Hand of the week commencing
Sunday 25th March 2007
West
lead the ©8, his 4th highest ,plan your play of
1NT.
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ª |
K
J 2
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Dealer
South |
© |
Q
10 7 6 |
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¨ |
6
5 |
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§ |
K
J 6 5 |
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N |
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ª |
Q
4 3
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ª |
9
7 5 |
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© |
K
J 9 8 3 |
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W
E |
© |
5
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¨ |
10
9 7 2 |
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¨ |
K
Q J 3 |
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§ |
7 |
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§ |
A
10 9 8 3 |
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S |
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ª |
A
10 8 6 |
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© |
A
4 2 |
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¨ |
A
8 4 |
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§ |
Q
4 2 |
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W |
N |
E |
S |
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1NT |
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NO |
NO |
NO |
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My
students always think that 1NT is the hardest contract to make. This is
partially correct, since the points are likely to be spread equally in both
partnerhsips. Sometimes even when you have a good majority as with the above
example (24 points total) they find the quest for seven tricks daunting.
Having
escaped a Diamond lead, where do we go from here with so many options. If West
has made a genuine 4th highest lead, declarer can see that the ©10
will hold the first trick. (We know this from a) the rule of Eleven – 11- 8 =
3 cards higher than the card led can be seen in dummy and declarer’s own hand
b) the only card higher than the 8 declarer
cannot see are the K, J, and 9 so they must be in the leader’s hand). After
winning the first trick fairly cheaply with the 10, we must now decide which
black suit to broach. The Spade suit has 2 winners in it without doing any work
so it seems that the Club suit needs attention first. A Club is led from dummy
towards the Queen and it holds. (East could not afford to play his Ace “on
air”! What now ? Another club or
switch to the Spades ? We have secured one Club trick and have the suit under
control with the KJ still in dummy so we can now turn our attention to Spades.
If we play a low spade to dummy’s Jack, and the finesse loses do we have
enough tricks in the bag. Yes, we have 3 Spades, 2 Hearts 1 Diamond and 1 Club.
If the finesse is successful we can turn our attention to overtricks and try for
another club trick. Having guessed the Spades correctly, we will eventually
notch up 4 Spades, 2 Hearts 1 Diamond and 2 Clubs for 2 deserved overtricks.