The hands are rotated from Part 1 so that South is Declarer.
Matchpoints, both sides vulnerable.
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| ♠ | — | | ♥ | A Q 7 6 | | ♦ | Q J 8 6 3 | | ♣ | A K Q 4 |
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|
|
| ♠ | A Q 10 6 5 | | ♥ | J 10 9 5 4 | | ♦ | A | | ♣ | 10 2 |
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| West | North | East | You |
| | 1 ♦ | 1 ♠ | Dbl |
| Pass | 3 ♠ | Pass | 4 NT |
| Pass | 5 NT | Pass | 6 ♥ |
| All pass | | | |
You had a lovely auction to reach 6 ♥. West led the ♠ 2. Let's start with
Declarer's ARCH:
- ANALYZE the lead: East bid spades, it looks like West is leading low from a
three-card holding. If it was a singleton, that would mean that east bid only
1 ♠ with a seven-card suit? Seems unlikely. If West had a doubleton spade, she would have led the higher of the two cards. So East has five spades.
- REVIEW the auction: East overcalled spades at the one-level. There aren't many high cards left out there, it seems that East is a
favorite to have all the missing kings.
- COUNT your tricks: Two spades, given the opening lead (yay!) and a spade ruff
in the North hand. Three top clubs. Two diamonds and a diamond ruff in the
South hand, playing East for the ♦ K. Three top heart tricks, expecting to lose
one heart to the ♥ K on your right. That adds up to twelve tricks, losing only
one trick to the ♥ K, making your contract.
- HOW to play: Always make a plan before playing.
.. Win the opening spade lead as cheaply as possible (East will probably play the
♠ K)
.. Unblock the ♦ A, so that you can take a ruffing finesse against East.
.. Ruff a spade in dummy before drawing trump, just in case the hearts split
4-0.
.. Take the ruffing finesse in diamonds: lead the ♦ Q, playing East for the ♦ K.
.. Draw trump, expecting to lose a heart to East's king.
And play the hand out, making six hearts.
Wonderful, a small slam nicely bid and made. BUT this is matchpoints; can
you make seven?
ANSWER: It seems most likely that East has the ♥ K, so the heart finesse is
destined to lose. What if the ♥ K is singleton? If you play the ♥ A
immediately and East has the guarded king, well, East is always going to score
the king. You have all the other high hearts. But on a good day, East's ♥ K will be a singleton. It costs you nothing to start with the
♥ A, and you win big if you drop the singleton king. And dropping a
singleton king always feels great!
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| ♠ | — | | ♥ | A Q 7 6 | | ♦ | Q J 8 6 3 | | ♣ | A K Q 4 |
|
| ♠ | J 8 2 | | ♥ | 8 3 2 | | ♦ | 10 9 | | ♣ | J 8 7 6 5 |
| |
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|
| | ♠ | K 9 7 4 3 | | ♥ | K | | ♦ | K 7 5 4 2 | | ♣ | 9 3 |
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|
|
| ♠ | A Q 10 6 5 | | ♥ | J 10 9 5 4 | | ♦ | A | | ♣ | 10 2 |
|
| West | North | East | You |
| | 1 ♦ | 1 ♠ | Dbl |
| Pass | 3 ♠ | Pass | 4 NT |
| Pass | 5 NT | Pass | 6 ♥ |
| All pass | | | |
In a really strong field -- say, the Blue Ribbon Pairs -- 6 ♥ making
seven will be an average or maybe average-plus result. But in our typical club game or a typical BBO online game, 6 ♥ making seven will be a cold
top board. And it doesn't require anything flashy or complicated, just a
series of solid intermediate-level skills that you've already learned. Nothing to be afraid of here!
-- Ray
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