Tuesday, June 14, 2016

Well, that was unnecessary...

You’ve done your best in the auction to make life difficult for the opponents, and they have bid a small slam. Now for the next part of the exam.

Matchpoints, S deals, N-S Vulnerable 
South
1
Pass
West
Pass
Pass
North
1
6
East (you)
5
All Pass

Dummy
A K 7 2
 K J 5
K 9 5 4
 A 10


You
 ---
 9 7 6
 10 3
 K J 9 8 6 5 3 2

Partner led the Q, declarer played the A from dummy. Your play?

ANSWER: Play the K to request a spade lead!

THE PRINCIPLE: When following suit, an unnecessarily high card (or low card, in some cases) is not an attitude signal encouraging continuation of the suit. It is a suit preference signal, asking for a lead in the higher-ranking of the other suits.

From your hand it looks like the only chance to defeat 6 is if partner holds the A. If she wins the first round of trump, she can then lead a spade so you can ruff. With only two clubs unaccounted for at this point, your club suit is all winners; you could play any high club to encourage a club continuation. But partner would probably continue clubs anyway, if she has one. By playing the K, an unusual-looking play, you’ll get her attention and maybe a spade lead too. NOTE: Most experts treat this as a situation to signal suit-preference rather than attitude, with the default being just continue clubs.

The complete hand is below. Partner must win the first round of trumps and lead a spade to defeat the contract. If partner doesn’t hold the diamond ace, maybe you just helped declarer by alerting her to the bad spade break; but maybe the spade suit plays itself, so it is a risk worth taking.


North
A K 7 2
 K J 5
K 9 5 4
 A 10

West
 10 9 6 5 4
 10 8 4 3
A 5
 Q 4

East (you)
 ---
 9 7 6
 10 3
 K J 9 8 6 5 3 2

South
 Q J 8 3
 A Q 2
 Q J 8 7 6
 7



BONUS MINUTE: In the auction, you might be tempted to make a Lightner double to get an unusual lead of spades. But from your hand, it looks like they could run to 6 instead. Also, even if you get a spade ruff you’ll need another trick somewhere to set the contract; more likely is that they’ll make 6 doubled, ouch! It’s essential to wish for the A in the play, but doubling on the speculation that partner has a trick somewhere is way too risky.

No comments:

Post a Comment