Through the Pack at
Glenfield
The Ace of Clubs
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Aces are the most important cards and should not be
wasted. My owner was guilty of just
that in the match between Glenfield A and Loughborough B on 23rd
October 2002. It cost his side 12
imps. |
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North S
KQ95 H
3 D
A975 C
QT87 |
Dealer
North Game
All |
After
two passes, my owner opened one spade. West bid two hearts
and north jumped to four spades. West
led the three of diamonds and my owner, fearing that it might be a singleton,
rose with the ace of diamonds. East
ruffed and returned the two of clubs.
Now was my opportunity. I
should be played, trumps should be drawn and declarer loses no more than the
king of clubs and a heart for his contract.
I
tried to attract his attention but, no, he was oblivious, and he carelessly
played the nine. West won the king of
clubs, promptly gave east another ruff and the defence still had a certain
heart trick to come. The
contract was made at the other three tables. In
passing, four spades can always be beaten on a diamond lead, whatever
declarer does, if east returns a heart at trick two. It looks pretty obvious to me; easier, in
fact, than the initial diamond lead from west. I suspect most west’s started with the ace of hearts. That destroys the defence unless, of
course, you are playing an incompetent such as my owner. It
is also worth mentioning that five hearts by east west cannot be beaten
(double dummy). It is probably best
for north to start with a trump. East
wins and leads a club. South takes
the ace and plays a second trump.
West wins and ruffs a diamond.
Then comes a club to the king and a second diamond ruff. A spade is then ducked. The spade continuation is ruffed by west
and the king of diamonds
is led. North probably does best to
duck but a club is thrown by east. A
spade ruff then allows the ace of diamonds to be ruffed out. There is still a trump in west’s hand to
provide an entry to the last diamond for the eleventh trick. None
of this excuses the behaviour of my owner who ought to have known better and
deserves to be publicly shamed on this website. |
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West S
6 H
AJ764 D
KJ843 C
K3 |
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East S
T42 H
KQT98 D
– C
6542 |
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South S
AJ873 H
52 D
QT2 C
AJ9 |
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The player guilty of wasting me on the previous board was
Tim Glover. On this deal he benefited
from his opponent playing me too soon in the match between Glenfield A and County C on 5th March 2003. |
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Dealer
N NS
Vul |
North S
J94 H
K4 D
83 C
Q97432 |
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After two passes
South opened one diamond. My owner passed and North bid one no
trump. South rebid two diamonds and
everyone passed. My owner led
a heart. Declarer won the king, and
then played a second heart to the ace. A heart was ruffed. South then led a diamond to the ten and
queen. My owner played me prematurely
and continued with the club suit.
West fell from grace by playing ace and another club. At this point a heart ruff is available
for what would have been the defence’s setting trick. Failing to beat the contract cost three
imps. Ken Skinner and Baerbel Sandhu
were successful in defence for Glenfield.
At the other tables South passed the
one no trump response from North.
This contract fared less well.
Best defence started with five spades and exits passively with a
heart. North didn’t have the entries
to finesse diamonds twice and made just three hearts, a club and a diamond
for two down. |
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West S
AT2 H
T532 D
Q92 C
AT8 |
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East S
KQ753 H
J98 D
K74 C
J6 |
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South S
86 H
AQ76 D
AJT65 C
K5 |
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The
next card is the King of Clubs.
The
previous card was the Two of Diamonds.
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Site Map |
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1. Home Page |
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2.1 Club Results |
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3.1 Bidding |
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3.1.1 Hand Evaluation |
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3.1.2 Opening Bids |
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3.1.3 Responding to an Opening Bid |
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3.1.3.1 Responding to 1NT |
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3.1.3.2 Responding to 2NT |
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3.1.4 Conventions |
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3.1.4.1 Conventional Opening Bids |
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3.1.4.2 Competitive Conventions |
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3.1.4.3 Slam Conventions |
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3.1.5 Doubles |
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3.1.6 The Protective Position |
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3.2 Declarer Play |
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3.2.1 General Technique |
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3.2.2 Trump Management |
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3.3 Defence |
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3.3.1 Defensive Tactics |
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3.3.2 Opening
Leads |
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3.3.3 Plays in Third Hand |
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3.3.4 Entry Management |
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3.4 Probability |
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