BRIDGE BITES #2
|
TOO EASY
Brian Gunnell |
Before we show you the whole
deal, consider your bid with the North hand:
♠
T854
None Vulnerable
♥ ---
West North East South
♦
KQJT52 2♥
2♠
♣ AKQ 4♥
??
So far this has happened:
-
East bid a Weak Two, showing long
Hearts and less than opening values
-
South overcalled 2♠,
showing an opening bid (or something very close)
-
West furthered the preempt by
jumping to 4♥
What is your bid?
►
North may have only 15 HCP, but what a
magnificent hand it is! In fact, all that North needs from Partner is
♠AKxxxx
and ♦A
and even a grand slam will make! But, the opponents have crowded the auction
with all that Heart bidding, so investigating 7♠
is difficult. Our practical suggestion is a majestic leap to 6♠!
►
♠ T854
♥
♦
KQJT52
♣ AKQ |
Dummy
West East
Declarer |
♠ AKQ72
♥
82
♦
74
♣ J875 |
West leads the
♥A
and, when Dummy goes down, who would blame Declarer for thinking “Yippee! What
a terrific slam, and on just a combined 25 HCP! Nicely bid, pard!”
Declarer ruffs that
♥A
opening lead and, without pausing for thought, cashes the ♠A and ♠K. When East
shows out on the second round of trumps, Declarer ponders awhile (it’s a bit
late now!) before realizing that “Oops!” and not “Yippee!” is the appropriate
exclamation. Yes, indeed, Declarer has goofed mightily. What went wrong?
►
At first glance, making this slam
just seemed too easy, but even so Declarer needed to plan his whole campaign
before charging into battle. It was a mistake to draw two rounds of trumps
right away, as now Declarer could not draw the last trump (that would have let
the defense score a Heart and a Diamond). Trying to escape that grisly fate, he
ruffed a Heart on the board and exited with the
♦K.
But that didn’t work, either. East won the
♦A
and returned a Diamond which had to be won in Dummy. Now Declarer had no way
back to his hand to draw that last enemy trump. He led
a third round of Diamonds but, when East followed to the third round, Declarer knew that his
goose is cooked. Whether he ruffed high or low, West’s ♠J would score a trick.
Down one! What was the winning line?
►
Of course, the correct play was
to ruff the opening Heart lead, cross to the ♠A, ruff another Heart, and
then draw trumps. That would the time for yippeeing, Trick 1 was the
time for thinking.
|
♠ T854
♥
♦
KQJT52
♣ AKQ |
|
♠ J96
♥
A9543
♦
63
♣ T43 |
Dummy
West East
Declarer |
♠ 3
♥
KQJT76
♦
A98
♣ 962 |
|
♠ AKQ72
♥
82
♦
74
♣ J875 |
|
The winning
idea on this slam was realization that the only entries back to Declarer’s hand
were in the trump suit and that it was therefore necessary to delay drawing
trumps until after the second Heart ruff had been taken.
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