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For Junior, Intermediate and Novice players…and others! It’s Fri  day.

A little lie and a lucky lie!

Unfortunately, neither lie favoured West on today’s deal. Sometimes the luck goes your way: sometimes not. That’s certainly true at the bridge table. Firstly, though, to the opening lead. What is your choice?

 

2NT was 20-22 balanced and 3 Stayman. The answer must have pleased North who raised 3 to game. So, what is your choice?

With a strong, very strong, balanced hand on your right, it does not pay, when in doubt, to be too aggressive, indeed not to be aggressive at all. That should, this time, eliminate a minor lead, too likely to give away a trick. My choice would be 6, 2^nd highest of 4 small cards. Hopefully, that would not give away a trick.

Let’s take a peek at all four hands and see the “little lie” that South had told:

 

Firstly South, then North, had problems in the bidding. With 22 hcp, South had an excellent hand but perhaps not quite enough for a game force 2 opening. They were certainly too strong to open at the 1 level. So, to the little lie of showing a balanced 20-22. Well, they had honours in all 4 suits!

North could have passed 2NT though there were good chances of finding a fit in one major. There are different ways to explore for a fit with 5 spades and 4 hearts after partner opens 2NT. Our North chose simple Stayman and was duly rewarded when South bid 3.

Now, we can see that, at trick 1, there is no gain in declarer playing a high spade from dummy…or is there? No-one told East that South had only spade when they opened their “balanced hand”. East would play Q to ensure one trick in the suit, or so they thought, with A winning. South could not be sure how many spades East held.

With the above North- South hands, South would normally try to ruff clubs in dummy. However, the opening lead offers the spade suit as a possible source of tricks. So, at trick 2, South leads a small diamond from hand, hoping West holds K. They do and win the trick, and now not wanting to continue spades, West exits a diamond to Q in dummy.

So, after playing J at trick 1, next they play 1O. There is no winning play for East who almost certainly will try to win the trick with K. Not today! South ruffs and can now play AK before AJ. There is no gain for East in ruffing either card with their high Q. So, declarer should only lose a trump and K, 11 tricks.  

As it happens, an initial diamond lead is safe for the defence but a club is not. Even J runs the risk of the defence losing their trump trick.

With K falling in 3 rounds if South ruffs that suit, and KQ being very well placed for South, 4 should always make: the “favourable lie” for South.

The board is interesting for South’s choice of opening bids and in how the partnership advance to 4. It also shows that you can sometimes tell a little lie in the bidding and take advantage of that in the play. Otherwise, an inspired East could play low if declarer had called for a low spade from dummy. In reality, KQ7 will never produce a trick for the defence but forcing out a high honour at trick 1 makes declarer’s task just a little easier on a potentially difficult board to play.

 

2 good lies make one making game! When you “lie a little”, don’t blush!

Richard Solomon

 

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