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The Guessing Game 02

This deal comes from a recent X-Clubs session which was used as one session of a Swiss Pairs series at our club. In this form of the game both the contract and the opening lead could have made a huge impact on the result of an 8-board match. That is because of the possibility of a slam being bid, and the opening lead if the slam was played by either North or South. But the events that I expected to see did not eventuate at our club, with nary a slam bid anywhere. Even across the whole of X-Clubs the 6S slam was only bid four times, with surprising results. But more of that later. Let’s have some guessing practice to see what we can learn about leads against small slams.

Dealer N NS Vul
You are WEST and pick up this hand:

3
KT9762
KT
JT72

This was the bidding:

SouthWestNorthEast
--1NTPass
3Pass4Pass
4NTPass5Pass
6PassPassPass

The Guessing Game 01

The Guessing Game
In this series, I hope to teach the reader how to make the best guess when they have to make the opening lead. As part of the exercise I have asked a number of club players to offer their guesses as to a) dummy’s cards and b) their opening lead. This is what I said to them.

“This series will be about opening leads, because they are the one single most important part of defence. They set the scene for the rest of the defence. You will expect to defend half the time, so if you can defend better than others, your overall scores will be much better than others. Don’t forget that it takes TWO people to defend but only ONE is responsible for the opening lead. It is therefore most important that your partner also understands what you are trying to achieve with your opening lead. Wouldn’t it be great if you and your partner, when defending, could see, from the very first card played, what everyone holds? Surprisingly, you CAN! I exaggerate of course, but a good pair of defenders will be able to GUESS with an amazing degree of accuracy, just how they, as a partnership, can best defend right from the very first card played.”

This series will not be aimed at any particular level, but I do hope that the reader will learn the importance of ‘guesswork’.

Opening Leads 26

If only we could make the sort of opening leads that Deep Finesse always manages to find! Unfortunately we don’t have the capacity to see the full deal a priori, nor the time to work out our best attack even if we saw all the cards, but sometimes it can be a good exercise to try and think like Deep Finesse. There was not one opening leader against a 5C contract who found the ‘killing’ lead, so let us try and go through some ‘Deep Finesse’ thinking without the benefits of seeing all the cards. This deal comes from an X-Clubs session which was played as part of a Swiss Pairs event at our Hutt club. I believe the fact that this was, in effect, teams play should make the killing opening lead much easier to find.

Board 13 from Tuesday 4/03/2025
Dealer N ALL Vul

8753
652
AQJ65
4
JT9
K94
KJT9832
AKQ4
AKQT
T73
76
62
J98743
82
AQ5

Slams 09

When was the last time you (successfully) bid game with a combined nine count? And when was the last time you (also successfully) sacrificed against a cold slam, also with a combined nine count? Both those things could have happened on the very first board of our deal from last Tuesday's X-Clubs.

Board 1 from Tuesday 25/02/2025
Dealer N Nil Vul

K
AJ52
AKQ542
A4
Q763
7
7
Q987652
AJT982
T9643
T
3
54
KQ8
J9863
KJT

Slams 08

The temptation of bidding a slam is something that leads many of us astray. It is a double edged sword and one that has to be handled with great care. To make slam bidding easier, the experts have added the ‘super accept’ to the standard repertoire of transfers. The problem with that is that the super accept can carry a weak hand too far, to the extent that a perfectly good (and weak) two-level contract becomes difficult as a three level one. The following deal may or may not have resulted in a slam if the players were playing the ‘super accept’ but I have a better suggestion for anyone interested, one which we have been using successfully for some time. Let’s look at the deal first.

Board 24 from Tuesday 18/02/2025
Dealer W Nil Vul

T962
6
954
AJT52
K85
K843
A8
K983
A4
AJT9752
QJ7
6
QJ73
Q
KT632
Q74

Slams 07

Here is was another slam that was often bid in No Trumps though it would have been more comfortable in clubs.

Board 14 from Thursday 13/02/2025
Dealer E Nil Vul

A85
AK5
KQ53
A62
J76
87632
T94
T9
KT432
J
J876
QJ3
Q9
QT94
A2
K8754

Slams 06

I have always been an advocate for playing slams with a trump suit and not in No Trumps but there is clear evidence that, if bid properly, this one should be played in 6NT rather than 6S with a 5-3 spade fit, or clubs with a six card club suit headed by AKQ.

Board 10 from Tuesday 11/02/2025
Dealer E All Vul

Q42
JT872
T6
T75
963
K
AJ7
AKQ942
AKT75
AQ6
K983
8
J8
9543
Q542
J63

Your Call 21

Now for another hand from the past, but one where West had an obvious takeout double that few Wests made use of but some of my panelists did see as being ‘fit for purpose’.

Dealer W Nil Vul

K8
AT7
K2
AQT93
A9742
KQ3
A843
4
6
J98
Q86
KJ872
QJT
6542
J974
65

Your Call 20

This deal comes from Friday 30/01/25. The bidding by NS was pretty tame but was as described in YC19, with North overcalling 2C and passed back to West. This was the first problem I posed to my panel of club players, with many opting to continue bidding and only one or two leaving North in 2C. Considering NS can make 7C passing would have produced a reasonable outcome. This was the scenario at one table when West decided to bid 2H after North’s overcall and two passes: North bid 3C, East 3H, South 4C, pass, pass and East then kept competing and bid 4H. North, despite being a died in the wool conservative, having ventured a mere 2C overcall with his first bid, was now more confident and doubled 4H. The NS defensive play was far superior to their bidding and West was down five for 1100 and not a happy declarer. East is recovering in A&E from tomahawk blows to the head following a late night discussion with West.

Board 24 Dealer W Nil Vul

AT87
AT7
A
AQT93
KQJ63
Q643
Q3
K7
954
K982
T8652
8
2
J5
KJ974
J6542

Your Call 19

I could title this “Spot the Difference” or “Respect Your Passing Partner”. I sent out three bidding problems to a panel of club players. Firstly let me give you the hand you are asked to bid, sitting WEST as was the case at the time:

You are West and Dealer at Nil Vul

KQJ63
Q643
Q3
K7

Problem 1. You have opened 1S and North has overcalled with 2C. After two passes, it is your call. What should you be thinking? Why has partner PASSED?

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