| Board 2 East Deals N-S Vul |
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East opens 1D, or possibly 1NT. It is reasonable to add a point at notrump for a six-card suit, and East has scattered high cards. Over 1D West should respond 2C, planning to rebid in spades and then support diamonds; West expects to bid slam unless there is positive evidence it will be poor. 1D-2C; 2D-2S; 2NT-3D looks like a reasonable start; the auction is forcing on the sound principle that with less than game-going values responder should start with 1S rather than 2C (whether or not 2C itself is played as a game force.) East may worry about whether his heart stopper is adequate, but it is vital not to pass up 3NT when it might be playable and you have neither a major suit fit nor slam interest. East continues with 3NT and West reveals his slam ambitions with a control bid of 4H or 4C. It can be somewhat dangerous and confusing to control bid a previously bid suit, but here it should be clear the partnership has a diamond fit and 4C should not be mistaken. East shows control of hearts and now West can crank up the 4NT machinery, getting a 5D one Ace or one Key Card reply. Blackwooders will continue with 5NT to confirm all the Aces; when East bids 5H, showing two Kings, West can tell a minor suit King is missing and sign off at 6NT, expecting one or the other minor to run. Key carders will know a top diamond is missing reach 6NT more directly.
Every pair bid slam, all but one in diamonds. South's best hope is not to give anything away on the opening lead and that the bad breaks will sink the contract. Partner rates to be weak so perhaps a spade lead will be safe, either low or the middling 8. At 6D, East must avoid two trump losers; the choices are low to the Queen, low to the Jack, or run the Queen, with the option to cash the Ace before leading toward either honor. With a combined 33 hcp you can expect most pairs to be in slam, so an overtrick could be valuable, but making the contract still has a high priority. Generally you should lead an honor only if you'd like to see it covered, or if it could plausibly squash a lower ranking card such as the ten or nine. 6D will make on any 2-2 or 3-1 split, so your focus on those holdings would be to pick up the suit completely; a 4-0 split could sink the contract, so you'd like to guard against that as well. At a team game that would be virtually your only concern but at matchpoints the overtrick may be important.
I think I would win the lead in dummy and play low to the Jack, hoping for Kx with North. Down one! (Unless North mistakenly splits his 10-9.) The Bridge Encyclopedia confirms that this was the best play for 6 tricks as well as the maximum average tricks, but running the Queen is the safest for 5 tricks, guarding against a void with South. As that is one case vs. three and, in fact, everyone bid slam, the risky play was probably best; -50 had company.
At 6NT you may outscore other pairs in 6D, but you also may be able to pick up the club suit and require only two diamond tricks. Win the spade in hand, low to the Queen of clubs, low back the King; the marked finesse insures the contract. Finesse the ten, unblock the Ace of hearts, and run the Queen of diamonds, covered by the King and Ace. Cash the King of hearts (pitching a diamond), the Ace-King of spades, and the last two clubs. The lead will be in the West hand with a low spade and diamond; declarer has the J8 of diamonds. Watch for either the ten or nine of diamonds; North cannot keep both of those cards plus a spade, so +1020 should be a top.
Slam in a suit, including minors, can often be made with fewer high cards than 6NT; but when the power for 6NT (about 33 hcp) is held, 6NT may be safer if it is possible as on this layout to score 12 tricks despite a bad break in your primary suit.
| Board 25 North Deals E-W Vul |
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North, too strong for 1NT, opens 1C. East preempts 3S, backing off a trick with his 8-card suit thanks to the adverse conditions: vulnersable vs. not. South has enough for a negative double; this may be an overbid but with 10 hcp and good shape pass is apt to be a huge underbid. Preempts often force you to stretch. North has only a Kx stopper but 3NT should make on sheer power. East and West should let this go rather than risk -500 or worse against a non-vul game. North rattles off 12 tricks on the likely spade lead.
If E/W bid 4S, North surely doubles. South may lead an Ace (less risky than usual sitting over a preempt, but who knows what East has for his vul-vs-not bid?) A trump lead may prevent a crucial ruff (it does) or a club lead may be safe and/or effective. 4S might slip through if East steals a diamond trick early, is allowed to ruff a heart, and then finesses North's King of trumps! Defense can give you ulcers, and reckless bidding sometimes pays off. To add insult to injury, N/S discover from the recap they could've made a slam -- but no one bid 6C at the table and in fact it's hard to see where the twelfth trick will come from if East does not cash the Ace of spades.
Count signals may be important on this deal. For the unfamiliar, it is normal to "echo" (play high-low) in a suit (other than trumps) which declarer leads, if you have an even number of cards and think the information may assist partner. Suppose the defense tries to play it safe with two rounds of clubs; declarer ruffs and leads his diamond. South may assume he won't have two singletons (oops!) or may grab the Ace and look for North's signal. The three confirms an odd number with North, so someone has a singleton; it seems more likely East was trying to steal a trick than risking a lead in a suit with eight cards (but then again, that might be his only hope to reach dummy for a finesse.) Grabbing the Ace in front of the King-Queen is usually poor, but it may be correct when the defense has all the side-suit winners. Here the defense can cash two hearts, but that may allow declarer to ruff a third round. Reading declarer for 8311 shape, South may switch to a trump or simply exit with another club. Now East leads a heart, and South can signal an odd number by playing his lowest (the six.) North sees the necessity of sacrificing his trump trick -- a ruff will allow declarer to finesse anyway. Two trump leads prevent the ruff and insure declarer loses five tricks outside of trumps. But wait! Declarer can try to scramble the defender's signals by hiding his two of hearts. The 8 might work, or might be too blatant; the 5 might suffice. If North waits for South's second card to confirm a five-card heart suit, it will be too late to start the trumps.
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