SpadeHeart 
Little Clacton Bridge Club
 DiamondClub
Release 2.19q
Recent Updates
Home Page
18th Apr 2024 17:37 BST
Bulletin
14th Mar 2024 23:30 GMT
0 0 0 0 0 0
Pages viewed in 2024
Bulletin

AGM

11th April 2024

Start 12.30

Buffet lunch provided

 

8th September 2016
Board 2: Plans and Stratagems

Straightforward bidding gets East-West to 4♠ and then the fun starts.

Declarer can see 9 tricks (5 Spades, 3 Hearts, and the  A) but needs a tenth. So much depends on the lead.

If South leads a Club then declarer can assume that North has the ♣ A (who would underlead an Ace against a suit contract), play the ♣ J which brings out the ♣ A and makes Dummy's ♣ K the tenth trick.

South shouldn't lead a Diamond as leading from Q x x is likely to give a trick away but if they do then Declarer lets the defence win that trick and then when next in, which won't be long, cashes the  A and ruffs a third round of diamonds for the tenth trick.

A Spade lead by South should be won by declarer before playing  A and exiting with a Diamond, setting up the Diamond ruff as the tenth trick.

If South leads the  A followed by their second Heart declarer cannot afford to try and set up the Diamond ruff as North will play a third Heart for South to trump when they get in with the  K. Declarer must draw trumps first and then is left with three Diamond losers and a Club loser but can only afford to lose two more tricks.

The Heart lead puts declarer on a guess as to whether they make 4♠ or not which is much better for the defence than the other leads which mean the contract always makes.

Declarer must play Clubs before Diamonds because it is vital to keep the  A to prevent the defence cashing Diamond winners when they get in, and declarer needs to play low towards Dummy and play the ♣ J rather than the ♣ A to make their contract.

 

 

Board 18: How high to go?

This hand is all about the bidding.

South opens 1  as with only 14 points they could be misleading partner by opening 2 . If you play Benji or reverse Benji note you cannot open this hand 2 as it does not conform to the so-called 'extended rule of 25' in that the sum of the High Card Points and the length of the two longest suits is only 24.

North should bid 1♠ . That is forcing and without a six-card suit anything else would be misleading.

Despite having only 14 Points now is the time for South to show the playing strength of their hand (LTC=5 if North has at least one Heart) by jumping to 3 with their second bid.

Now North has their sights firmly set on a small slam if not the Grand Slam. 4NT asks for Aces, then 5NT says 'we've got all the Aces, how many Kings have you got?'

When North realises they are missing a King then North should settle for 6 . It is losing tactics at Pairs to bid doubtful slams and the Grand is definitely doubtful.