2021 Suffolk Championship Teams Final – Three Hands
Hand One
You hold (as West)
♠ 9
♥ K Q 4 2
♦ J 6 4 3
♣ A 9 6 2
Here is the auction:
N E S W
P 1NT P
2H DBLE 2S 3H
P P 3S All P
South’s 1NT showed 12-14 HCP. Partner’s double showed Hearts. You lead ♥ K. This is what you see.
♠ K Q 7 4 3
♥ 10 3
♦ 8 7 2
♣ K J 8
♠ 9
♥ K Q 4 2
♦ J 6 4 3
♣ A 9 6 2
On ♥ K partner plays ♥ 6 (low high = odd number) and declarer plays ♥ 5. You continue with ♥ Q and partner plays ♥ 9, declarer plays ♥ J. What do you play at trick three and why?
Hand Two
You hold (as West)
♠ J
♥ A J 4
♦ 7 6 5 4
♣ A J 9 6 3
You are dealer, with both sides vulnerable. What is your call?
Hand Three
You are South holding this hand:
♠ 10 2
♥ A K J 8 7 4
♦ K 10
♣ A Q 3
The auction gathers pace, with eventually everyone joining in. East’s 1NT opening shows 12-14 HCP and we will assume won’t contain a 6 card suit.
N E S W
P 1NT X 2S
P P 3H 3S
4H All P
Partner’s hand is
♠ 73
♥ Q 6 5 2
♦ 9
♣ 10 9 8 7 6 4
LHO leads ♠ Q, overtaken by the ♠K; RHO cashes ♠A and ♦A, then switches to a trump which you win in hand, and draw the remaining trump (you can choose which hand to be in when the second trump is drawn). Trumps are 2-1, with the No Trump opener having the doubleton. How are you going to play the Clubs?
Preliminary questions (clues): a) what is the Spade distribution? b) can West be void Clubs? c) what is the Diamond distribution?
Hand One
The key card is partners ♥ 9. Partner gave you count when you led the ♥ K, you know declarer started with 2 Hearts. What is ♥ 9 telling you? ♥ 9 is suit preference for the higher ranking of the unbid suits i.e. Diamonds. Therefore, at trick three you should play ♦ 3 (low from an honour). This is the full hand.
♠ K Q 7 4 3
♥ 10 3
♦ 8 7 2
♣ K J 8
♠ 9 ♠ 8 6 5
♥ K Q 4 2 ♥ A 9 8 7 6
♦ J 6 4 3 ♦ K Q 10
♣ A 9 6 2 ♣ 5 3
♠ A J 10 2
♥ J 5
♦ A 9 6
♣ Q 10 7 4
If you switched to a diamond at trick 3 (as did Chris Green) you beat 3♠ by one trick (courtesy of two Hearts, two Diamonds and a Club). 2♠ made with an overtrick at the other table so you get 6 imps in, rather than a flat board. There is something else about this hand. Did you notice that 4 Hearts by E/W cannot be beaten? Partner’s hand (which passed initially) fits perfectly: small doubleton Club, values in Diamonds, no wasted values in Spades. And the opponents’ distribution in both Hearts and Diamonds is benign.
Hand Two
Here are all 4 hands:
♠ A 7 6 5 4
♥ 8 7 6 5
♦ J 3
♣ Q 5
♠ J ♠ 10 9 8
♥ A J 4 ♥ Q 9 3 2
♦ 7 6 5 4 ♦ A 10
♣ A J 9 6 3 ♣ 8 7 4 2
♠ K Q 3 2
♥ K 10
♦ K Q 9 8 2
♣ K 10
There is no right answer on what West should call as dealer. It depends on partnership style and you will either Pass or open 1 Club (playing ACOL) depending on that style. The Kaplan and Rubens hand evaluator reckons the hand is worth 11.85 points, awarding a little extra for having a decent 5 card suit. Click here for a link to the evaluator.
If you pass with the West hand your opponents will have a normal auction to 4 Spades, which effectively depends on the position of the ♥ A. That is what happened at one table, resulting in +100 to Team Moore.
Here is the auction at the other table:
N E S W
1C (2+ Clubs)
P 1H X XX (shows 3 Hearts)
1S P 2S All P
Jane Moore with the South hand knew that her two holdings of K10 were sitting under the opening bidder, and that East had values as well as West; armed with this information she made the excellent decision to settle for a part score rather than try for game, and gained 6 imps. This was the start of a difficult time for Team Price in the 5th Stanza, which saw their lead of 11 imps whittled down to just 1 imp.
Hand Three
Answers to the preliminary questions (clues):
- what is the likely Spade distribution? 6-3 or 7-2 (from the bidding)
- can West be void Clubs? No, East has turned up with ♠ A, ♠ K and ♦ A and since limited to a maximum of 14 HCP can’t have both ♣ K and ♣ J. Therefore West has at least 1 Club
- what is the Diamond distribution? Oppo have 10 Diamonds between them; East has a maximum of 5 Diamonds; West must have at least 5 Diamonds. West is known to have 6 Spades, 1 Heart and 1 Club, therefore must have exactly 5 Diamonds.
That leaves only 1 hand shape for West: 6-1-5-1. Why might West not have led the singleton Club? Because it is the King and West is hoping for a losing finesse to be taken into their hand! - if the ♣ K is led that clears everything up for declarer on this particular hand. If your analysis as Declarer has proceeded in this way you might find the double dummy line to make 4 Hearts, by dropping the singleton ♣ K then crossing to dummy to finesse against the ♣ J. (Note this analysis would be complicated further if East might have opened 1NT with a 6 card Diamond suit, giving Declarer two alternative shapes to play West for: 7-1-4-1 or 6-1-4-2. Since West has a singleton in two out of the three distributions now possible it might still be right to play West for the singleton ♣ K, using the earlier logic).
Here are all 4 hands:
♠ 7 3
♥ Q 6 5 2
♦ 9
♣ 10 9 8 7 6 4
♠ Q J 9 8 6 4 ♠ A K 5
♥ 10 ♥ 9 3
♦ J 6 5 4 3 ♦ A Q 8 7 2
♣ K ♣ J 5 2
♠ 10 2
♥ A K J 8 7 4
♦ K 10
♣ A Q 3
Sadly for South there was no opportunity for such glory, because the auction did not in fact stop at 4 Hearts! Here is the full auction:
N E S W
P 1NT X 2S
P P 3H 3S
4H 4S X All P
There is a saying that it is often right to bid 4 Spades over 4 Hearts, and that is certainly the case here, since there are only 3 losers in 4 Spades (1 Heart, 1 Diamond and 1 Club). Minus 590 for Team Price in the last set and 12 imps out when a quieter auction at the other table netted + 140 for N/S. A very uncomfortable moment for the pair conceding 590, and with three boards to go Team Price were now in fact losing the match. However over the last three boards they were net plus and managed when the dust settled to secure a 3 imp victory in this hard fought match.
MHP
|