NORTH
; 8 5 2
k A Q 5
l 9 6
' K J 10 7 6
WEST EAST
; K Q 6 3 ; 10 9 4
k 10 6 k 8 7 4
l Q 8 4 2 l K 7
' Q 4 3 ' A 9 8 5 2
SOUTH
; A J 7
k K J 9 3 2
l A J 10 5 3
' ---
Vulnerable: East-West
Dealer: North
The bidding:
South West North East
Pass Pass
1 k Pass 2 '* Pass
4 k All pass
*Drury (fit and maximum pass)
Opening Lead: Heart six
"In war, events of importance are the result of trivial causes."
-- Julius Caesar
When the top two teams met in the final round of the round-robin for England's Crockfords Cup, this board proved significant.
At the first table, West led a trump against four hearts, won in dummy. Declarer Mike Bell, playing for Team Leslie, advanced the diamond nine, covered by the king and ace. Bell continued with the diamond 10 from hand. It did not matter if West won or not; declarer could next ruff a diamond high to establish his suit for one loser.
At the other table, West led the spade king. Declarer ducked, and West switched to a trump, won in dummy. Declarer played a small diamond to his jack, and the effect was that he had created a guess for himself. On the trump continuation, should he win in dummy and take another diamond finesse (necessary when East held king-fourth), or should he win in hand, then cash the diamond ace and ruff a diamond high (necessary on the layout shown)? He chose the former line of play and had to concede an overruff on the third diamond.
This was unlucky in a sense, since if it had been West who had been dealt a diamond doubleton and could ruff in on the third round, declarer would discard a spade from dummy and then ruff a spade.
Still, by starting diamonds with the nine, South would have avoided this guess. Either East covers and play develops as in the first room, or he ducks and now the diamond king falls on air. The swing for Team Leslie saw them win the event for a second consecutive time.
BID WITH THE ACES
South holds:
; 8 5 2
k A Q 5
l 9 6
' K J 10 7 6
South West North East
1 ' 1 k
?
ANSWER: With the heart ace-queen well-placed, your hand is worth an invitational sequence. Start with a two-heart cue bid to show a good raise. If partner bids two no-trump, remove to three clubs. This would suggest invitational values and 5 or more clubs, so partner can bid on with a suitable 13- or 14-count. A call of two no-trump gets the values across but potentially wrong-sides no-trump on a spade or diamond lead.
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