TIPS FOR IMPROVERS
Points of interest from the September 2015 duplicates
1 Game universally missed
Board 7 Wednesday 16 September – Vulnerability Amber – Dealer South
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Kxxxx
xx
xx
AQxx
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A9xx
Qx
KQ10x
KJx
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Jx
10xx
Jxx
10xxxx
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Q10
AKJ98x
Axxx
x
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All five North South pairs ended up in a Heart part score thus missing the excellent game.
South opens 1 Heart and West doubles. North bids 1 Spade and East passes.
At this stage it would appear that most of the South pairs simply rebid 2 Hearts. However the hand is too strong for this action. Equally with only 14 HCPs the hand is not really good enough to jump to 3 Hearts especially as it does not have the seven playing trick strength that such a bid would suggest. Accordingly South should simply rebid 2 Diamonds.
When as opener you rebid a second lower ranking suit after a one level response by responder you are showing anywhere between 11 and 17 points (occasionally 18 if the hand is not strong enough to insist upon game). Here North gives preference to 2 Hearts holding two cards in each suit and now South can make a game try of 3 Hearts. This shows a good hand with 6-4 shape (since responder’s preference to 2 Hearts does not promise more than two cards in Hearts). Over the invite North is delighted to raise to game holding nine points including an Ace and a King plus the doubleton in Diamonds.
In the defence West has a dilemma. If he opens with a trump in order to stop a Diamond ruff in the Dummy then he sacrifices any chance of the Queen of Hearts making a trick and Declarer will easily make 10 tricks with six Heart tricks, two Club tricks after finessing the Queen (which has at least a 70% chance of success on the bidding in view of West’s take out double) one Spade and one Diamond trick. Alternatively if West opens with the King of Diamonds then Declarer allows the King to win the first trick. On a Club switch the Queen is finessed and a Diamond discarded on the Ace of Clubs. The Ace of Diamonds is followed by the third round of Diamonds is ruffed in the Dummy. If Declarer now diagnoses the trump position he will make an overtrick. If instead he finesses the Jack of Hearts he will lose one Heart, one Spade and one Diamond making just ten tricks for +620.
2 Inferential count for the overtrick
Board 9 Monday 21 September – Vulnerability East West – Dealer North
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A9x
Q10x
KQJ10xx
x
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Kxxx
Ax
xx
K10xxx
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QJ8xx
K
Axx
AJxx
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10
Jxxxxxx
xx
Qxx
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North
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East
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South
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West
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1 Diamond
Pass
Pass
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1 Spade
3 Clubs
Pass
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Pass
Pass
Pass
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2 Diamonds
4 Spades
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Only three pairs out of eight managed to reach game in Spades for East West and of the seven pairs who played in Spades only four managed to make the overtrick which is a near certainty if they had bothered to count the North South hands properly.
West makes an unassuming cue-bid of 2 Diamonds after East overcalls. This promises a minimum of nine points with Spade support. East has a good hand but with the singleton King of Hearts it would be a little wild to jump to game in Spades so accordingly East bids his second suit. This is all the encouragement which West needs to bid game in Spades especially as he has a fourth trump.
South leads a Diamond which East wins with the Ace. At trick two the Queen of Spades is played. Let us assume that North allows the Queen to win before winning the second Spade with the Ace. North then cashes his Diamond trick at trick four before exiting with his last trump at trick five.
At trick six Declarer unblocks the King of Hearts and then trumps his third Diamond in the Dummy at trick seven on which South discards a Heart. At trick eight the Ace of Hearts is cashed. At this stage North is known to have three Spades, at least two Hearts and exactly six Diamonds. In other words he cannot have more than two Clubs and his shape is likely to be either 3=3=6=1 or 3=2=6=2. Conversely South’s shape will be either 1=7=2=3 or 1=8=2=2. Due to the fact that eight card suits are extremely rare beasts East should play North for 3=3=6=1 and when a low Club to the Ace at trick nine yields only low cards he should then confidently run the Jack of Clubs at trick ten for the overtrick.
3 Minor Suit Game missed
Board 10 Monday 28 September – Vulnerability Amber – Dealer East
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Axx
x
Q10x
Q109xxx
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KQx
K109xxx
xxx
J
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10xxxx
QJ
J9xx
Ax
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Jx
Axxx
AKx
Kxxx
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North
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East
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South
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West
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2 Spades
3 Hearts
5 Clubs
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Pass
Pass
Pass
Pass
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1NT
3 Clubs
4 Diamonds
Pass
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Pass
Pass
Pass
Pass
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Only one pair out of eight managed to reach the laydown 5 Club contract on the above hand.
After a strong no trump from South then North transfers into Clubs. As explained in Tip No 3 from September 2014 if you complete the minor suit transfer by bidding 3 Clubs over 2 Spades (or 3 Diamonds over 2NT if responder has transferred into Diamonds) then you are showing a fit for responder’s minor. A fit is defined as Qxx or better. If you do not have a fit for responder’s minor then opener simply bids the next step ie 2NT over 2 Spades or 3 Clubs over 2NT.
When opener shows a fit for Clubs then 3 of either major by responder shows a shortage (singleton or void in that major). This highlights that opener cannot insist on playing in no trumps without a very good stop in that major. Here when responder shows Heart shortage opener knows that 3NT is unlikely to be the best contract holding only one stop but equally the hand is very suitable for playing in at least game in Clubs. Accordingly opener cue-bids 4 Diamonds showing the Ace of Diamonds and denying a control in Spades. Responder then signs off in 5 Clubs. 5 Clubs needs just a 2-1 trump break (78%) or if the Clubs are 3-0 then opener needs simply to guess who has the three trumps. Thus the chances of success are 78% + half of 22% = 89%.
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