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Bid ‘em Up: Play ‘em Safe.

“Well, I kept my part of the equation” muttered North as he put down dummy in the grand slam contract to an expectant South, who would like nothing better than to say “thanks” and lay down their hand with a statement like “drawing trumps” as the world sees 13 winners. That was not the reality, though. South had their piece of the equation ahead of them.

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North Deals
None Vul
A 7 2
A K J 9 5 4
A 8 6
A
   
N
W   E
S
   
 
K Q 10 9 6 3
7
Q J 7 5
Q 4
West North East South
  2  Pass 2 
Pass 4 NT Pass 5 
Pass 5  Pass 6 
Pass 7  All pass  

 

“Thanks, partner. Lovely hand.” You kind of mean it. You are in 7Spade-smallafter partner opened 2Club-small. West leads Club-smallT and you need the first 13 tricks!

Which card do you play at trick 2? What’s the plan? The heart break is not, must not, be extreme.

North was certainly not holding back in the bidding. They followed up their marginal 2Club-small opener (too good for the 1 level and having 6 hearts in a balanced 20-22 opener could lead to a very bad spot, like 2NT!)

Key Card showed up the Spade-smallK (5Club-small) and the ask for the trump queen was successful though 6Spade-small denied any of the non-trump kings. North was not worried. They had a nice 6-card suit on the side. A decent partner would have Heart-smallQ, or a singleton or something useful there.

Reality was a couple of queens elsewhere but at least the bonus of a decent trump suit. So, to the play.

safety first green.png

The grand slam is reasonable, cold on any 4-2 heart break if spades are 2-2 though a little more care would be required with a 3-1 break especially with the Spade-smallJ in the West hand. Of course, if hearts break evenly, there will be no problems. A 4-0 trump break? Awkward but not terminal as long as you take the 100% safety play of leading low at trick 2 towards the South hand. You can then take a spade finesse necessary for success.

If West holds Spade-small J854, a 3-3 heart break would be preferable, though when you play to Spade-smallK at trick 2, it is East who has all four.

You know as a last resort you can fall back on a diamond finesse to avoid one loser (if successful!)  but it is the heart suit which will bring salvation. As you cannot afford to ruff a club in dummy (you need that other small trump in dummy to take the trump finesse), you need 4 discards on the hearts… hearts 3-3 or one extra chance, the doubleton Heart-smallQ.

Arguably, with East having 4 spades and presumably some length in clubs, the heart length is more likely to be with West. There is, therefore, a case to take a first round heart finesse playing West for Heart-small Qxxx. A tough choice.

Our declarer decided to play hearts from the top…and the world soon felt a much better place.

 

North Deals
None Vul
A 7 2
A K J 9 5 4
A 8 6
A
10 6 3 2
K 10 3
10 9 7 6 5 3
 
N
W   E
S
 
J 8 5 4
Q 8
9 4 2
K J 8 2
 
K Q 10 9 6 3
7
Q J 7 5
Q 4
West North East South
  2  Pass 2 
Pass 4 NT Pass 5 
Pass 5  Pass 6 
Pass 7  All pass  

 

Doubleton Heart-small10 in the East hand would not be good enough as declarer would need one more entry than they have to flush out the Heart-smallQ and then run the remaining hearts.

However, as the cards lay, it is all systems go, though the order of play is vital.

Ruff a low heart next. Then a spade to the ace and two more rounds of trumps via the finesse. Finally, cross back to dummy with a diamond to the ace (tease West on the way by playing Diamond-smallQ, though you are always playing the Diamond-smallA!) and discard three losers on the established hearts. 7Spade-small made.

“That’s my part done too” quipped South to which North could only add “It would have been over much quicker if you had selected the Heart-smallQ instead of those useless minor ones!”

A little care and a little good fortune produced a grand result.

What Action to take?

East Deals
None Vul
   
A 3 2
A J 9 3
A J 8 6 5
7
 
N
W   E
S
   
West North East South
    2  3 
?      

 

Yes, 3Diamond-small is natural.

2Spade-small is a standard Weak 2. What action would you take?

Would it make any difference if 2Spade-small showed spades and another suit? (any other suit?)

See you on Wednesday.

Richard Solomon

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