The Bad And Good News

North’s 4♣ bid promised a singleton or void in clubs, at least a four-card spade support, first or second round, controls in the unbid suits, and a minimum opening.

West leads the ♦6, a fourth-best lead. the diamond lead is not a surprise because the auction strongly implied that any diamond strength would be found in dummy. If the finesse is right, the hand is easy but what can you do if it is wrong? 

Win the ♦A, draw trumps, ruff two clubs in dummy and two hearts in your hand, ending in hand. You have two diamonds and a spade in each hand. Lead a diamond towards the queen. If west follows low, play the queen. Bad news! the king is offside, as you might have guessed. The good news is that east started with double ton ♦K and must concede a ruff and discard and the contract. 

The good news about computers is that they do what you tell them to do. The bad news is that they do what you tell them to do.

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Twitter ID  : @HemaDeora

Danger Hand

If you are not a fan, you would surly become one after seeing 'This Is It!' The movie opens after a bit of scrolling text, with a number of concert dancers weeping and excitedly talking into the camera about the gig and their love for Michael Jackson who"ll live forever in their hearts.

An event of a lifetime, the concert that never was.  That was the moment! 'This is it'!

At trick two, declarer played a low club from dummy and finessed the ♣ 8, losing to the ♣Q.  diamonds were continued, declarer winning the third round.  Needing one additional trick, South crossed to dummy with the ♣A and led the ♠Q, finessing East.  West won and cashed two more diamond tricks to take 3NT one down.

West can be kept off lead in clubs but not in spades if West has the ♠Kx or longer.  Declarer should take the spade finesse at trick two, as that can be taken only one way,  into danger hand with the long diamonds.  West  wins and continues diamonds, South taking the ♦ K on the third round.  Now South finesses the clubs into the safe hand, East.  If East wins with the ♣ Q and has another diamond, South must hope diamonds were originally 4-4.

Blog          : http://www.hemadeora.blogspot.in

Twitter ID  : @HemaDeora

Resist The Temptation

It is that time of the year again, when we gear up to celebrate Diwali, the festival of lights, happiness and prosperity. But it’s not the same for animals. If you have a pet, especially dogs, bear in mind that they suffer from anxiety during Diwali. They tremble, whine and their bark becomes worse than their bite. I have two and know exactly what they go through. 

Yielding to temptation is the only way to lose the game. South ducked the opening lead in dummy and got a free finesse winning with his ♥10. A low spade was led towards dummy, but west alertly hopped up with his Ace and played the ♥A and another heart to establish his suit. South now could take 3 spades and 3 clubs on the run for a total of eight tricks. If he tries to steal a diamond, West is ready to pounce and collect the rest of his five winners for one down. 

The game is unbeatable if South credits West for all three aces for the opening bid. He wins dummy’s ♥k at trick one and knocks out ♦A. If West plays the ♥A and another heart, South will collect three winners. And, if West leads anything else, it’s even easier. Regardless of what West leads, South has time to knock out the ♠A to score a comfortable overtrick.

Blog          : http://www.hemadeora.blogspot.in

Twitter ID  : @HemaDeora

Gaining Entry

West held the first trick with the king of spades, East playing the jack. It was barely possible that West had made a vulnerable two spade overcall on a suit of only five cards to the KQ10. Nevertheless, tony held up the spade ace a second time when West continued spades. Can you see why? 

Unless the opposing clubs were 2-2, the suit was blocked. By ducking spades twice, tony was able to throw the apparently insignificant club 5 under the spade ace. He could then run five club tricks painlessly, bring his total to nine. 

Deafening silence:- husband was talking to a doctor about his wife “doctor, when we play bridge, I think my wife is deaf because she never hears my bid and I always have to repeat things.” “Well,” the doctor replied, “the next time you play bridge, bid normally. If she doesn’t reply, say it louder and louder. Keep doing this so that we’ll get an idea about the severity of her deafness.” Sure enough, the next time they played Bridge, he does exactly as instructed. He starts off saying “One Spade”. He hears no response. He says it louder One Spade”. Still no reply. And again “One Spade”! He gets fed up and screams at the top of his voice “Sheryl! I’M BIDDING ONE SPADE!” Sheryl picks up a pen and writes down “For the fourth time, one no trump”.

Blog          : http://www.hemadeora.blogspot.in

Twitter ID  : @HemaDeora

The Best Chance

Dummy’s ♠J holds the first trick, and it’s obvious that the future lies with diamonds. 

The best chance to make the game is to lead a low diamond from dummy at trick two. This play makes the game when west has the ♦Q — also very often when east has the ♦Q. 

After east plays a low diamond, south’s ♦J goes to west’s ♦A, but west cannot gainfully lead spades. South wins west’s shift and loses another diamond to east, but it matters little. south still has time to post an overtrick. 

There once was a lady named Bess, 

who found a new way to finesse. 

She made up excuses to lead up to deuces, 

And loses without having to guess!

Blog          : http://www.hemadeora.blogspot.in

Twitter ID  : @HemaDeora