Through the Pack at
Glenfield
The Jack of Spades
Last Updated on 10th
September 2005
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Both the East/West and the North/South Winners gained a top
on this deal from Glenfield Bridge Club on 7th September 2005 |
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North ª T94 © AT64 ¨ QJ743 § 3 |
Board
1 Dealer
N Love
All |
Two
pairs reached three no trumps and lost three hearts and two aces when a heart
was led. The
other five pairs bid the spade game.
This, too, should fail after a heart lead.
It is slightly better for South to duck
this, so East wins the nine and continues with
the jack to North’s
ace. Declarer is going to need to discard some clubs
on dummy’s diamonds and, now the ace of hearts has been
inconveniently removed, the best chance of an entry to dummy is a club ruff.
So South must leave trumps alone and knock
out the minor suit aces as the first objective. Which
minor suit should be attacked first? It
matters not. In either case, I will
be promoted as a setting trick for the defence. If
a club is played, West can win the ace and continue
the suit. Declarer ruffs
in dummy and plays a diamond. East
can win and lead a third round of clubs, promoting me to win a trick. If
declarer plays a diamond at trick three, East wins the ace and it is best
to lead a trump. South wins and
plays the king of
clubs. West must take the ace and continue
with the five of
spades. This allows declarer to
reach dummy with the nine
of spades and two clubs are discarded on the queen and jack of diamonds. However, declarer is now fixed. If trumps are drawn, East will take the
setting trick with the jack of clubs. It is better odds for declarer to return
to hand with a heart ruff
and attempt to ruff
the ten of clubs
in dummy. However, West is now out of
clubs as well and can ruff
in front of dummy with me. Whichever
minor suit is played first, the defence is difficult and only one pair
defeated four spades. Ian Thomson
& Bill Youngs, East/West winners, defeated the contract by two tricks. Top score for North/South also went to the
winners, Howard Stevens & Phil Watts, who made an overtrick. |
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West ª J53 © KQ83 ¨ 8652 § A6 |
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East ª 76 © J92 ¨ AT9 § J9842 |
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South ª AKQ82 © 75 ¨ K § KQT75 |
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This hand comes from the Glenfield Club Pairs of 30th
April 2003 |
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Board
8 Dealer
W Love
All |
North ª KJ2 © 752 ¨ AT9643 § K |
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The
best East/West scores went to Geoff Day and Gordon Musson and Lesley Neville
and Ken Clayton who bid and made three no trumps. It appears that this contract should go two down unless
declarer finds the singleton king of clubs and
the queen of hearts. Congratulations to any East that achieved
that. It
seems more likely that South led
a spade to North’s king. North returned the two of spades, East
played the ten
and South won the ace. South cleared the spades, declarer winning
and running the queen
of clubs at trick four. North
wins but has no more spades and switches to a diamond. East wins the king of diamonds
and now has nine tricks (five clubs, one diamond, two hearts and one spade). South
can beat the contract by playing small at trick two. Then when North wins the king of clubs they
still have a spade to lead to the ace and the defence
will take four spade tricks, a diamond and a club. However, with the queen of hearts not
looking likely to provide an entry, sitting, as it was, under dummy’s ace jack, it is
easy to sympathise with those South’s who reasoned that, should North have a
doubleton spade, they might not make the ace at all should
they not take it at trick two. Let
the spotlight shift to North. What
card should they return at trick two?
Can either card indicate the possession of three to the king as opposed to
a doubleton king. The answer is no. Can
the defence do anything? Let’s roll
back to trick one. What if North
plays me? East can win the queen at trick one
but then when North gets on lead he can cash the king of spades and
lead a third to South’s ace. While this play appears to fly in the face
of the third player play high rule a little analysis suggests that it cannot,
in fact, lose. North has eleven
points; South can hardly have very much.
If South has no spade honour or just the queen of spades, it
makes no difference whether I am played or North plays the king. If South leads
the five of spades
(fourth
highest), the rule of eleven tells North that South has at least three
cards so North need not worry about declarer having started with a doubleton queen. The only time playing me appears to lose
is when South started specifically with five spades to the ace ten. Even in this case, declarer can prevail
by not covering me at trick two and blocking
the run of the suit. |
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West ª 63 © AJ3 ¨ 82 § AJ8742 |
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East ª QT9 © KT4 ¨ KQ5 § Q963 |
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South ª A8754 © Q986 ¨ J7 § T5 |
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I did not turn out to be the best choice of lead in this
deal from the match between Glenfield A and County C on 5th March 2003. |
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Dealer N NS
Vul |
North ª K74 © JT9 ¨ AQJT6 § K4 |
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North
opened one
diamond, South bid two
clubs, North bid two
no trumps and South raised to three. My owner led
me and North just let it run round to the king for the
contract. This was effectively playing
East for the ace and was with the odds for my owner was more likely to have
length in spades than West for the lead.
The play is more complex if my owner leads a club. Assuming this goes to the eight and king, North might
try a heart to the queen
next. West does best to hold
off so South finesses
the nine of diamonds. My owner takes the king and can play
the nine of clubs. If South plays the ten or small, two
club winners will be established in East’s hand so the Ace of clubs must
be played. Four diamonds are
played My owner discards two hearts
and a spade, dummy discards a spade and a heart and West discards a heart and
a spade. Now North must lead a spade. If he leads a heart, West will win, cash
the jack of clubs
and play a spade. If he leads a
spade, my owner cannot take the ace without establishing two spade tricks for
declarer, but, if he ducks,
West will not have a spade to lead after taking the heart and club. |
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West ª 982 © A743 ¨ 873 § J82 |
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East ª AJT5 © 852 ¨ K2 § Q973 |
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South ª Q63 © KQ6 ¨ 954 § AT65 |
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The
next card is the Ten
of Spades
The
previous card was the Queen
of Spades.
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Site Map Last Updated 3rd July 2005 |
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1. Home Page |
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2. Newsletters, Photos and Correspondence |
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3. Competitions |
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5. Statistics |
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6.1 Bidding |
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6.1.1 Hand Evaluation |
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6.1.2 Opening Bids |
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6.1.3 Responding to an Opening Bid |
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6.1.3.1 Responding to 1NT |
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6.1.3.2 Responding to 2NT |
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6.1.4 Conventions |
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6.1.4.1 Conventional Opening Bids |
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6.1.4.2 Competitive Conventions |
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6.1.4.3 Slam Conventions |
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6.1.5 Doubles |
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6.1.6 The Protective Position |
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6.2 Declarer Play |
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6.2.1 General Technique |
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6.2.2 Trump Management |
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6.3 Defence |
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6.3.1 Defensive Tactics |
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6.3.2 Opening
Leads |
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6.3.3 Plays in Third Hand |
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6.3.4 Entry Management |
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6.4 Probability |
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