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| Lepus 6 |
THE GOSPORT EAR (Number 6) by LEPUS
Martin Craven is an ex-member of the club (he now plays his Bridge mainly in Yorkshire: he lives not far from York) who does still make occasional forays ‘down South’. He is the undoubted KING of three No-trump contracts, both in their play, and stories featuring said contract.
He relates that a well-known Yorkshire husband and wife partnership (playing in that County) saw the wife open, first in hand, with [3N]. Next to bid asked, “What does that mean?”, and the husband quick as a flash, answered, “She has got the ♥A mixed in with her Diamonds”…wife quickly resorted her hand! Husband held ♠A, ♦A and ♣A!
In order to assist this ineluctable progress (towards a [3N] contract), he was provided (on a rare return visit to Gosport) with a bidding box, and on opening this for the play he noted that his box appeared to be faulty. Slowly the penny dropped when he realized that all the cards were simply inscribed ‘Three No Trump’. This certainly would save a lot of time in the bidding!
Martin has been known to travel to events by car with his teammates, and knows that when John Jones is one of the passengers he will provide a ready source of hands for discussion (usually) of the bidding. On a trip to the second weekend of a Brighton congress (having played the previous weekend) he provided a hand and asked Martin to bid it. The final contract was [3N] played by Martin. On the return trip Martin was asked to bid another hand, and duly bid to [3N] again from his hand. Needless to say [3N] was not the correct contract, but he was consistent to his methods because he had played the hand (they were a pair of NS cards) on the first weekend in [3N]…which failed!
When playing with Martin recently at Titchfield, his partner tossed a card from his bidding box across the table, saying, “I won’t be needing this!” It was the ‘Three No Trump’ card.
Unsurprisingly, with Martin (East): -
Game All
WEST EAST WEST EAST
♠ A ♠ K753 1♥ 1♠!
♥ KJ864 ♥ 7 2♣ 2N (a)
♦ K7 ♦ AJ9632 3N End
♣ AK762 ♣ T4
(a) To be fair, this hand is almost un-biddable now
The opening Diamond lead (MUD, small, queen, Ace) resolved that suit but unfortunately the King (still in dummy) blocked the further play of that suit, and there was no quick re-entry back to hand. However, Martin ‘persuaded’ the opposition to help him. ♠A, ♦K. Then a low Club towards hand, the ♣10 losing to South’s Queen. South now (brightly) switched to ♥Q, covered to North’s ♥A, who now fell from grace by exiting with a Spade, and Martin rapidly cashed out: [3N] +2. |
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| Lepus 7 |
THE GOSPORT EAR (Number 7) by LEPUS
Partner, first in hand and playing teams, opens [1♣] which may be prepared and only a three-card suit – on very rare occasions even a two-card ‘suit’. The bidding is passed to you, and you are looking at ♠ T4 ♥ KQ3 ♦ 864 ♣ A9876. What do you bid?
The choices are clearly [1N], or [3♣]. The former is more likely to be the first choice at pairs, while the later is more suitable at teams, since it shows the five-ness of the trump fit, and 8 LTC. However [1N] was the actual bid chosen, and that ended the bidding phase.
The opening lead is the ♦3 (3rd and 5th leads) from a five-card suit, and dummy comes down with: -
EW Vulnerable
WEST EAST WEST EAST
♠ AKJ3 ♠ T4 1♣ 1N
♥ T64 ♥ KQ3 End
♦ AQT ♦ 864
♣ Q54 ♣ A9876
You insert the ♦10, which holds the trick. What do you play next, to guarantee your contract (since that is the first priority at teams, rather than worry about making a slew of overtricks)?
o Play to the ♠ T.
o Lead the ♠ J.
o Play to the ♥Q.
Being a churlish curmudgeon, you would not want to allow the enemy a cheap trick in Spades (for example the ♠Q may sit over the ♠T), so would prefer to play on Hearts, and the ♥Q holds that trick. Next a small Spade to the ♠J (if RHO wins, then there is a further entry to the East hand via the ♠T) which also holds the trick. A low Heart to the ♥K succeeds. So you take the marked finesse in Diamonds (RHO would have won the opening lead with any Diamond honour and returned the suit!), and cash all of dummy’s winners.
Dummy is reduced to ♠ 3 ♥ T ♣ Q54 (in hand ♣ A9876) so you call for a low Heart, and RHO cashes two Heart winners and returns ♣ T. Most people would be satisfied to take the ♣A and concede the last two tricks (making [1N] + 2), but passing the Club to dummy nets you yet another trick. This is really bad news, since you now know that partner would have bid [3N] (over a limit-raise to [3♣]) and made, at least, the nine tricks that you have managed to garner.
In the real world, RHO would have appreciated the impending endplay (in Hearts), and have taken the ♥A on the second Heart lead, limiting you to nine tricks.
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| Lepus 8 |
THE GOSPORT EAR (Number 8) by LEPUS
In a strength showing sequence, once a suit is actually (or tacitly) agreed, then a ‘new suit’ call at the four-level may be used as a cue-bid to show first-round control in the ‘new suit’.
WEST EAST WEST EAST
♠ AQJ32 ♠ K97 1♣
♥ AQ3 ♥ KT9 1♠ 2N (a)
♦ JT8 ♦ AKQ 3♠ (b) 4♦ (c)
♣ 75 ♣ QT32 4♠ End
(a) 18/19 HCP.
(b) Natural, and forcing. East bids [3N], [4♠], or makes a cue-bid.
(c) Cue-bid.
East explicitly denies any control in clubs, so West can safely ‘sign-off’ in game, knowing that both hands contain, at least, two losing Clubs.
WEST EAST WEST EAST
♠ AQJ32 ♠ K97 1♣
♥ AQ3 ♥ KT9 1♠ 2N
♦ JT87 ♦ AKQ 3♠ 4♦
♣ 7 ♣ QT32 4♥ (a) 5♠ (b)
6♠ End
(a) Cue-bid. Note that it also shows a Club control, else a sign-off!
(b) Bid the Slam with good Spades.
WEST EAST WEST EAST
♠ AQJ32 ♠ K97 1♣
♥ AQ3 ♥ KT9 1♠ 2N
♦ JT87 ♦ Q97 3♠ 4♣
♣ 7 ♣ AKQ5 4♥ (a) 4♠
End
(a) Cue-bid. Denies control in Diamonds.
West continues by showing his next available control. East knows that there are, at least, two losing Diamonds.
Finally, a cautionary tale about not cue-bidding the lowest control: -
WEST EAST WEST EAST
♠ A2 ♠ KT3 1♥
♥ A853 ♥ KQJ962 4♣ (a) 6♥
♦ KT7 ♦ A8 6N End
♣ AQJ6 ♣ K7
(a) Cue-bid. Denies control in Spades. Instead [3ª] is the correct cue-bid!
As you can see there are 14 cashing tricks!
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| Lepus 9 |
THE GOSPORT EAR (Number 9) by LEPUS
NS Vul WEST EAST WEST EAST
♠ AK95 ♠ JT4 1♥
♥ 74 ♥ AKQJT92 1♠ 4♥ (a)
♦ AT96 ♦ Q 4N (b) 5♦
♣ A93 ♣ 84 6♥ (c) End
(a) The Spade response has improved the opening hand: the jump shows the power of the trump holding
(b) Blackwood
(c) Well judged, as East is unlikely to hold powerful Hearts and both minor suit kings
This looks an excellent contract! In isolation, you would plan to draw trumps and run the ♠J, and 12, or 13, tricks would simply depend upon the placement of the ♠Q. The long Spade will provide a parking spot for the small losing Club in the East hand.
However the opening lead proves to be the ♣5, which looks an obvious fourth-best lead, and that is, indeed, the enemy lead style. Now the situation has changed dramatically, for if you win the lead with dummy’s Ace, then you need the Spade finesse to succeed in order to guarantee 12 tricks. Never mind about the (possible) overtrick, you are in danger of failing (half the time) in this otherwise excellent contract.
Since the ♠Q will always be wherever it was dealt (and if it is with LHO it will never run away) there is no rush to take any fateful decision early. With this sort of hand the ‘trick’ is to imagine what the end position will be, and also hope that the high cards are so distributed that it makes the enemy discards difficult. There might be a squeeze without the count (normally you would attempt to lose a trick early in the play with only 11 winners, so that the enemy ‘idle’ card is removed), or a possible late throw-in against RHO.
The imagined five-card ending would be: - in dummy ♠ AK9 ♦ AT and in hand ♠ JT4 • Q ♣ 4 when you lead the ♠J from hand. That’s the ‘plan’, so you start by cashing all your trumps. LHO pitches three Spades (which surely marks the ♠Q as being off-side) two Clubs and a Diamond, while RHO pitches ♣ KQ and two Diamonds. Clearly RHO is keeping ‘something’ in Diamonds!
On the lead of ♠J LHO duly pitches a Club, so, force majeure, you play a top honour.
Now you play ♦A (hoping to see ♦J from RHO, for then he was truly squeezed) and RHO follows. Another Diamond is taken by RHO King, and you claim, as he must lead a Spade giving you the last two tricks.
Any thoughts? Where did RHO go wrong?
He MUST drop the Queen under the lead of the ♠A, as otherwise he is totally doomed. If you then hold ♠T he says, “Well played!” and means it!
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| Lepus 10 |
THE GOSPORT EAR (Number 10 by LEPUS
You are playing teams, when, first in hand and all vulnerable, you pick up the following collection: - ♠ AKQJ87 ♥ AK10 ♦ K74 ♣ Q. You have agreed to play ‘Acol’, and quietly open [2♠] (a hand of ‘power and quality’ if ever you’ve seen one!) You are somewhat surprised when partner produces a positive response of [3♥] ( [2N] would have been a negative response, or relay).
Lacking both minor suit Aces you decide to go quietly and establish partner’s suit as the agreed trump fit by bidding [4♥]. Your Heart support is certainly not less than partner would expect, and, being aware of the power of your hand, is virtually unlikely to let the bidding die quite yet, so there is little need to be nervous about missing any lay-down Slam. It is always best to agree partner’s suit (in any situation) since he will be able to assess the two hands with more confidence once he is assured of which strain to play.
Partner duly bids [4N] (Blackwood) and continues [5N] (asking for Kings, and guaranteeing possession of all the Aces). Now you could simply answer the question, and reply [6♠], and allow partner to decide whether the Grand Slam is certain, but here since you can count 5 Hearts, 5 Spades, 2 Diamonds, and 1 Club, then the better response is [7♥]. Why only 5 Spades? Well partner may have none, and may need to ruff a Spade to establish the suit! Partner held: - ♠ 63 ♥ Q7432 ♦ A103 ♣ AJ3 and the quality of his Heart suit was right on the cusp. However he quickly claimed, for, as you would expect, a flat board.
On a later hand (all vulnerable) partner opens [1♠] (five-card suit) and you are looking at: - ♠ Q97 ♥ 76 ♦ A5 ♣ AKQJT8 (the enemy exercise caution and pass throughout). You go quietly with [2♣] and partner re-bids [2♦] over which you try [2♥] which is fourth-suit forcing, and shows extra values. Partner’s reply of [3N] guarantees a good heart stop and shows about 15-17 HCP.
As you can nearly ‘see’ 12 tricks, it is appropriate to trot out Blackwood, and you find out that partner has 2 Aces, and 2 Kings. Time to think!
Partner’s hand contains either, ♠ AK to five, ♥ AJ and ♦ K, or ♠ AJ to five, ♥ AK and ♦K. You have to decide which is more likely. Would he take the No-trump position immediately (over [2♣]) with (relatively) poor Spades, or continue to pattern-out his holding with a good
Spade suit?
If partner holds poor spades, then [6N] is the limit (not wanting to play any Grand Slam on a finesse), otherwise [7N]. Which do you choose?
Partner’s hand is: - ♠ AKT53 ♥ AJ8 ♦ K86 ♣ 97 and the winning decision is…[7N] which can cope with the Spades breaking 4.1 with RHO (Ace first, then low to the Queen will uncover that situation). This time, the opposition only bid the Small Slam, so you gain 13 i.m.p on the deal.
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