Don't shut me out!

Lead: King of clubs.

Judy and David play step bidding over a 2C opener, 2S meaning 9-12 points. While it was theoretically possible that all of David's points were in spades, six diamonds wasn't much of a reach. No other team bid slam on this beautiful slam; everyone else opened 5D afraid that partner would pass. As you can see from the lay of the cards, 6NT also makes; declarer only losing either the ace of spades on the first trick or a club on the last trick!

North American Pairs Qualifying
Montgomery: October 28, 2007

Lead: five of clubs.

One lucky South bid 6 diamonds and made it, not getting a club lead; losing only the queen of trumps. After getting either a heart or spade lead, declarer runs two rounds of diamonds, gets the bad news, then gets rid of his losers on partner's beautiful cards. Twenty-four high card points doesn't come along very often. Well, that's not what happened to me as you can see by the bidding above. East's vulnerable 5 club overcall was more lead-directing than obstructive. My double was for a "stolen bid" meaning East had taken my natural Blackwood response. I was down one before I could even get a chance to appreciate Linda's cards. In retrospect we should have left the double in; with EW being vulnerable they would have been down 5 for -1400! But, West's double of the contract was very good. She suspected partner had the ace of clubs. She knew she had a protected queen over an 8-card opener and she held partner's king of clubs. While iffy, it was worth it.

Monday afternoon November 5, 2007

Lead: jack of clubs

Declarer can hardly believe his eyes when dummy comes down; a long shot slam comes down to a 2-2 trump split or a 3-1 with the queen falling. This is the "nine never" of "eight ever, nine never" bridge homily. In fact, a spade or diamond lead allows declarer to make seven. The problem is in the bidding. It takes an aggressive West to "see" partner's hand and hope for a two-suit fit.

Monday afternoon November 6, 2007

Lead: nine of diamonds.

Declarer is fearless knowing he can lose a trick and still make the hand. He goes up with the ace, then makes quick work of the king of hearts, eventually discarding an extra diamond and two spade son the clubs, losing only a spade in the end. Getting there was the hard part.

Friday evening November 9, 2007

Lead: king of hearts.

After the heart lead East takes a deep breath and asks himself about stopping at 3NT making five. But, at the time NT didn't look like much fun. Declarer takes the ace of hearts, then discards his remaining hearts on the diamonds. With the prospects of losing a trump trick, declarer leads a fourth round of diamonds, overruffing North's jack with the ace. Two more rounds of trumps are played, leaving North with the winning ten. East exits with a spade and waits for North to lead a club. At this point declarer has too many tricks.

Friday evening November 9, 2007

Lead: jack of hearts.

"I hear the train a-comin', comin' round the bend. I ain't seen sunshine since I don't know when." Even Johnny Cash could see the train wreck East was getting into. The only one to be sacrificed at this table is declarer. The heart lead was covered by West and North, overtaken by East; who has no clue of his impending doom. South's jack denied any higher cards but promised the ten; holding the nine, North could count a trick. East started the disaster by leading the king of clubs, trumped immediately by South (1). Two heart tricks later North is in the lead (3). The ace of clubs gets a spade discard (4), followed by a low club. Instead of sluffing the king of spades, East trumps low which is overtrumped (5). The ace of spades fells the singleton king (6) followed by the queen, ruffed in hand. Declarer has a heart and five trumps to the king. He leads a heart, trumped by South (7) who in turn leads a spade, ruffed in hand. Declarer gets two more diamonds (9), South gets one. Five diamonds doubled, down seven. A cool 2000 for the defenders!

Saturday morning November 10, 2007

Lead: king of spades.

Of course, the above bidding never actually took place; however, hearts made 5, 6 and 7. The teams that made 6 and 7 falsecarded the jack of spades on South's lead of the king. Also, neither North overtook the king as they should have done, allowing North to lead a spade back through to defeat the contract. East's bidding is aggressive and risky; he should have bid 4NT to see if West had the missing ace, then bid 6 hearts with confidence. Blackwood would have worked for East who had the two-trick suit. The other "obvious" lead would be the singleton diamond, which allows East to scamper home with seven, capturing North's king on the first trick. North should resist playing the king. By holding the king North cuts off the spade discards on the board's diamonds because the suit never sets up. East has only one outside entry and needs two in order to set the diamonds up.

Saturday morning November 10, 2007

Lead: queen of hearts.

This bid also did not take place. North shows weak, partner shows an opening hand with spade length. The only question remains, 6 or 7. Fortunately 6 was the right answer because declarer has to lose a diamond.