Monday afternoon June 9, 2008

Lead: ?

Anytime I see a hand with scores like 1NT down 2, 1NT makes 1, 1NT makes 4, 1C makes 1, 1C down 1 and 1S makes 2, I want to look at it. Surely the lead must make the difference. All were played by East. Those 15-17 Notrumpers opened 1C or 1S instead of 1NT with 18 points. I teach 15-18 for NT, so would have opened 1NT with this hand.

What happens if a low heart is led by South? North wins the king and returns a heart to declarer's queen. Spades is the obvious choice to try and develop, but which spade to lead? South takes the low spade lead with the jack and clears hearts, developing the eight. Declarer leads another spade, taken by North's ace. North shifts to a club and declarer inserts the nine, taken by South's jack; who then plays the ace and another club to clear the suit. Instead of cashing the spades, thus putting South into a discard problem, declarer led the low diamond, hoping to get a diamond return into the A-Q. Instead, South wins the king of diamonds and plays the eight of hearts and the three of clubs, forcing declarer to discard the queen of diamonds AND the queen of spades. Declarer gets one spade, one club, one diamond and two heart tricks--down two. Well done!

Holding South's cards, the proper lead is a low heart; thus keeping the ace of clubs as a possible entry.

Monday afternoon, June 9, 2008

Lead: three of spades

North lacked courage on this hand. Partner wouldn't overcall 2D with 2S unless he had five. He might even have the ace of clubs. Two tricks looks to be the worst-case scenario. The point of this hand is to show the shape of a hand that looks to be a good sacrifice. At worst--even if partner has a bust--you're only going to lose two hearts, a diamond, a spade and a club, for down three doubled -500. Four spades is a gimme. Having no way to get to dummy for a diamond finesse, declarer has to plunk down the ace and hope for a break--which isn't there. Down three, but a good score.

Monday afternoon June 9, 2008

Lead: low spade

Taught never to lead away from a K-J, North rejects the killing heart lead and leads a safe spade. Declarer sees the board and winces at the 3-diamond support but says thank-you-partner anyway and takes the opening lead with the ace, not the king. A heart lead forces declarer to trump in hand, thus losing control of the suit to the ratty 6-5-4-3 holding of South. Two rounds of trumps are drawn, ending in dummy. When North's ten falls, it's clear diamonds will be dividing the much more normal way of 4-2 instead of 3-3. On the board, declarer floats the jack of clubs to North's king; North in turn still can be a hero by leading a heart, but refuses to do so, instead leading another spade. This time declarer wins in hand with the king, draws the remaining trumps and claims the clubs. It never hurts to be lucky.

Speaking of luck; the actual top on this hand was 6S by East for +1430. This time it was South who put on the goat's horns by leading the ten of clubs, taken by North's king. North ponders a bit an dutifully returns a club for the hoped-for ruff. Instead, declarer draws trumps and runs the clubs to get his six spades.

The best slam in this bunch is 6C. Declarer only loses the king of clubs. Nobody bid it.

Monday afternoon June 9, 2008

Lead: four of diamonds

If South could only have come up with the four of clubs instead of the four of diamonds as his opening lead! What would YOU do after seeing dummy. I'd play South for the king of clubs and lose the slam. In this case North took his ace of diamonds which gave declarer his twelfth trick; five spades, five hearts, a diamond and a club.

Thursday evening June 12, 2008

Lead: ace of spades

This wasn't bid by any of the teams tonight, however both 6NT and 6C made at all five tables. The proper play with two outstanding is for the drop, but it doesn't matter since East wins the heart return in hand and gets his present when he starts trumps. No Trump is pretty hard to bid with the spade doubletons in both hands, but one team did and made six for 690 and a top. This slam also depended on the king of diamonds being in the right place; there wasn't anything tricky declarer could do with the extra diamond.

Thursday evening June 12, 2008

Lead: ace of spades

For the second time in the evening South has a singleton king of clubs; this time to her advantage, although the contract depends on the diamond guess. The important thing on this hand is recognizing when it's time to go to slam; the other four teams didn't take the risk. Although risky with only 29HCP, South's singleton king offers a good chance of being able to discard a loser. I would have gone down 1 on the hand because I play for the drop. The hand is difficult to count out, although if declarer plays two rounds of hearts with the Q-10 falling, West is marked with four hearts, meaning long suits belong to East. While two rounds of spades are risky, when East drops the ten he's marked with two spades, two hearts and nine cards in diamonds and clubs. West is marked with four hearts and five spades. When both teams follow suit on the king and ace of clubs, eleven of West's cards are known. The trump is led to the king and West follows. The odds are in declarer's favor that the queen of diamonds is in East's hand.

Saturday morning June 14, 2008

Lead: seven of spades.

First of all, I'd bid 2S with West's hand all day long. That will put undue pressure on North to properly describe his hand. Partner might interpret 3S as Michaels meaning hearts and a minor; so double. East should use Points Schmoints and the Law of Total Tricks and raise his junk to the four level. South HAS to bid holding 10 points and a nice suit. North takes a jump into slam in NT. There's no lead that endangers a trick; five clubs, five diamonds, two hearts and a spade.