Mon 29th 1st Janne & Sigurd 63% 2nd Paul Sc & Guttorm 57%
Wed 31st 1st Gus & Dave C 67% 2nd = Paul Sc & Dave H 56%
2nd = Bob S & Kriss 56%
Fri 2nd 1st Frode & Niels 55% 2nd Bob S & Kriss 55%
Bidding Quiz Standard American (short ♣) bidding is assumed unless otherwise stated.
Hand A Hand B With Hand A everybody is vulnerable. Partner passes and RHO
opens 1♥, what do you bid?
♠ K764 ♠ J72
♥ 63 ♥ 7653 With Hand B it’s love all. You pass as dealer and partner opens
♦ AQ2 ♦ 9843 1♥. RHO passes, what do you do?
♣ QJ97 ♣ 63
Current club championship standings
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Gold Cup = Best 30 |
Silver Plate = Best 10 |
Bronze Medal = Best 5 |
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1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 |
1821.9 Hans Vikman |
647.4 Hans Vikman |
334.0 Bob Short |
Don’t play on a suit that Declarer has led. Board 17 from Wednesday 24th
Dealer: ♠ J9 Table A
North ♥ 853 West North East South
N-S vul ♦ J32 - pass pass 1NT
♣ KQJ76 pass 2NT (1) all pass
♠ K853 N ♠ Q764 Table B
♥ Q74 W E ♥ J962 West North East South
♦ KQ87 S ♦ A65 - pass pass 1NT
♣ 54 ♣ 93 pass 3NT (1) all pass
♠ A102
♥ AK10
♦ 1094
♣ A1082
Table A: (1) What would you bid with this North hand? This 2NT is the obvious prudent bid.
Table B: (1) But the ♣KQJxx is a great holding and two players reasonably upgraded to 3NT.
But this article is about the play, in either 2NT or 3NT. You are West and have the choice
between a low ♠ or a ♦. You choose to play a low ♠ to partner’s ♠Q and declarer’s ♠A. Declarer
then leads back a ♠ which you win with the ♠K. What do you do now?
At the table I witnessed West continue with a ♠ and that was declarer’s 9th trick. A ♦ switch
would hold declarer to eight tricks.
How should West know to switch? A good maxim is not to lead a suit that declarer has just
Led – this is, if you think declarer knows what he is doing.
Dave’s Column
Dealer: ♠ K764 Bidding
South ♥ 63 West North East South
Both vul ♦ AQ2 - - - pass
♣ QJ97 1♥ pass 2♥ pass
3♦ pass 4♥ all pass
N ♠ AQ
W E ♥ J10852
S ♦ 1086
♣ 654
You are North, defending 4♥. You lead the ♣Q and South won the ♣A and returned the ♣2
to West’s ♣K. West cashed the ♥A, led a low trump to dummy’s ♥J and ran the ♦10. Plan the
defence for North.
Dave’s Column Answer Board 7 from Wednesday 31st Aug
Dealer: ♠ K764 Bidding
South ♥ 63 West North(A) East South
Both vul ♦ AQ2 - - - pass
♣ QJ97 1♥ pass (1) 2♥ pass
3♦ (2) pass 4♥ (3) all pass
♠ 83 N ♠ AQ
♥ AKQ97 W E ♥ J10852 (1) What did you bid with this North hand A in
♦ KJ97 S ♦ 1086 this week’s quiz? Dbl looks automatic to me
♣ K8 ♣ 654 (Terry) and was the bid chosen by the majority
♠ J10952 of our club.
♥ 4 (2) help suit game try.
♦ 543 (3) East does not have much help in ♦’s, but
♣ A1032 decides to accept because he has five trumps.
When first played, South scolded North about the poor defense against today’s solid game.
Look over what happened and see if you can spot North’s mistake. The opening lead was the ♣Q.
South won the ♣A and returned the ♣2 to West’s ♣K. West cashed the ♥A, led a low trump
to dummy’s ♥J and ran the ♦10 for a losing finesse to North’s ♦Q. North led a deceitful ♠7 but
declarer took the finesse anyway . Declarer later conceded a ♦ and the defence was held to three
tricks.
Where did North go wrong?
North made the ‘mistake’ when he won the ♦10 with the ♦Q. Instead, he should have won the
trick with his ♦A and switched to a ♠. Thinking that the ♦Q was with South, declarer would
likely have risen with the ♠A to repeat the ♦ finesse, and North’s hidden ♦Q and the ♠K would
have beaten the contract.
And what happened at the Pattaya Bridge Club? Only one pair played in 4♥ and they made it.
Every other N-S sacrificed in 4♠ (one actually made it, doubled).
Terry comment. I do not think that this is a very sensible problem. Most North’s will double
initially and then it’s fairly obvious for West to play North for the ♠K, especially as South has
already turned up with the ♣A.
Dave’s 2nd Column
N ♠ Q962 West North East South
W E ♥ 2 pass 1♥ pass 2♣
S ♦ QJ92 pass 2♥ pass 4♥
♣ J1087 all pass
♠ 74
♥ 1043
♦ K87
♣ AKQ54
You are East, defending 4♥, and lead the ♦Q to the ♦7, ♦3, ♦4. You continue with the ♦J to the
♦8, ♦6, ♦5. How should you plan the defence to find two more trick?
Dave’s 2nd Column Answer Board 9 from Wednesday 31st Aug
Dealer: ♠ A103 Bidding
West ♥ AKJ876 West North East South
E-W vul ♦ 54 pass 1♥ pass 2♣
♣ 63 pass 2♥ pass 4♥
all pass
♠ KJ85 N ♠ Q962
♥ Q95 W E ♥ 2
♦ A1063 S ♦ QJ92
♣ 92 ♣ J1087
♠ 74
♥ 1043 East leads the ♦Q to the ♦7, ♦3, ♦4. East continue with
♦ K87 the ♦J to the ♦8, ♦6, ♦5. How should East plan the
♣ AKQ54 defence to find two more trick?
When first played, East continued with a third ♦. However, declarer ruffed and accurately
led the ♥J from hand. West was welcome to his ♥Q, but now declarer was in control. He won
the ♠ switch with his ♠A, drew another round of trumps with the ♥A, played a ♣ to dummy’s
♣Q, cashed the ♣A and ruffed a low ♣ in hand. He then drew the last trump with a ♥ to
dummy’s ♥10 and declarer discarded his two ♠ losers on the two established ♣’s.
East went wrong at trick three. If North had started with ♦1054, he would have covered the
♦J with dummy’s ♦K. So East should switch to a ♠ at trick three. Then, to make the contract,
declarer must ruff a ♠ in dummy and guess the trump suit; and he is likely to play for the
trumps 2-2 and ♣’s 3-3 and here that will fail.
And what happened at the Pattaya Bridge Club? 6♥-2, 4♥= twice, 4♥-1 and 3♥+1.
No Psyches please East hand 14 from Friday 2nd
♠ J72 One player responded 2♥ to a 1♥ opening from partner with this hand.
♥ 7653 Normally, I would inform the player that psyches are not allowed in our club
♦ 9843 but this player has done similar things on many previous occasions and so this
♣ 63 time I awarded a 10% score (the computer would not let me award 0%).
His partner protested. Saying that there are many situations where it is obvious to bid with
just one point. That is certainly true, but this is not one of those cases. Some of the situations
where you can bid with zero points are:
. Stayman or transfer
. weak jump shifts
. responding to any forcing bid, take-out double etc. from partner.
. A pre-emptive jump to game with a shapely hand when partner has opened or overcalled
. At our club we also allow very weak pre-emptive bids with shape if you have already passed.
. There may be a few more that I cannot think of at the moment.
But what you are not allowed to do is make a constructive bid that promises a certain number of points
when you are way out of range. Here 2♥ is generally played as 6-10 and to make a bid which
shows 600% more in values is totally out of order.
Bidding Quiz Answers
Hand A: Double, this hand has near perfect shape with no points in ♥’s. I don’t think that being
vulnerable or a passed partner should deter you from making the ‘obvious’ bid.
Hand B: Pass is pretty obvious, isn’t it? But one player did bid 2♥ !