Brian Davies
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Here is the full hand. As you can see, North has three diamonds to the queen and making 12 tricks should be should be easy:
If you make 12 tricks, you will score 420, the same score as the pairs in 4♠ making exactly, losing out to just one pair who made an overtrick in 4♠.
Unfortunately, I chose to discard a diamond and reached this position:
I realised, with horror that the diamond finesse was now risky. I chose to go up with the ace and then play the 9 to make sure of 11 tricks. This was worth 50% – more than I deserved.
Thanks for your comments all. It was an interesting hand to study.
Here are my thoughts (thinking about the problem afterwards – not at the table!). I think that there are two plausible lines:
- Discard a diamond (the jack). Then play a diamond to the ace (in case the queen is singleton), ace of spades, king of spades and ruff a spade. If spades were 3-3 you can cross in diamonds and discard two diamonds on the long spades. If the spades don’t break, you can finesse in diamonds.
- Discard a spade. The play a diamond to the ace, king of spades and ace of spades back to hand and simply run the ten of diamonds.
Let’s count some cards. North started with three clubs and three hearts it seems. South started with two clubs and seven hearts (which seems consistent with bidding hearts twice, vulnerable). So North has seven spaces in the pointed suits and South only four. Imagine that spades are 3-3: then North also has four diamonds and our second line will always succeed (either the queen is singleton and falls on the first round, or it can be finessed). So there can be no advantage in playing to set up the spades!
But does it matter which line you take? Stewart has spotted the danger of playing to set up the spades. If South started with Qx doubleton in diamonds, the finesse will lose and South will exit in hearts, drawing the last trump. It might seem that there are two winning diamonds, but the suit is blocked with a singleton ace in dummy and 10x in hand.
interestingly, nobody played in 3NT, or slam. But three pairs were in 4♠ contracts, with one making an over trick.
Of course, if you discard a diamond, you might pick up Qxx but you can’t now pick up Qxxx with North …
I’m sure that Julian will give a full answer, but it looks like the key is for declarer to cross in diamonds in order to lead towards the KQ of clubs.
Two pairs chose to defend five clubs – neither doubled – and they took it three-off or one-off. One West was allowed to play in four clubs (making!).
Two North / South pairs played in five diamonds, with one making (For +600 and a top) and the other one trick short. Five diamonds looks a good contract and it needs very accurate defence to defeat it.
At our table, North bid five diamonds and South “gave preference” to hearts. We took this down four, beating one pair who only defeated five hearts by two tricks. The top East / West score was five heart doubled – down four for 1,100.
I prefer to have a six-card suit for a two-level overcall and I don’t think that you can be faulted for passing. But the vulnerability is favourable and you do have a bit of shape, so a two diamond overcall was a possibility.
Did your left hand opponent pass the two heart bid?
This auction would be quite rare, but it would be usually played as takeout.
Penalties would be odd. North was not strong enough to double 1NT and did did not have sufficiently good hearts to make a 2H overcall after 1NT. It is impossible to conceive of a hand that now wishes to make a penalty double – particularly since partner passed throughout.
Takeout is also unusual. East is still unlimited and will often have at least 11 points, will often have four spades and will usually make another bid. But I suppose that North might be 4144 with a 14 count.
I don’t have strong views about these types of situation. I tend to open the longer suit and risk losing the hearts, but I acknowledge that opening the major can often be the winning action. This particular hand is rather strong with 15 HCPs and a 6-5 (come alive) shape and I think that it is close enough to reversing values for me to open one diamond. As for opening 1NT (Sean) … I think that there are telephone hotlines that you can ring for support with these inflictions!
North is a strong player and chose to open one heart and I can’t quarrel with that. whether you open one diamond or one heart, your next choice will be at the five level:
What do you fancy now?
West, of course, is a player of impeccable character, honesty and integrity who has watched a month of Bernard’s Pre-emtember (me). 🙂
The play looks more interesting than the bidding. Usually, I would tend to choose an attacking lead on this auction – suggesting a heart. If so, I would like to play a high spot to discourage a continuation (hoping for a club shift), but the three is the best I can do. But with the queen of trump’s and the king of hearts, a passive lead is probably wiser and a diamond is suggested.
Declarer should ruff, play a trump to the ace and then the safest route back is another diamond ruff. Now declarer makes 13 tricks when the queen drops.
Yes, opening 1D and rebidding 2D over 2C, if necessary is my choice too. I will usually pass a 12-count with this shape. With 15 (or maybe a good 14), I will open 1D and rebid 2NT. So opening 1D and rebidding 2D with a 4-card suit is pretty rare and like Julian, I can’t remember an auction that was 1D-2C-2D-Pass. When your partnership bids the minors, the opponents will often expect a fit in the majors and enter the bidding.
With a high honour in clubs I might choose to open 1NT with a singleton, but this is very rare and hasn’t happened recently. I can’t remember my partner ever opening 1NT with a singleton. I guess that we probably should say “May have a singleton club”, because we probably do have we an implied agreement David?
Are you playing IMPs or Pairs?
We are in a seven-card fit and the danger is that we might lose trump control. Imagine you ruff with the ♠6 and play ace then queen of trumps (there are no entries for the finesse). The opponent wins and plays another diamond and if you ruff, you will not survive a 4-2 trump break.
I am tempted to discard a club from hand at trick two
