Skating on Thin Ice
Competing over an opponent’s 1NT can be fraught with danger, as many EW pairs discovered when they played this deal. It certainly helps, if you’re going to have the nerve to come in with a poor hand, if your declarer play is good enough to handle what may happen later.
Board 6 from Thursday 23/05/2019
Dealer E EW Vul
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A
T98632
K92
876Would you, if you were East, open the bidding? Probably a bit too frisky vul vs not. When South opens 1NT, would you, sitting West, make an even friskier overcall of 2S? I would be more inclined to open the East hand than to come in with 2S as West over a 1NT opening. As it happens, EW are likely to get a chance to get into the bidding anyway. East passes, South opens 1NT, West passes and North bids 2D as a transfer. East can now double to show a decent hand with diamonds, and when South bids 2H, West can bid 2S, which should show some values and five spades. Or, if North makes a non transfer weakness takeout to 2H, East can now double for takeout. Certainly, if West bids 2S immediately after South’s 1NT, East is more than justified in raising to 4S. It is then that West will need to play well to make up for his ‘adventurous’ bidding. I noted that all the Wests who played in 4S at our club failed, but should they? Let’s take a look at how the play should go.
North leads the ten of hearts. That marks South with the KQ. Declarer can hope that one of the minor suit kings is with North, but how to play the trumps? There are a number of different ways to play this hand, but declarer can do some investigating before playing on trumps, or play on trumps immediately. Either way declarer will make IF he has some basic knowledge of distributional odds and can count up to 12, which South must have for the opening 1NT. When four cards are missing, the odds are they will break 3-1. What are the odds that South will have both the ace and king of spades to make up his 12-14 count? The most sensible play is for declarer to play for a) a 3-1 trump split with a singleton ace or king with North. The best technique is for declarer to ruff the heart lead in dummy, keeping control in hearts, and lead a trump from dummy. When South follows with the ten, that is more evidence that North has either the ace or king, or the trumps will be 2-2. Either way, it is now sensible for declarer to duck, then later enter dummy with a diamond finesse to lead a second spade towards the queen in hand.
Given all the clues, would YOU have made 4S?
