FantasyBridge League

Round 2: Solution

The Hand:Game all. Dealer South.

 6 4

 7 6 2

 K 8 4

 A K 8 4 3

 A K 7

 Q J 5

 A 7 2

 Q 10 6 5

The Bidding:SouthWestNorth East

1Pass3 Pass 3NT Pass Pass Pass

The Lead:Two of spades

The Problem: Five club tricks will do for game, and even if the suit breaks 4-0, it will be possible to bring in the clubs without loss, for there is a finesse position against either opponent. But then it will be imperative to begin clubs from the right hand. So which way do you play it?

The Solution:The only clue you have is the opening lead. But it is a significant one. West appears to have lead from a four-card spade suit. In which case there is a strong presumption that he does not have a longer suit – defenders usually lead their longest suit against NT contracts.

And here the inference is slightly stronger than in the general case: the best that West’s spades could be is Q J 8 2, for with any stronger holding he would lead the Queen. And most players would prefer to lead from a five-card diamond suit (say) than that scrappy spade holding. The spade is likely to give a trick away, and the Q J will anyway be better kept in reserve as a possible entry, to cash established diamonds.

So it’s odds on that spades are West’s longest suit. And if so, he cannot be void in clubs. Whereupon the marked play is to begin with the Queen from hand, and should East show out, finesse twice against West’s J 9.

Of course, cunning players do sometimes lead low from five or longer in an attempt to deceive declarer. Indeed, a sly West, staring at a club void, might well seek to thus put you off the scent. And cunning players sometimes lead low from short suits with likewise deception in mind. So it would be as well to carry out any checks you can before committing yourself to Plan A. What can be done here to get a partial count on Defenders hands?

Not much, it turns out, because of the need to preserve entries. If you decide eventually to follow Plan A - leading the club Queen from hand – and East does indeed show out, you will need to return to hand for a second finesse against West’s honours. So I see only two possibilities for acquiring further information/giving opponents a chance to go wrong:

(1)Duck the opening lead. There is no guarantee that East will continue spades. He might even switch to hearts. And if he does continue spades, you can probably depend on his count signal to be genuine. So if he signals odd, your suspicions might be aroused. And you can now cash the remaining spade honour to see if anything interesting happens before turning your attention to the club suit.

(2)Win the opening lead with the Ace (to reveal the King to West, in the hope of encouraging a later switch). Cross to the King of diamondsand try the effect of a low heart from Dummy. Defenders have been known to go wrong in such situations – you might even get a club return from a West concerned to establish slow tricks in partner’s hand. And a heart back would give you a chance to get a count on the heart suit.

Of these, I would opt for (2). Unless, of course, opponent’s demeanour on the first trick gets my spider sense tingling, whereupon I shall give (1) a spin.

Notice that you cannot safely combine these minor chances. Suppose you duck the first spade, take the spade continuation with the Ace, lead low to the diamond King and then play a heart from Dummy to the Queen. All will be well if a club, heart or spade comes back. But a diamond would take out your safe route back to hand, and you would no longer be able to pull off the requisite double finesse against West’s putative four clubs.

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