Senior Pairs in Orlando
.The Kibitzer is Shirley Wright
By Jon Shuster, Gainesville, GL.
Senior Pairs in Orlando, 3/29/05
Shirley: I watched this board from the afternoon session of the Senior Pairs in Orlando. As usual, I will first relate to you what happened, and then you can try to find the errors in bidding and play, before reading my solution. This hand has a lot of important lessons.
Afternoon Session, Board 26: Both Vul
Dlr: East
North
S-KJ762
H-A98
D-82
C-943
West East
S-9 S-A1084
H-63 H-KQJ102
D-KQ97543 D-A
C-AKQ C-1072
South
S-Q53
H-754
D-J106
C-J865
The bidding went:
West North East South
- - 1H P
2D (1) P 2S(2) P
3C (3) P 3H P
3NT P P P
- (1) 2/1 forcing to game unless suit rebid
- (2) This is not a “Reverse Bid”. Shows 4 card Spade suit, nothing more.
- (3) Artificial 4th-suit, says nothing about Clubs
The play proceeded as follows.:
North led the S6 (4th best). Declarer (West) played low from the dummy, and South won the Q. South shifted to the C5 won by West with the CA, North playing the 3. West led a Diamond to the A, North playing the 8 and South the 6 The next 2 tricks were HK-4-6-8 and HQ-5-3-9. Next the HJ was played to the North’s A, and North exited with a Club. Declarer’s hand was now good (making 5) for 5 matchpoints on a 12 top. Only two pairs bid 6D, with the other 11 in 3NT.
Can you spot any errors in bidding or play?
Bidding analysis:
Bidding error 1: If EW were playing strong jump shifts, a jump to 3D is vastly preferable to the simple 2/1 bid of 2D. Chalk up an error, as their card does indicate strong jump shifts.
Bidding error 2: Even though 2S by East shows only 4S and no extra values, I strongly prefer a rebid of 2H. The suit quality is excellent, and may play well opposite a small doubleton.
Bidding error 3: West’s 3C bid (4th suit forcing with no further decription) is not helpful. The correct call at this point is 4D, setting the trump suit and asking East to cuebid the cheapest Ace. This would have induced East to bid 4S, denying the HA, and RKC Blackwood by West would propel the partnership to 6D.
I will not charge West with an error for bidding 3NT over 3H, as the earlier bidding takes 100% of the blame for not reaching 6D.
Play errors:
Play error 1: North is to be congratulated for finding the best lead, a Spade. But at trick 2, South blundered for failing to return a Spade. The rule of 11 (for partnerships leading 4th best) tells South that given the lead of the S6, there are 11-6=5 Spades higher than the S6 amongst East, South, and West. Dummy has S-A108(3), South has S-Q(1), and West has S-9(1, played at trick 1). This accounts for all 5. Therefore, North led from the S-KJ. While it is true that this will set up another Spade trick for dummy, West’s strong bidding (4th suit forcing rather than bidding 2NT over 2S) should alert South that time is running out, and trading one trick for one trick is of value.
Play error 2: The play of a Diamond to the A at trick 3 was a blunder. Note that one Spade had been played and therefore, the Hearts become isolated if one round is ducked. There is nothing to gain by playing a Diamond early, since you have 2 more Club entries to the Diamonds, if needed.
Play error 3: You might argue that North’s duck of the first Heart was an error, but North sees the possibility of shutting out dummy, and hopefully gaining some tricks when the West hand is not quite so powerful. But once the Heart held, declarer should now risk the contract to bring in 12 tricks (1S, 1H, 7D, 3C). You cash the SA pitching your Heart loser, return to your hand in Clubs, and run Diamonds. If Diamonds break 3-2 (a 70% chance given both opponents already followed to the first Diamond), you make 12 tricks. Otherwise, you go down After the first Heart has held, if you return a Heart, the opponents will win and play Clubs. You make 5NT when Diamonds are 3-2 and 4NT when they are 4-1.
To see why, we analyze as follows: Very few players are expected to be in any other contract. There are a combined 28 HC points in EW, without a super fit. The hand could be played by either player, and it might be expected that a Spade lead in the face of a Spade bid might not happen all that often. Against a non-spade lead, whenever the Diamonds are 3-2, these declarers make 12 tricks and they make 11 tricks when they are 4-1. Either way, they beat you when you play a second Heart.
Against those leading a Spade and returning a Spade, the declarers will make 11 tricks when the Diamonds are 3-2, (1S, 7D, 3C).
Play error 4: North made a huge blunder, refusing the second Heart. South gave count, and declarer never supported the rebid Heart suit. There is no need to duck again. This should have been totally fatal.
Play error 5: Declarer’s leading the third Heart from dummy, had nothing to gain and everything to lose. Now, to get 12 tricks, all declarer needed was a 3-2 Diamond split. Even if Diamonds are 4-1, declarer makes 10 or 11 tricks depending upon whether the defense takes their Heart trick after winning the 3rd round of Diamonds. When declarer led the third Heart (or even when declarer led the second Heart), dummy was totally isolated. But after 2 Hearts were ducked, declarer can make 12 tricks without cashing the SA from dummy. The third round of Hearts can also cause the unnecessary Heart loser when the player with 4 Diamonds has only 2 Hearts, and therefore no Heart to return. So declarer is in complete control after the second Heart wins. The third Heart cannot gain a trick, but will lose a trick for sure if Diamonds are 3-2, and with high likelihood when they are 4-1.
Lessons: (1) Use the bidding methods in your toolkit wisely. West has a 4 loser hand, and partner opened the bidding. Get the slam interest across immediately when you have a powerhouse. By jumping in Diamonds and rebidding the suit, you get into the slam seeking mode. (2) Describe your hand accurately. The 2S bid and the 3C bid had no redeeming graces. The powerhouse 5 card Heart suit and 7 card Diamond suits were the most important aspects of the two hands. Both were underplayed. (3) The rule of 11 is a valuable defensive tool, =which was overlooked in this hand. (4) If you fall behind the field in either the play or defense, it is a good idea to take risks to catch up. West blew two opportunities to recover from the opponent’s excellent Spade lead, and thereby failed to make six.