| A Senior moment? |
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This was the first of two interesting hands against Brian Senior.
Pairs with a way of showing a 19+ NT hand (playing Benji for instance) have an easy route to 6NT. We got there when West chose a quantative 4NT after a game-forcing 15-19 2NT rebid by East.
The lead is the ♠10, and you can count 10 top tricks. How do you plan the play?
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| Show Answer |
Well this is all about timing. You have several possibilities:
- Diamonds may split 3-3 which would solve your problem
- Diamonds may split 4-2 in which case you can set up the fifth diamond as your 11th trick but would need the club finesse for your twelfth
- South may have the ♣K in which case you can make your two extra tricks by leading towards the ♣QJ twice.
Diamonds will split 5-1 or 6-0 16% of the time. On these occasions playing Clubs is your only chance of making the contract and depends on South having ♣K.
However Diamonds will split 3-3 35.5% of the time and on these occasions playing Diamonds first will give you an overtrick whenever North has ♣K.
Playing Pairs overtricks matter and you should play Diamonds first. Then play to set up the fifth Diamond and rely on the Club finesse if they don't split.
Playing Teams overtricks count as nothing compared to making your contract so you should play Clubs first to maximise your chance of bringing the contract home.
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| Avoiding embarassment |
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West is declarer in 3NT and is down to the last four tricks, having won six of the first nine.
You already have three tricks so two more will defeat the contract. Neither Hearts nor Spades have yet been led.
Declarer plays a small Heart from hand and plays the ♥ A from Dummy.
What do you do as South?
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| Show Answer |
If you play low then Declarer quickly calls for dummy's last Heart.
This gives you one trick but leaves you leading into ♠A Q giving declarer the last two tricks and their contract.
However strange it seems you must throw your ♥ K under dummy's ♥ A and hope partner has the ♥ Q.
If they do then you will win the two tricks you need. What if they don't, I hear you say? Well if you don't play the ♥ K you are doomed anyway so a small chance is better than no chance!
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| Nugget of Gold? |
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One of the joys of the London Easter Congress is that you get to play against experts. We played seven 7-board matches including one against David Gold, one against Justin Hackett and one against Brian Senior.
This was against David Gold and partner and 6NT is a lay down but you have to bid it. Whether East opens a strong NT or rebids a 15-19 Game Forcing 2NT over 1♠ -2♣ West has an interesting hand evaluation challenge.
Given the Club suit West really only needs East to have 16 points for the slam to be on. That means that a quantative 4NT is a poor bid as it would be passed by a 16-point hand. Gerber 4♣ is a good solution and when West finds three Aces and a King they can count 11 certain tricks so anything less than 6NT would be too timid.
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