Hand of the week

 

Today, we’ll look at the bidding and play of an entire hand.

	Norm ♠ Q98 ♥ Q983 ♦ KJ64 ♣ 62
Walt ♠ 542 ♥ J6542 ♦ T2 ♣ J98	Dealer: West W N E S Pass Pass 1D 1NT Pass 2C Pass 2D Pass 2NT Pass 3NT Pass Pass Pass	Edie ♠ KJ73 ♥ A ♦ 9853 ♣ AQ73
	Sally ♠ AT6 ♥ KT7 ♦ AQ7 ♣ KT54

 

The Bidding

Walt and Norm pass.

Edie has 14 HCP plus one distribution point for the second suit. She has a demand opening. She doesn’t have a 5-card suit and her hand doesn’t qualify for a no trump opener, so she needs to bid her better minor suit. If the diamonds were stronger, opening 1 diamond would be a good choice. If Edie later needed to bid the clubs, bidding the diamonds first would give her partner a choice of those suits at the two level. As it stands, the diamonds will probably never be mentioned. Opening 1 club is a better choice here.

Sally was planning to open 1NT, and was surprised to hear Edie open the bidding. A 1NT overcall shows the same sort of hand as a 1NT opening with the provision that there is extra strength in the suit that was bid. Sally’s clubs should be strong enough to stop the clubs once or twice. She goes ahead with the 1NT overcall.

Walt wasn’t planning on bidding even if Sally passed.

Norm has 8 HCP. He adds that to Sally’s 15-17 and decides that they might have enough strength for game if Sally has a maximum 1NT hand. It will be a bit of a stretch in NT, but should be easier in hearts if Sally has 4 of them. With no intervening bid after the 1NT call, the Stayman convention is still on. Norm bids 2C, asking Sally if she has a 4-card major.

Edie is not interested in bidding further, given the enthusiasm of the opponents. She passes.

Sally’s responses to Stayman are automatic. She doesn’t have a 4-card major, so she bids 2D to show that.

Walt passes.

Now, Norm needs to take his team back to no trump. He doesn’t know if there is enough strength for game, so he invites with 2NT.

Edie passes.

If Sally had 17 HCP, she would bid 3NT without hesitation. With 15, she would pass without hesitation. With 16, she needs to make a judgement call. Her strength is mostly in aces and kings, and she sits behind the strength in the opposing hands. She decides to go to game by bidding 3NT.

Everyone passes.

The Play

Walt ♠ 542 ♥ J6542 ♦ T2 ♣ J98

Walt is on lead. Against a no trump contract, he wants to figure out which suit is longest in the combined holdings of his partner and him. He first considers clubs, because his partner bid them. He knows that his partner might have opened a 3-card club suit, so he isn’t too excited about clubs. He doesn’t rule them out, though.

Next, he considers his heart suit. From the Stayman sequence, he knows that the opponents hold, at most, 4 and 3 cards in hearts. A heart lead looks better. He leads his 4^th highest heart.

	Dummy ♠ Q98 ♥ Q983 ♦ KJ64 ♣ 62
	Sally ♠ AT6 ♥ KT7 ♦ AQ7 ♣ KT54

 

Now, Sally makes a plan to take 9 tricks to make her contract. She starts by counting how many tricks she can take off the top. She’ll be able to take 4 diamonds and 1 spade. She needs a plan to take 4 more. She starts by thinking about the heart suit. Walt’s lead looks like a 4^th highest. She uses the rule of 11 and finds that there are 7 cards higher than the 4 outside of Walt’s hand. She holds 6 of them. With this knowledge she should be able to take at least 2 heart tricks, maybe 3.

Next, she considers the point count from the bidding. Her side holds 24 HCP, and Edie should have 13 points for her opening bid. Some of those points could have come from distribution, but still, there isn’t much strength left for Walt. That helps to mark some finesses. She should be able to take a trick with the king of clubs using a finesse, and she might be able to take an extra trick in spades by finessing twice.

That sounds like a plan. Sally will need to be careful to preserve entries to the board to make these finesses.

Sally plays a small heart from the board, and to her delight, Edie plays the ace. Now Sally has two sure tricks in hearts with the K and Q. Not only that, the rule of 11 tells her that Walt holds the J. She should be able to take 3 heart tricks.

	Dummy ♠ Q98 ♥ Q98 ♦ KJ64 ♣ 62
Walt ♠ 542 ♥ J652 ♦ T2 ♣ J98		Edie ♠ KJ73 ♥ ♦ 9853 ♣ AQ73
	Sally ♠ AT6 ♥ KT ♦ AQ7 ♣ KT54

Edie is on lead. Edie can make the same calculation about the points and doesn’t expect Walt to have much strength. Therefore, a club lead or a spade lead will probably help declarer. A diamond probably won’t do any damage. Declarer probably has those all sewn up without any help from the defense. Edie chooses to lead the 9 of diamonds, a top-of-nothing lead.

Sally recalculates the tricks she can take off the top. There are 4 diamonds, 2 hearts, and 1 spade. She needs 2 more. She is confident in the club finesse and expects Walt to hold the J of hearts. She decides to start with the hearts. She wants to be in her hand, so she takes Edie’s diamond lead with the A.

	Dummy ♠ Q98 ♥ Q98 ♦ KJ6 ♣ 62
Walt ♠ 542 ♥ J652 ♦ T ♣ J98		Edie ♠ KJ73 ♥ ♦ 853 ♣ AQ73
	Sally ♠ AT6 ♥ KT ♦ Q7 ♣ KT54

Sally starts her plan for the heart finesse by cashing the king. Edie discards a small diamond. That removes all doubt about the heart finesse. Sally leads the 10 and Walt decides to duck, giving Sally a chance to make a mistake with the Q. No such luck. Sally ducks on the board. Edie discards another diamond.

	Dummy ♠ Q98 ♥ Q ♦ KJ6 ♣ 62
Walt ♠ 542 ♥ J6 ♦ T ♣ J98		Edie ♠ KJ73 ♥ ♦ 8 ♣ AQ73
	Sally ♠ AT6 ♥ ♦ Q7 ♣ KT54

Now, the only task left is the club finesse. She wants to make sure that she has transportation to cash all her winners, so she starts by cashing the Q of diamonds. Then, she leads a small diamond to the K. Worried that this will be her last visit to the board, she cashes her winning heart and diamonds. Edie is starting to get squeezed for her discards, but it doesn’t matter.

	Dummy ♠ Q98 ♥ ♦ ♣ 62
Walt ♠ 5 ♥ J ♦ ♣ J98		Edie ♠ KJ ♥ ♦ ♣ AQ7
	Sally ♠ AT6 ♥ ♦ ♣ KT

Finally, Sally leads a small club from the board. Edie plays “second hand low” with the 7. Sally plays the K and that holds the trick. She cashes the A of spades to make her contract. She leads a small spade, playing the Q from dummy and West takes the remainder of the tricks. Contract made.