55
February 2016 English Bridge 55
February 2016 English Bridge
West North East South
1™ 7´
Pass Pass Dble Redble
All Pass
Choose from: (a) a spade; (b) ™2; (c) tK; (d) a club.
The way to think about this hand is not to panic
Unless South is completely bonkers he (for they
were all male) thinks they have 13 tricks and the
redouble just confirms it. Partner is sure he can beat
it. There is no reason at all why partner should think
an ace is standing up so either (a) he has a trump
trick - that isn't going to happen after the redouble!
and anyway it then doesn't matter what you lead or
(b) partner has a ruff. If partner has a ruff what suit
is it? It cannot be diamonds as otherwise declarer
cannot have 13 tricks since you have the KQ of
them. Hence it must be clubs. Thus you should lead
a club - either partner will ruff it or claim his trump
trick. It is a sad fact that in the Camrose trials NO
ONE got this right.
(a) A spade: 1 mark. The very worst lead of all!
Partner is not going to be charmed by this if he has
made a speculative (and ridiculous) double on say
´Q-x-x or ´J-9-x-x.
(b) ™2: 2 marks. Not a lot better! What if declarer
has taken a real wild shot on a hand with ™A-Q stiff,
assuming he will get a heart lead. Unlikely but why
take the risk?
(c) tK: 5 marks. If you are not going to lead a club
then at least this is safe!
(d) A club: 10 marks. For the reasons given above.
Declarer held
´A K Q J 10 x x ™- t- ®A K Q J 10 x
and your partner ´x x x ™A Q J x x tA x x x x ® .
HHHHHH
West North East South
2™1 Dble Pass 4´
Pass 5´2 All Pass
1 Weak; 2 Asks for a heart control
Choose from: (a) ´J; (b) ™A; (c) ™5; (d) ®3.
Hand 3
´ J 10 2
™ A J 9 5 3 2
t K 4
® 3 2
The opposition have strayed to the five-level
hunting for a slam. Can you punish them? They
have kindly told you that two heart tricks are
cashing - North would not ask for a heart control
with one, and South also denied one. Hence partner
has the ™K. What use can we make of that?
(a) ´J: 2 marks. Does it really sound like the
opposition are short of tricks here? Declarer will
draw trumps and cash some winners - 13 of them
in this case.
(b) ™A: 6 marks. OK - sort of the right idea as you
are cashing your two known tricks. But where is the
third coming from? Much the best idea is . . .
(c) ™5: 10 marks. A heart to partner's king, a heart
to your ace and when you see dummy:
´ A Q x x ™ x x t A ® A K Q J 10 x
it was obvious to lead a third heart. Partner had a
doubleton heart and the magnificent singleton ´9
so that promotes a trump trick for your J-10-x. One
might criticise declarer's leap to 4´ on
´ K x x x x ™ Q x t Q J 10 x x ® x
but unless you do this he is getting away with it.
(d) ®3: 3 marks. For similar reasons to the above,
this just looks way too slow. Anyway, if you need to
lead a club you can always do it after one or two
rounds of hearts. r
EBU affiliated clubs have been
reminded of the requirements for an
individual to be excluded from the
NGS calculations. The opt-out may
only be chosen by one player per
session, and only if they are acting as
a host - their partner for that session
can also be excluded if desired.
The decision must be made before
the start of the game and applied
regardless of the pair's eventual score.
The option is available to protect
players against any disadvantage that
might result from the unfamiliarity of
a host partnership, and is therefore
not available to anyone playing with a
regular partner, even as a host.
Opting out of NGS
calculations