Time to develop

here goes my heart for those beautiful, innocent, free feathery friends in the sky, injured during the kite flying on the day of Makar Sankrant. Joy for some and forever sorrow for many.

West led ♠Q, South won ♠K, led a heart to dummy and passed ♦J, losing to ♦Q. West returned  ♣Q. Against West’s imaginative defense, South thought the sure way to develop a club stopper. Unfortunately, it was the only way to lose the game. 

With no future in a second spade lead, West made the excellent switch to ♣Q. Dummy covered to guarantee a club stopper and dummy’s  ♣K won. When West won his ♦A, he cashed  ♣A and led his last club to East’s  ♣J. The defenders enjoyed three clubs and two diamonds for one down. 

South makes his game if he plays West for  ♣A, an inference certainly supported by the actual bidding. 

When West shifts to  ♣Q, South must refuse to cover.  ♣Q wins but West is stuck. If he continues clubs, dummy’s  ♣K wins and East’s fourth club is isolated. If West leads anything else, South has time to develop his nine tricks. 

“The bad news is time flies, the good news is you are the pilot.”

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

Twitter ID  : @HemaDeora

Pure Miracle!

Here’s a miracle hand. It was played at matchpoint scoring in a local bridge club. 

It started with a light opening bid (by American standards). South was hoping that North’s 2♠ rebid meant a six-card suit, but this time, he simply had a weak hand and was trying to slow down the auction. West’s double of 6♠ was a touch too greedy and he learnt a lesson when South removed to 6NT. The second double was probably an emotional reaction! 

Declarer won the heart lead in hand, cashed ♦A-K and ♠A. At this point, everything under the sun had fallen and declarer claimed 12 tricks (three spades, three hearts, five diamonds and one club). Had South played it out, he would have squeezed West for another trick. He could cash ♣A and ♥A, then the rest of the diamonds and last heart. West would have been unable to protect clubs and spades. 

The theory of restricted choice says that the diamond honour is likely to be a singleton (although the double of 6NT may have influenced South against this). Playing for a singleton diamond honour, South should have gone over to ♦A and finesse in diamonds. West would have won ♥Q. But, West who forgot to lead ♣K soon would have been squeezed. If he had exited with ¨K, declarer could win, cash his red tricks and come down to ♠A-5 and ♣J-8 opposite ♠QJ76. West must reduce to 3 spades in order to keep ♣Q. This allows declarer to cash four miraculous spade tricks. 

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

Twitter ID  : @HemaDeora

Alert Defense

Hope the new year was a great start with a lot of happy bridging with my readers! 

This was an interesting deal for the defense. South was in a partial contract of 2♥. West led ♦4. Dummy played ♦J and East played ♦Q. East returned ♠2. South played ♠J and West played ♠A. West continued ♠7, which East won, and South played ♠10. South won the third round of spades with ♠Q. When South played ♥A and ♥K, West followed with ♥9 and then discarded ♦2 on the second round. South led a diamond to ♦K and East’s ♦A. 

It is clear not to return a heart. That would give up a trick South was counting on. The choices are the thirteenth spade or a club into dummy’s ♣KJ754. Which will it be? 

East was an alert player and smartly he cashed ♣A, and got out with ♣2. This gave declarer an entry to dummy. But since South had not been able to shorten his trumps, the trump coup did not work. North led a diamond, but East just discarded his last spade and waited for the setting trick. 

‘If you are intelligent, if you are alert, the ordinary becomes the extraordinary.’

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

Twitter ID  : @HemaDeora