When going down while others make is Right and Proper!
Board 16 Dealer W EW Vul from Wednesday 18/10/2017
| ||||||||||
|
| |||||||||
|
AJ3
A2
T5
KJ9865The most likely contract on the NS hands is 3NT. If it is by South, West might lead the six of hearts (fourth highest of longest and strongest) but there is a good reason why you don't do that when you hold a third high card that provides a possible extra hold in the suit. Having the TEN makes a big difference and West should lead the KING.
The bidding may or may not have provided West with a very good reason to lead a heart, but which one? If East is on lead, there is no problem. East should lead the NINE of hearts not fourth highest, though in this case either would work out well. Now let us turn our attention to the play in 3NT. If South is lucky enough to have a poor defender who leads a low heart, there is no problem in the play. But if West should lead the king, declarer is bound to fail, despite what Deep Finesse has to say. You see, Deep Finesse can see all the hands and declarer play for him is easy. But a good declarer will play with the odds, and that means playing the ace of clubs and then the two, finessing the jack when West follows with the ten.
That is about a 50% play but Deep Finesse can see all the hands and will, instead, win dummy's ace of hearts and start from dummy by leading the JACK OF CLUBS! Can you see what happens then? If East covers, declarer wins the ace and West's TEN drops on the next round! That play requires precise cards in the EW hands: a doubleton ten with West and three to the queen in East. A 4% shot? DF can see that it will work, no declarer can.
What happened at YOUR club? Did anyone fail in 3NT? At our Hutt club there were no 3NTs down one, but one declarer did make all the tricks. I regret to say that this means that ALL our declarers need to practice their declarer play, because down one should be the result with best declarer play, and making seven would score zero in a declarer play contest. As for the bidding, maybe a very sophisticated NS pair would be able to diagnose the weakness in hearts and end up in the excellent 4S despite only a 4-3 fit. Maybe more on that later.
Footnote: I will be starting another series, entitled “The X(Club) Files” which will cover selected hands from play in different sessions of “X-Club” play: Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays.
