12 English Bridge December 2016 www.ebu.co.uk
West North East South
1NT Pass
2® 2t Pass 3NT
All Pass
P
laying teams, East opens 1NT (12-14) and
South passes. West bids 2®, Stayman, and
North bids 2t which is passed by East. What
action would you take with the South cards?
It is hard to believe that you have such a good
hand given all the bidding that is going on, however
you must believe partner to have a fair hand with a
good suit to come in in this exposed position. The
West hand could be very weak with both majors and
be hoping to scramble to a better contract.
Vulnerable at teams you don't want to be missing
any games so it is a fair gamble to try 3NT, expecting
to be able to use partner's suit as a source of tricks.
West leads the ™7. How do you plan the play?
Partner's hand is far from disappointing, and if
you have five diamond tricks you can come to nine
tricks, provided that you retain an entry to dummy.
Your only problem will come if East holds all four
outstanding diamonds. In order to cater for this you
will need to begin with a low diamond from
dummy. West discards a heart, and East switches to
the queen of spades, which you win and West
follows with the eight. You duck another diamond
and East continue with the jack of spades. What do
you do now? This is where you have got to:
Discovery Plays by Heather Dhondy
Heather's Hints
Heather's Hints
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Game All. Dealer North
´ 7 4 3
™ A
t A K J 9 4 2
® Q 5 2
´ A K 5
™ Q 10 9 5
t 8 7 6
® A 10 3
N
W E
S
Game All. Dealer North
´ 7 4
™ -
t A K J 9
® Q 5 2
´ K 5
™ Q 10 9
t 8
® A 10 3
N
W E
S
You should win this trick because, after cashing
the diamonds, you will want to exit with your
remaining spade and hope to collect two club tricks
in the end game. What do you know about East's
points? There are only thirteen missing, so West has
at most one jack. Therefore you know that West's
lead must have been second highest from small
cards. If East holds the king and jack of clubs, he
will quickly dispose of his remaining spade on the
diamonds in order to allow his partner to gain the
lead when you exit with your spade. In this way he
can get a club through from his partner and prevent
himself from being end-played.
If, however, West holds the ®J, both defenders
will need to hang on to two clubs and therefore they
will only have two winners to cash before opening
up the clubs for you.
This was the full deal: