Hand 15, 34WED Revisited

Here is the play problem from last week. West is declarer in 4S. At the time this deal was played, most Souths opened a weak 1NT and West came in with 2S. The Easts either made a forward move with 2NT or raised spades to three. In some cases, if West passed (somewhat conservative but with NS vulnerable, defending 1NT could have been profitable), North made a 'weakness' takeout of 2H, or, if NS were playing transfers which most new players don't do, North would transfer to 2H via a bid of 2D. Nothing should stop West then bidding spades, so let us look at some scenarios where West is in spades, be it in 2S or 4S, with two different opening lead possibilities: the JACK OF CLUBS, or the NINE OF HEARTS. How should declarer play in each case? Let's take a look at all the hands now, just to give you a clue:

Board 15 Dealer S NS Vul

	76 9875432 J82 J
QJT52 J K7 A9852		A4 KT6 AT53 QT63
	K983 AQ Q964 K74

First, the easy one: North leads the JACK OF CLUBS. Declarer has been presented with an absolute gift! Declarer covers the jack with the queen in dummy and this picks up South's king. If South refuses to cover dummy's queen, declarer can repeat South's misery later. But let's say South covers with the king and declarer wins the ace. Great, the club suit is now set up. But how can declarer go wrong?

Being in hand, and having learnt how to finesse, declarer might lead out the queen of spades and allow it to run for that finesse. But this is another totally clear cut case of when NOT to finesse. Is it not a near certainty that a)North's jack of clubs is singleton and b) South has the king of spades? Don't forget that South opened 1NT therefore has 12-14 points. What will happen if South is allowed to win the FIRST spade trick when the queen of spades is led and allowed to run? South will win the king and lead a club, which North will ruff.

There is only one sensible chance for declarer, and that is to play ace and another trump immediately, and hope that South started with four and North only two, which was indeed the case. If it hadn't been, then there was nothing declarer could have done to void it, because counting the points should have told declarer that the spade finesse was not the best option.

The same result should be obtained if North starts the defence by leading the nine of hearts (or any heart) because THEN declarer has to play the clubs for himself. If SOUTH has the king of clubs by inference from the 1NT opening then there is only ONE way to play the suit: LEAD THE QUEEN and hope that North has a singleton JACK! Can you see why?