Gainesville Bridge Club

Shirley Wright watches the North American District 9 Finals

Jon Shuster, Gainesville

Sunday November 5, 2006, Vero Beach, FL.

Shirley: I watched two very interesting and instructive hands from the District 9 Finals of the North American Open Pairs.  See if you can spot any errors on these boards.  Only the NS hands are shown (rotated to make South declarer)

First Board: South deals, NS Vul

North

S-KJ754

H-Q1087

D-83

C-105

South

S-None

H-AK9643

D-9

C-AQJ862

The bidding went

West                North               East                 South

-                       -                       -                       1H

P                      4H                   P                      6H

All Pass

Here is how the play went:

The H5 was led to the H7. HJ and HK.  Declarer next played the H3 the HQ, West throwing a low Diamond as East following with the defense’s last trump.  The C10 was run, losing to West’s K.  A Diamond was returned, won by East for Down 1 (-50 NS).

Second Board:  South Deals, Both Vul.

North

S-J107

H-A4

D-Q3

C-AQ5432

South

S-KQ4

H-K8632

D-A72

C-108

Dlr S, Vul EW

West                North               East                 South

-                       -                       -                       1H

P                      2C                   P                      2NT

P                      3NT                 P                      P

P

West led the D8 (presumably 4^th best), North winning the DQ, and East played the D6 (discouraging).  Declarer led the H4 to the HK (E played the H5 and West the HQ), and led the C10 to the CJ, CQ, and CK.  East made an excellent play of a low Heart to dummy’s A, killing the Club suit.  From here, declarer went down the obvious two tricks, winning  two Spades, two Hearts, two Diamonds, and One Club (-200 NS).

Can you spot any errors?

Solution:

First Board:

Bidding Commentary: There were no bidding errors made.  The 4H bid over 1H is somewhat risky, because it is most unlikely that the opponents have a game in either NT or Spades.  The doubletons in the minors have little offensive value.  But the bid does shut the opponents out of the bidding, and that is always an asset at matchpoints.  In fact, East held:  S-Axxx H-Jx D-AKQxx C-xx, and would probably have overcalled 3D over a 2H raise.  This would have alerted West to lead a Diamond.  The 6H bid is definitely correct.  You clearly have no Heart loser, and so the only possible losers are a Club and a Diamond, and hence. From South’s single dummy viewpoint, the slam is at the very worst on a finesse.  With the stealth auction, the opening lead might easily provide the slam going trick.

Play errors:  Some may argue that the singleton trump lead is wrong from S-Q10xx H-x D-Jxxxx C-Kxx, but I consider this to be a wise lead given the bidding.  Many would have led a Spade giving declarer the twelfth trick.   A Diamond lead from the J could also easily hand declarer a trick when dummy has something like D-Q10 and declarer D-Ax.

Only error: It may seem that the play was normal, but the play of the C10 finesse at trick 3 (after trumps were drawn) was premature, and a serious play error.  The proper play is a low Spade from dummy at trick 3!  In actuality, with East holding the S-A and D-A, a very difficult choice emerges.   Since South did not ask for Aces, East knows that declarer is void in one of Spades.  Does declarer have the actual hand, or could that small Diamond be the SQ?  East gets a chance to guess wrong by this pay and we suspect that a large proportion of real players will judge incorrectly.  The Spade play cannot hurt, as if it fails, dummy is entered in trump for the Club finesse.

Second Board:

Bidding commentary.  No errors were made.

Play errors:  After winning the DQ, declarer made a critical error by playing a Heart to the K at trick two. (A Spade to the Q is also a poor play, but not as bad, as it does not make the Heart entry as vulnerable).

The correct play at trick two is a low Club from dummy.  There are two reasons for this.  (1) If you can hold your Club losers to one trick, the hand is ice cold.  (There is about a one in three chance that West has two or three Clubs to the K.  The initial play of a low Club from dummy never jeopardizes that hope.  But if East has the offside K doubleton (not specifically KJ doubleton), it would be extremely difficult for that player to play low.  In fact, if  declarer indeed has D-Kxx and C-Jx (instead of D-Axx and C-10x), playing low would prove to be a disaster.  Instead of routinely beating this hand, declarer will make two Hearts, one Diamond, and six Clubs.  East’s CK becomes marked, by virtue of the CJ holding.   (2) Curiously, if indeed East played low and the C10 lost to the CJ, the second reason for the critical trick two play becomes clear.  West wins the CJ, and plays a high Diamond (ducked), and (hopefully) another Diamond to the Ace.  Now if East has the SA, and as it appears, fewer than 4 Diamonds, you can afford to lose the second Club to East, but not to West.   So in with the DA, you finesse the CQ and even though East the CK, you cannot lose more than one Spade, one Diamond, and two Clubs.  So the low Club play from the dummy at trick two is quite a gem.

Lesson of the hands:  Do your opponents seem to always make the right play against you?  God players not only make fewer mistakes than others, but they also actively find ways to elicit more errors from their opponents.  So try to place maximum pressure on your opponents when you play or defend, by placing them in the position of having to make more guesses as to what to do.