26WED Play

There are a things to be learnt from this deal, which popped up on Wednesday 29th June:

Board 18 Dealer E NS Vul

AJ
AKJ64
J973
A9
4
87
AT864
KJ654
K876
QT
K5
QT732
QT9532
9532
Q2
8

I don't think too many Souths would venture a weak 2S so there are likely to be three passes before North opens 1H. Would you/did you then pass as South? I personally would raise to 2H because the four points are 'working' points, with four trumps and a singleton club, with four points in the other two suits. There is certainly no point mentioning spades, because the trump suit has already been found, so tell partner.

If South does raise to 2H, should WEST now do something? The more experienced players will bid TWO NO TRUMPS, which is a variation of the “UNUSUAL NO TRUMP”. In most situations, people play the Unusual NT this way: If your right hand opponent opens 1H or 1S, a jump to 2NT shows both minor suits, normally weak rather than strong. Thus, West would have jumped to 2NT had South opened 1H, but this is no different is it? After having passed in the first place, West's 2NT bid can not be interpreted any other way. It is very useful for two reasons: should NS bid to game, East may realise that EW have a very cheap sacrifice in either minor, or it may help East's defence if North does go to 4H and EW decide to defend.

The reader can see that if West has told East that he has both minors East will, because of the favourable vulnerability, bid 5C should NS go to game. If NS bid and make game, that is 620 but 5C doubled , even down three, will cost only 500. Of course on a Wednesday you would need to be quite sure that such a sacrifice will be worth it but then again, many NS pairs may not even double 5C. Anything is possible on a Wednesday but I can guarantee that in a higher level competition most NS pairs will bid to 4H and some EW pairs will then find the 5C sacrifice! A few EW pairs will defeat 4H.

But back to Wednesdays ... let me discuss what might happen if North is playing 4H, with the bidding having gone 1H-2H-4H by NS.

East has no reason to make what is a killing lead, the king of diamonds. East leads the THREE of clubs, fourth highest from a BROKEN suit. One East I note made the atrocious lead of the QUEEN of clubs, which can only lead to disaster. Lead a LOW one because whatever honour cards partner has won't trip over your queen. Leading high cards unsupported by touching cards is NEVER a good idea although in this case it doesn't matter. So no harm done but just wait till next time!

How should declarer play the trump suit? The old adage of 'eight ever, nine never' should apply here: with NINE trumps missing the queen, go for the drop. With eight missing the queen, if there is a finesse position, finesse. In this hand, if West has bid the Unusual NT, he is unlikely to have three hearts anyway so the only real option is to try and drop the queen from East. That works admirably and declarer makes game. But if East has been alerted to the possibilities after West has either bid diamonds (possible after 1H-PASS-PASS) or shown both minors, then East can make the very good lead of the king of diamonds. What can happen then is that West wins the second round of diamonds and sends a third back, which East can ruff higher than any card dummy has. Then, as long as East doesn't blow it by leading a spade, the defence will defeat 4H because East will make the king of spades sooner or later.

On the night there was only one NS in 4H and that, of course, made. Had EW sacrificed in 5C doubled for -300 that would still have been a top for NS so yes; it's always payday for NS to bid the game. A 1H opening by North and a raise to 2H by South, as I suggested earlier, should lead to North's declaring at 4H.