55

February 2016 English Bridge 55

February 2016 English Bridge

www.ebu.co.uk

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