Hand 1:
I was West and held ♠62 ♥8732 ♦T4 ♣AJT76 and passed. North opened 1S, partner doubled, and South bid 3S (preemptive). I may have 4 hearts, but definitely do not have enough to bid at the 4 level and so I passed. Partner now leads the Ace of hearts (A from AK) and dummy comes down with ♠T754 ♥Q5 ♦Q7632 ♣98. What heart do you play on this trick?
It pays to be clear on what your defensive agreements are. Ours are that we signal upside-down attitude on trick 1 (so the 2♥ would encourage and 8♥ would discourage) unless a switch is clearly warranted in which case we signal suit preference. I didn't want partner blowing a trick in diamonds by switching, so I encouraged a heart continuation with the 2♥. Unfortunately, this was the hand:
| ♠AKQJ3 ♥J94 ♦A98 ♣32 | ||
| ♠62 ♥8732 ♦T4 ♣AJT76 | ♠98 ♥AKT6 ♦KJ5 ♣KQ54 | |
| ♠T754 ♥Q5 ♦Q7632 ♣98 |
and on the third heart, declarer pitched a club and made 3S. Since everyone else was in 2S making 2, 3S down 1 would have been a top. 3S making was a well-deserved bottom. I should have discouraged hearts and left it to partner to figure out what suit he needed to switch to.
Hand 2:
I was West and held ♠AK73 ♥A943 ♦J6 ♣943. North opened 1C and South bid 2H described as 5 spades and 4 or 5 hearts. I passed of course and North bid 2S which was passed out. Partner led the 9 of spades and dummy came down with ♠JT862 ♥K752 ♦K3 ♣72. Plan the defense.
This is an unfamiliar auction, but it pays to apply some bridge logic. First: how much does partner have? The opponents passed out 2S, so it is highly likely that they have only 18-22 points. Partner must have 6-10 points. Second: how are the hearts distributed? From partner's lead, he probably has a doubleton in spades, leaving declarer with only 2 spades himself. This means that he has 2 or fewer hearts (with 3, he would have left it at 2H for the possible 8-card fit). So, declarer's points are in the minors. The defense is now clear. Play the two top spades, lead a heart. You will come to 2 spades and 3 hearts in your hand, and partner's minor suit winners will be the setting tricks.
This was the full hand:
| ♠Q5 ♥J ♦QT985 ♣KQJT8 | ||
| ♠AK73 ♥A943 ♦J6 ♣943 | ♠94 ♥QT86 ♦A742 ♣A65 | |
| ♠JT862 ♥K752 ♦K3 ♣72 |
I failed to analyze the auction at the table and led a top club back. At this point, partner could have done the same analysis and led the Q of hearts to pin the Jack, but he didn't sniff out the distribution either (it's much easier from my side, so I should have been leading the defense on this hand). The upshot was that instead of going down 2-3 tricks, they made 2S. Another top converted to a bottom.
The first deal shows what happens sometimes. If you gave the hand to someone as a problem, they would give it some thought and (perhaps) do the right thing. But at the table, we sometimes go on autopilot instead of doing the hard work. Agree?
ReplyDeleteHappy holidays!
true. It's hard at the table to determine which hands require some thought. Hand 1 looks like a routine hand, and it would have been if partner had held AKJ of hearts. Then, the heart continuation would have been "safe". But then a good partner would know this already and even I discouraged hearts, he would have continued ...
DeleteHappy holidays, Dave.