 6 5
♦  A 9 4 2
♣ K 6            

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

♠ 9 6 4
♥  K J 8 3
♦  Q 7
♣ A 8 7 2                       

Bidding W.                 N.                    E.                     S.
            1♠                    Dbl                  2♣                   3♥ 
            pass                 4♥        all pass

West led ♠A, and immediately switched to the ♣3. South knew his odds and missing four to the Q, you play for the drop. So ♥ A then small to the ♥ K, but East showed out and that was a spade a heart and two more losers. South tried going back on to the table with a spade and then small diamond to the Q but alas West had the K and played his third heart.

"Played the percentages partner" he said to his partner. North could take no more, "You played the hand like a ..., yes you know the percentages in any single suit but play the complete hand! You play small to the K and small towards dummy, and take the finesse.  If you lose, the suit has broken and you get your two ruffs in hand." One would have expected South would have been grateful for the lucid exposition, but one would be wrong.

Feeling slightly aggrieved South asked me later in the bar what I had done. "Same as you but after winning with the ♥ K I played the ♣A. West was a beginner and ruffed. I always say if you don't give the opposition a chance to go wrong they won't."

Hand 4 from Monday night was of interest. West dealt and passed, North with 17 points opened 1♦  intending to bid 2NT as they were playing 12-14, 15 - 16.

                          ♠ Q J 8
                          ♥  A Q 10
                          ♦  A Q 8
                          ♣ Q 4 3                   

♠ 7 6 4                                                 ♠   A 10 9 5
♥  J 7 4 3                                              ♥   K 9 6
♦ 9 6 3                                                 ♦    K 7 4
♣ J 6 5                                                 ♣  K 9 8

                          ♠ K 3 2
                          ♥  8 5 2
                          ♦ J 10 2
                          ♣ A 10 7 2                       

The spotlight now turns onto East. The correct bid is double, South is not good enough to redouble and will bid 1NT showing 8 to 10 hcp, not 6 to 8. West will pass and North will bid 2NT, not 3NT. Firstly because 17 + 8 is not enough for 3NT, secondly all the outstanding high cards are over you. Your partner will need to have the full 10 to stand an even chance.

South will pass, and the final contract will be 2NT. West will probably lead the ♥ 3. South will try the 10 from dummy and East will win with the K. Realising he was holding all the high card strength, East needs to establish a 5th trick and that must come from the spade suit, so a spade switch and South will make 8 tricks.

This hand is absolutely bog standard and eight tricks by South in 2NT should be the norm. However, we are in our favourite bridge club and 2NT will probably be an unusual contract. Several East decided to overcall 1♠ even although they have only four spades, they may get their comeuppance. Now to join in the bad bidding competition NS conspire to get into 3NT by South.

Now a spade is led, it does not matter what East does he now cannot beat the contract. Let us assume East plays the ♠9 and South wins with the K.

Now South runs J♦  to East's K. East can now cash the A♠ and plays a 3rd spade. South cashes out his diamond winners to arrive at this situation. On Dummy's final diamond East has problems.
                               ♠
                              ♥  A Q 10
                              ♦  Q
                             ♣ Q 4 3
♠                                                          ♠   10
♥  J 7 4 3                                              ♥    K 9 6
♦                                                          ♦  
♣ J 6 5                                                 ♣  K 9 8
                           ♠
                           ♥  8 5 2
                           ♦  
                          ♣ A 10 7 2                       

If he throws a heart, then you play A♥  and then the 10♥ . East can have his heart and spade but has to lead away from his K♣, and visa versa if he discards a club. If East places his partner with ♣J, he may choose to discard his winning spade, a masterstroke? South discards a small heart and next plays ♣3 from dummy, ducked by South this leaves the defence in difficulties. Found at the table? I doubt it.

Hand 1 Wednesday, my first hand of the year. As East I am dealt -

♠ Q87
♥ A
♦ AKQJ102
♣ J93                     17 points

North opens stop 2♥ explained as Lucas, i.e. weak and minimum of 5 hearts and 4 in a minor. My partner has not spoken yet. I am a devotee of, if I double here, then I have 4 spades. The quality of the hand might excuse a double but the possibility of South holding many spades and my partner holding four wee hearts and three spades and deciding that some number of spades is good just does not bear thinking of.

3♦ is such an underbid that I reject it out of hand.

On a heart lead and on any normal break I have seven tricks in NT. The gambling 3NT is a favourite of mine so I decide to overcall 3NT.

South passes and my partner considers his hand and bids 6NT?

We all pass. South leads 9♦. Partners hand goes down and I cannot criticise.
♠ A652
♥ KJ984
♦ --
♣ AQ64

♠ Q87
♥ A
♦ AKQJ102
♣ J93

You expect 10 tricks. A second club will bring it up to 11. You could try for another extra trick in spades or an endplay against your RHO to give you another heart. Entries are not fluid and you spend some time thinking of that. Eventually you decide to rattle of a few rounds of diamonds. At least you have one sure entry in your hand the ♥ A.

Discarding a heart from dummy your world comes to a grinding halt when North shows out. You place the ♦ 10 on the table and find another brown study to sit in.

You have to find another trick. South has seven diamonds, so, is his hand the dreaded 7, 2, 2, 2? or 7,3,2,1 or what? If the club finesse is correct, then South should have two cubs, and we can get three club tricks without loss. If it is wrong then finessing the club nine might get us three club tricks. The whole hand seems too complicated, so we will try the club now. A small club to the Q and it stands up.

At this point, I played the contract down - any suggestions?

Just how weak is weak? There are six points you cannot place and at least five, the important ones, are with North. Play a small spade from dummy.

You make two spades, two hearts, five diamonds and three clubs. The weak, Lucas told you exactly how to play the hand.

Better luck next time.

Hand 20 from Wednesday 23rd Dec, Did Santa come early or did West's undoubted skill deserve the spoils?

West                                        East

♠ Q J 10 8 7 4                         ♠   6 5
♥ Q 2                                    ♥   A K J 7 3
♦ A 3                                     ♦   K J 10 6
♣ K J 10                                 ♣  5 3

West deals and Opens 1♠       P          2♥        P

                               2♠       P          3♦        P         

                                ?

3♦ is forcing (A new suit at the three level). West has shown a sub 16-point hand, with five spades.

A bid of three spades now would deny a club stop, although not necessarily six spades. Three hearts would show two hearts and minimal holding in clubs, (with three hearts, you would have bid three hearts immediately). Three No trump would show the club holding you have and, the red suit holding you have, i.e. no singletons. Three no trump gets my vote, however for those of you that prefer ♣ A Q 10 then I can understand 3S and East will complete with 4S.

On that bidding it's obvious for South to lead a club. Therefore, the first four tricks are club to North's A, a club back (?) won with your K and a club ruff. Now a spade to your Q and South's A. South gets off lead with a fourth club (?), you throw a diamond from dummy, North follows suit and you ruff. Next, you play the spade J, South discards the five of diamonds and you, the heart three from dummy, North ponders his options.                                                  

West                                        East

♠ 10 8 7                                   ♠ 
♥ Q 2                                       ♥   A K J 7
♦ A 3                                       ♦   K J 10
♣                                            ♣  

You sigh to yourself, no matter whether North takes his K now or later he will have the 9 x left and you are going to lose another spade. However North with only red cards with which he can exit, decides to keep his options open by declining this trick.

You can make four spades if you can avoid two more losers from the spade suit, so what now?

If you read bridge magazines and books on play you will know that the solution is to reduce your trumps to the same number as the opponents and then to be in dummy from where you can lead a neutral card -- and West had read the books. Heart Q then heart two to dummy. The heart K and when North follows, you can handle all breaks by discarding your Diamond A. Now ruff the last heart, north can do no harm, as he must have two diamonds left, so a diamond is discarded. Now a diamond to the K, North following, and now a diamond from dummy towards our 10 x, North with K 9 of spades is end played.

The gift is - where you see (?) If either opponent switches to a red suit, then how do you make the contract? You are short on entries are you not? (Get a pack of cards out and try it.)

At last a volunteer, this article was sent to me. Anybody else got an interesting hand?

It's not fair! Have you ever done anything really good, a brilliant bid perhaps, a great play? Only to find you get a poor score?
You pick up your usual heap of rubbish, it's pairs –

♠ 863
♥ 4
♦ J10973
♣ 9763

Your partner opens 2C, game forcing, you respond 2D, and are surprised to hear the 3C rebid.  Now, I thought, if partner can make game with clubs as trumps, i.e. 11 tricks all on their own, surely with my 4 trumps, a 5 card side suit, and a singleton, my hand must be worth a trick, so, wait for it ……  I bid 6C!

KH is led, the 2 hands are

♠ AK5                       ♠ 863
♥ A7.                         ♥ 4
♦ AQ4.                      ♦ J10973
♣ AKQJ10                 ♣ 9763

The trumps are drawn in two rounds, ruff a H, then run the J of D, losing to the K. Too late! What has my partner done? Diamonds are blocked! One off!
After drawing trumps all you need to do is play A and Q of diamonds. Whatever the defence do, you can reach dummy later with the H ruff.

What a brilliant bid, deserved to make, Life's not fair.
Declarer and dummy anon. It definitely wouldn't be fair to name either, :)))

With nobody else contributing to this page, I thought I would have another go.
Therefore, here are two hands that I found interesting from Monday the 12th.
I was East and in board 10, I was dealer and opened 1NT and that was that.

South led the ♥ 2.

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

I have two hearts, a club and a spade trick under normal distribution.

I need to find three more. The diamond suit might supply one, if not two. Assuming split honours, it would be nice if South would lead a spade or a heart or indeed, continue diamonds, so I wish to lead diamonds from the table. (This was bad logic, as we shall see)

I won the lead on the table, and led the ♦3, 2, 10 and A. South declines the suits that are good for me and switches to ♣2. I do not like to leave a solitary K on the table so I play ♣K, which wins, North following with the 7. I now revert to diamonds playing the ♦6, 9, J and 4. I have nothing else useful in my hand so I play ♦2, 8, Q and K.

I could have made two diamonds but no longer have an entry. North does not take long to come back the ♣J, 6, 4 and 5. When North continues with the ♣10, I realise my nine is now a trick so I cover, ♣10, Q, A and I throw a spade from dummy. South now gets off lead with a club, Dummy and North discarding a spade.

I have made 2 clubs, 1 diamond, 1 heart and zero spades. I have two aces and a trick in dummy; I need to get to dummy or is my ♠J going to supply the goods? We suspect that South has three hearts left and two spades, and North one heart and four spades. I find what I think is an elegant finish.  

♠ 7                                          ♠   A J 8
♥ J 6 4                                    ♥   A 7
♦ 7                                          ♦ 
♣                                            ♣ 

Cash the ♥A, (removing that exit card from North), now the ♠A and a second spade throwing my diamond trick from Dummy. Now if South had had both honours I would make the ♥J, if he had the ♠K x  he would be end played and again I would get the ♥J, if he had the ♠Q x he would be end played and to prevent that, North would have to overtake and I would make my ♠J, neat?

However as fate would have it North had ♠ K Q x x and one off it was.

As I congratulated North/South for not touching Spades, I knew fine I should have played ♥A then ♥7. South perforce has to switch to spades, you then have the option to duck the first spade and finesse the second. Bridge is an easy game.

The second hand was much less elegant, but produced a better result.

Hand 7

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

After three passes you are about to pass when you do a loser count and open 1♣. You plan to pass 1♥ from partner but when he responds 1♠, you bid 2♣ and that is the end. When dummy goes down you see why partner hesitated a little, but are pleased with his pass. A heart is led, you win with the A play a heart to the K and ruff a heart with the ♣10.  You now play ♣J, 3, 4, A. South now cashes ♣K, North discarding ♥2.

South now leads ♦7.

♠ A 10 9 5 4                            ♠ 8 2
♥                                            ♥
♦ 9 8 6                                    ♦ A J
♣                                            ♣ Q 9 8 7

You have three tricks to the opposition's two. There is a small trump outstanding and you can see six tricks of the eight left. Being a student of squeeze plays, you recognise that there might be squeeze potential to get seven from eight tricks. The first rule of squeezes is you must get the count correct, the so-called n-1 position. You play the 6 from dummy and when the Q appears, you play the J. A spade now would destroy the squeeze as it removes the entry card from dummy. North continues with the ♦K. You perforce win with the A. Now only one person protects the ♦9. You now run the clubs. To this position;

♠ A 10                                     ♠ 8 2
♥                                             ♥
♦ 9                                           ♦
♣                                             ♣ 7

On the ♣7 South gives up the ♦10 and holds on to ♠K x. South does not know North has the Q and the J. If you do not give the opposition a chance to make a mistake, they will not do so.

Monday 24 Aug, Board 2             

                        ♠   5
                        ♥   5 4
                        ♦   Q J 9 8 3
                        ♣  K J 10 8 3

♠ Q                                          ♠   A J 10 8 4
♥ K 9 8 6 2                              ♥   J 10 7
♦ A 7 6 5 4                              ♦   K 10 2
♣ 6 2                                       ♣  5 4

                        ♠   K 9 7 6 3 2
                        ♥   A Q 3
                        ♦  
                        ♣  A Q 9 7

You are sitting South and East deals and passes. You open 1♠, West passes and North responds 1NT and East passes again. You have 15 points and a six card major. 3♠ seems wrong with such a poor suit. 3♣ seems a bit of an overbid, as your partners handful of point could well be in Diamonds.

At this point, you could reassess your hand, using the losing trick method. You have 2♠ + 1♥ + 1♣ a four-loser hand, a seriously big hand. A typical 1NT response hand has 10 losers, making a total of 14 and therefore a potential for 10 tricks. (You subtract the total number of losers from 24 to arrive at the number of tricks likely)

At the table, my pessimism won and I bid 2♣. The bidding should then have proceeded

            Pass     1♠        pass     1NT
            Pass     2♣       Dbl*      3♣                   * take out
            Pass     3♦*      pass     4♣                   * cue
            Pass     ?

However at our table it went

            Pass     1♠        pass     1NT
            Pass     2♣       pass     3♣                  
            Pass     3♥?      pass     4♣                   ? This is a bad bid
            Pass     5♣

This shows how important it is to interfere even when you have no chance of winning the contract. In the second sequence, North has absolutely no need to speak over the 2♣. This must show either an absolute maximum or more likely a hand with shape and a 5-card club suit. In the first sequence, it is merely competitive. I bid 3♥ in the hope that my partner could find a spade bid. It ended up making my hand sound like a 5 - 4 - 4 shape.

When Dummy goes down, I see the 3♥ bid was not so bad, as, if my partner's three points in the red suits had been the ♥K, he would have bid the five clubs himself.

The Play

The easiest lead is the ♠Q, which East will win. As long as you play a small spade on the next trick, and ruff on the table, you can hardly fail to make eleven tricks. You have to ruff three times in dummy to establish the spades.

A heart lead gives you a trick but you need to find a way onto the table to play the spade. This is best done using a trump. Now a forcing diamond leaves you relying on a 2 - 2 break in clubs.

My mildly eccentric bidding encouraged a Diamond lead, the Ace, before my diamond went away? I ruffed this, crossed to the table with a trump and ran the Q♦. I had decided to lose a spade and a diamond. The 10 showed on my right and I won the trick. I now played a small diamond, and ruffed it - the King falling. Drawing trump and running the diamonds gets you to this position.

                        ♠   5
                        ♥   5 4
                        ♦  
                        ♣    J 10 8

♠ Q                                          ♠   A J 10 8 4
♥ K 9 8 6 2                              ♥   J 10 7
♦ A 7 6 5 4                              ♦   K 10 2
♣                                             ♣  

                        ♠   K 9 7
                        ♥   A Q 3
                        ♦  
                        ♣  

When I played the spade from table East rose with A and my losing heart went on the K. If the Ace was wrong I would ruff the return and take the heart finesse. I.e. I had two bites at the cherry.

A 22-point minor game is rare.

Dummy started off with a 7 loser hand, with my 4 makes 11, We have a suit fit so 24 - 11 is 13 tricks?  - No system is perfect.

You have been told a dozen times how important it is not rush at trick one. Now here is another one, never win a trick until you have worked out what you are going to do next. The pause at trick one on this hand should be short. However, the pause at trick two should be your last one. Now other than telling you what card to play I think that is enough of a clue.

The Hand

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

West deals and passes. North opens 1♦, East passes and South bids 1♠. With 15 points, North can rebid 1NT and South has no problem in bidding 4♠.
West leads the ♥A and the trick is made up of the 2, 5 and 7. Your play as South is a little automatic. It seems a good thing if West continues hearts and you try to make West think that either his partner is giving a mild signal or you confuse their count.
You have six spades, two clubs and a diamond trick so we need a tenth and the favourite for that is the diamond finesse. West looks at the cards and decides to switch to the ♣Q. Now you can win this trick but in which hand and can we see the contract making?

First, some basics, you can count an A,K and a Q,J in west hand. That is 10 points, with the diamond K he would have 13 points and he passed? We can place all the important cards, so how are we going to make the contract?

The ♦Q is a threat against East, ♥Q is a threat against West and that is a classic squeeze position, but for it to work we must rectify the count. We also need a second threat against both, and that would classically be a club. There is no obvious way to achieve both of these requirements.
The only finesse that is going to work against East is a ruffing finesse and indeed, there is the clue. We need to have only one diamond in our hand and so we must discard one.
Duck the ♣Q. West can do you no fatal harm. Win the third trick. Play the ♣K cross to dummy with a trump, Play the ♣A discarding ♦4, Now you play ♦A then ♦Q and ruff or discard a heart dependant on what East plays. If required, entry back into dummy is achieved by a spade, then a third spade to the 10, now you can play your winning diamond. You end up losing a club and two hearts.
Now finding that play at the table would be something else.