A PLEASANT SURPRISE.
by Jos van Kan
Playing at match points you get with all vulnerable as West in second
seat one of your usual hands:
While congratulating yourself that you aren't playing for money but nonetheless
wishing that you had stayed in bed this time you hear RHO open 1
and while you preserve a gloomy and your partner a stony silence the bidding
continues:
and all pass. With no particularly attractive alternative you decide to
lead a spade, and because this is Match Points you don't especially like
to give away a trick and therefore you lead 
J.
The following whale of a dummy hits:
Well, that J was an
unnecessary sacrifice, but that can't be helped. The first trick goes to
partner's Ace, as declarer drops the 6. That is a pleasant surprise. Partner
continues 4 to declarer's
7 and your 8. Dummy discards a 
.
Questions:
-
Who has K?
-
Could there be danger in continuing Spades?
-
What would partner return from
A54 after winning A?
-
How many does declarer have?
-
How do you defend?
-
Declarer. Partner would have played the K
if he'd had it. Also the repeated NT bids from
without holding a stop (the only unbid
suit) would be, well, rather remarkable.
-
If declarer has played the 7 and 6 holding K976 you will be giving him
a trick that he cannot make on his own.
-
But holding A54 partner must
return the 5, not the 4. Why? Because often (but especially when a long
suit has been led) information about length is absolutely vital, like in
this case. The standard agreement is to continue the highest card left
from an original three card holding, and play an original fourth best from
any longer holding. (Of course, when you originally had a doubleton and
you want to continue the suit you have no choice).
-
In this case however, you have an extra indication in that declarer has
bid 1NT over his partner's 1, almost
surely denying a 4c Spade suit. You should always be on the lookout for
extra indications like that, they're often there and almost as often they
go unnoticed. (BTW this also tells you that that 4
cannot be from an original A4 doubleton.)
-
So, to put maximum pressure on declarer you must return a (small) Spade,
to knock out his king. Now he has to run for cover and if he doesnt have
9 tricks and loses the lead he might even go down. (Yes, despite holding
something like 29 points together with his partner.) It also prevents him
to try any funny business for overtricks.
Post mortem
The full hand was:
|
Q
AKJ53
 KT432
A9 |
|
JT832
864
75
T84 |
 |
A954
Q92
Q96
Q76 |
|
K76
T7
AJ8
KJ532 |
|
The good news was, that when this hand was played in actual practice declarer
decided to throw himself into the sword by immedately taking a
finesse. (Certainly not the best way to play the hand). That was down 1
in 3NT with 29 HCP! (The current world record stands at 31 HCP I think.)
The bad news that that was only average plus, since lots of pairs were
in 6 that hinged on the very same
finesse and quite a few declarers took the wrong view. Note that if you
return anything but a declarer comes to
10 or 11 tricks in comfort.
copyright © 1997 by Jos van Kan. All rights reserved.