A sense of direction

Here's our very first hand of 2026 - it's fairly straightforward in both bidding and declarer play, but well worth a look ...
 

The auction

With a balanced 20-count, West opens 2NT, after 3 passes. What is East to do?

Well, she certainly has enough points for game, but probably not quite enough for a slam. So the task is to raise partner to game, but in passing to tell her about her 5-card major. How to do that? Simple: use a transfer. East bids 3♦, which forces West to complete the transfer with 3♥ ... and East now bids 3NT. 'I've put you into game, partner, but I thought I'd tell you that I have 5 hearts, just in case you'd prefer to be in 4♥.' 

And West? With just 2 hearts, she doesn't want to be in a 7-card fit, so 3NT it is. North leads the ♣2, down goes dummy, and you're declarer in 3NT, sitting West ...
 

The play

The play isn't difficult. Hearts look likely to be your main source of tricks - you'll remember from last year that when you're missing 6 cards in a suit, they'll divide 4-2 or 3-3 more than 80% of the time, so you've very probably got 5 heart tricks. The only thing you have to remember is to cash the ♥AQ in your hand now, to get them out of the way, and then find a way of getting to dummy to cash your three remaining heart tricks. What else?

Well, you're well on the way to making two club tricks, and then once you've knocked out their ♦A, you'll have two diamond tricks too. And then you've got the ♠AK, which adds up to ... 5 + 2 + 2 + 2 = 11 tricks. Just losing the two minor aces. Meaning that you don't have to worry about trying to make extra tricks by trying spade finesses: two spade tricks does the job.

So what to do? Let's say South wins trick 1 with the ♣A and leads a club back.

• Win the trick in hand and cash your ♥AQ (both defenders follow suit, so the hearts are breaking OK).
• Now lead your ♦K and if necessary another diamond to force out the ♦A, and that's it. You have the rest of the tricks.

There are two ways of finishing off the hand:

1. The boring way: go over to dummy with a diamond or a club. Cash your hearts, discarding 3 spades from hand Cash any remaining diamond and club winners and finally cash your ♠AK.
2. The quick way. Put your hand face up on the table and say: 'The rest of the tricks are mine. I can go out to dummy, with a [club], cash dummy's hearts, discarding ...'

When there's nothing left to play for, it's good practice to claim to cut short the tedium. But when you do, remember that you have to explain how you're intending to play the cards!

As we discovered in last year's seminars, the secret is to make a plan before you start playing the cards. Here you can work out in advance that you need to unblock the hearts and create an entry to dummy, and that you don't need the spade finesse. That helps to to do things in the right order, and not just dither about wondering what to do next. First work out where you're going, and then go there!

On the night

On the posh night, 6 of the 8 EW pairs were in 3NT, all making at leats 11 tricks - one made 12. The others were in hearts - not as good.

In AP, just 3 out of 6 were in 3NT, and just one made 11 tricks (well done!). One was in 4♥ and the other two were in 4♠ - all just 7-card fits. With a balanced 20-count, it's better to open 2NT, not 1♠!

cj

* The 'unusual no trump' also comes up as an overcall over an opening 1-level bid of a suit. Some of you will be familiar with the Ghestem convention, which allows you to show a pair of 5-card suits. Over an opp's opening 1♥ or 1♠, an overcall of 2NT tells partner you have both clubs and diamonds and invites her to choose the one she prefers. Just like this hand, but at a lower level. The more traditional Michaels convention works in a similar way.