TIPS FOR IMPROVERS

Points of interest from the February 2016 duplicates

1       Partial elimination turns -300 into -100

Board 18 Tuesday 16 February – Vulnerability North South – Dealer East

This hand caught my eye when I realized that a small mistake by South at trick three allows declarer to escape for just one down in 5 Diamonds doubled.

When South bids 4 Hearts it is clearcut for West to sacrifice in 5 Diamonds.  This is because it is likely that each side has a ten card fit and the “Law of Total tricks” suggests that very often the total number of tricks available on any deal is approximately equal to the total number of trumps.  So if North South and East West each have ten trumps it is often the case that a total of twenty tricks can be made if each side play in their long trump suit.  So if North South can make 10 tricks in Hearts then East West may be able to make 10 tricks in Diamonds.  If North South can make 11 tricks in Hearts then East West can make 9 tricks in Diamonds and will therefore show a profit against the vulnerable game available for North South.

Against 5 Diamonds Doubled the opening lead is the King of Hearts and after winning with the Ace Declarer should play the King of Diamonds.  South takes the Ace of trumps and if he were to switch to Spades at trick three then the contract would have to go two down as Declarer would be unable to avoid the loss of one Spade, one Diamond and two Club tricks (since North would switch to Clubs on winning his Spade trick to breaking up any possible endplay.)

However if South lazily continues with the Queen of Hearts then Declarer can punish this mistake in the following manner.  Rather than trump the second round of Hearts Declarer should discard a Spade so keeping the lead in the South hand.  South now exits with the 9 of Spades at trick four.  Declarer wins with the Ace and then trumps the second round of Spades high at trick five.  At trick six he then draws the second round of trumps by playing the 9 and overtaking with the 10 (so leaving the 6 as a possible later entry to the Dummy).  At trick seven a Club follows from the Dummy to the 10 and Queen.  At trick eight South is now endplayed.  Having no more Spades he has either to continue with Clubs or concede a ruff and discard by playing a third Heart.  Yes East was lucky to find South with only two cards in Spades but by discarding a Spade on the second round of Hearts East was simply exchanging a Spade loser for a Heart loser and if South did have a third Spade East would still be able to ruff high and cross to the Dummy with the 6 of Diamonds in order to try and take another Club finesse.  So in making ten tricks Declarer lost just one Heart, one Diamond and one Club but no Spade tricks.  At pairs -100 is likely to be a top while at teams it is likely to gain 5 IMPS against teammates collecting +300 at the other table.

2       Knowledge of 10 card fit leads to slam on a combined 27 count

Board 3 Wednesday 17 February – Vulnerability East West – Dealer South

Although East has only 19 points it is clearcut to upgrade this to a 2NT opener.  This is because East has a five card suit, two 10s and seven controls (Ace = 2 controls, King = 1 control).

West bids 3 Spades showing at least eight cards (and usually nine) in the minors.  If East has no interest in playing in a minor suit he would sign off in 3NT.  However if East bids 4 of a minor he is showing four cards in that minor and an interest in slam if West is suitable.  On those occasions when East has five cards in the minor he bids 4 Hearts to show five Clubs and 4 Spades to show five Diamonds.  This allows use to be made of a bid which cannot possibly be natural as having opened 2NT showing a balanced or semi-balanced hand it makes no sense to suddenly introduce Hearts or Spades as a trump suit at the four level.

When East bids 4 Hearts then West knowing of the 10 card trump fit no longer needs to worry about the Queen of trumps.  This is because when 10 trumps are present the odds of a 2-1 split are 78% whereas if only 9 trumps are present missing the Queen then the odds of a 2-2 split are only 40% plus the odds of a singleton Queen if the Jack is present in the 9 card fit.  Accordingly West cue-bids the King of Spades and East can then jump to 6 Clubs.

Against this contract South is likely to lead the Jack of Hearts which immediately gives two Heart tricks and a Spade discard from the Dummy and so removes any need to worry about the whereabouts of the Queen of Spades.

3       North South asleep at the wheel in the bidding

Board 12 Monday 29 February – Vulnerability North South – Dealer West

I was extremely puzzled to note that seven out of eight North South pairs let East West play in Hearts on this hand despite the fact that North South are cold for game in Spades.  There are three ways in which the bidding might go.

Firstly for those playing weak no trump:-

Here North is able to double 3 Hearts for takeout and South is delighted to jump to game in Spades knowing of the likely nine card fit and the ideal holding of Axx Hearts opposite a probable singleton in the North hand.

Secondly for those playing strong no trump and four card majors:-

Thirdly for those playing strong no trump and five card majors:-

There is no defence to 4 Spades.  On the best lead of a Club South can duck to the Queen.  Now the Defence cannot stop the long Diamond becoming established to eventually discard the second losing Club.

The absolute par on the hand is for East West to then sacrifice in 5 Hearts doubled losing only 300 but since the only North South pair who played in Spades did so at the 2 level no East West pair was faced with this decision !