Q&A Test Answers 02

Another teams match and the bidding:

Dealer West All Vul

South	West	North	East
-	1NT	Pass	2
Pass	2	Pass	4
Pass	Pass	Pass

1NT has been announced as ‘12-14’. 2C is Stayman.
Your partner leads the seven of hearts. Dummy comes down and this is the situation:

Dummy:

QT82

QJT

A98

K85

Your hand, as South:

95

A8432

732

Q92

What will be the first two cards played from your hand, and why?

One of the first things we learn is the ‘rule of 11’ which I don’t need to elaborate on. Suffice to say, you
should know that partner’s opening lead is the top of a doubleton. How do we know that? Firstly let’s
look at the bidding. Declarer will not have four hearts because with four spades and four hearts, a 1NT
opener would respond to a Stayman enquiry by bidding 2H. Therefore partner’s lead is NOT a
singleton and we know it is not from “MUD” since we don’t like MUD opening leads. Therefore we
can be 100% sure that partner has led the H7 from a doubleton, hoping for a ruff. A look at dummmy
tells us that partner is also quite likely to have a spade honour, let’s say the king. What will happen if
you win the ace of hearts at trick one and return another? Declarer will win in dummy and take the
spade finesse, losing to partner’s king. Partner will then, to no avail, look for an entry to your hand and
most likely switch to a club and pick up your queen for declarer. If you know what is going on you can
follow the play through from the opening lead and find the only solution, which is a 100% correct
solution: play a low and encouraging heart (according to your agreed signaling system) and then, when
declarer calls for a trump from dummy, follow with the 5 or 9. When partner wins the KS she will lead
another heart, you will only then win the ace, and a third round ruff is guaranteed. Defence is easy
when you can see what will happen in the first four tricks, not when you blindly follow the ‘rules’.