A number of quite amazing hands this week, I really don't know which to report. We've had quite a few discussions on slams, so maybe this week we'll talk about something different, a hand which was very competitive in nature and also required some good declarer play.
Board 22 from Thursday 1/03/2018.
Dealer E EW Vul
Would you open the West hand 1S, or with another bid that showed a strong 8+ playing trick hand? Or, being third in hand after two passes, just bid 4S? There is something to be said for all options, but the West at our table was not the most aggressive player in the club and opened 1S. North overcalled 2C, East passed, and I saw no reason not to introduce my hearts, given the excellent club support. At this stage West should have just bid 4S. While there seem to be three certain losers plus a possible one or two diamond losers, with NS bidding clubs and hearts, surely 4S must have a shot? But maybe West was a bit uncomfortable with the vulnerability, West bid just 2S. North was happy to support hearts and bid 3H. After two passes, West persisted with 3S and I belatedly showed my club support with 4C. North bid 4H and West passed. West should have reasoned that if we were making 4H then he was probably making 4S or would be down one in the most unfortunate of layouts, but West gave in.
After cashing two top spades, West cashed a top diamond and continued with the third top spade. Should I ruff with dummy's jack? That would certainly tell me where the queen was but if it was with East it would also be a losing play, so I ruffed with dummy's ace and then led the jack, which East covered and I won with the king. Since the bidding by West had been fairly strong, and a 3-1 break was more likely, I led the club eight to dummy's queen for a 'pretend finesse' and then led another heart, finessing when East followed low. The rest was easy and 4H made. I would certainly have bid to 5C if West had bid 4S, and because a third spade would give North no problems, how many down 5C went would depend on the view in the heart suit. Would North have got it right? North would no doubt have reasoned that 4S would have made if West had only one heart, and then played in 5C doubled accordingly. Down one doubled therefore was the par contract on this deal. But the actual results did not quite reflect that: 4H down one twice; 2S making 5; 3S making 5; and 4S making 6 twice! What happened at YOUR club? Any correspondence is welcome, to villyn@xtra.co.nz
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92
AJ75
3
AQ6543