| Dealer: W Vul: N-S |
North ♠ J 8 3 ♥ A Q 3 2 ♦ A 8 2 ♣ 9 7 3 |
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| South ♠ K 10 ♥ K J 10 8 6 ♦ 10 5 4 ♣ A K J |
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| Lead: ♣2 Bidding:
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By Mike Lawrence
When you play a hand, you need to plan not only the current trick, but the succeeding tricks as well. In this series, you will be shown a hand and how it was played. At the end, you will be asked to determine where the play went wrong and what should have been done about it.
North and South showed good judgment in the bidding. South bid two hearts in the reopening seat. This is a much better bid than double because South does not have the values to double and then bid hearts if West or East compete to two spades. North in turn showed some restraint by raising only to three hearts. South was making a REOPENING BID and did not promise as good a hand as an overcall.
South had plenty under the circumstances and continued to game. It was unfortunate that four hearts turned out to be a poor contract. West leads the two of clubs.
At trick one, East produced the ten of clubs and South won with the jack. Having been given one trick, South had hopes of making his contract.
South drew trump in three rounds, ending in dummy. West followed once and then high-lowed in spades. South then led a spade to the ten, which lost to West’s queen. South didn’t really expect that finesse to win and it did not. This put the onus on West. If West led another club or a spade, South would have time to set up a spade trick for a diamond discard. But, West was doing some thinking too and eventually produced the king of diamonds. South ducked in the hopes that West had only two diamonds, but it did not happen. West eventually got in with the ace of spades and the defenders took their diamond trick for down one.
| Dealer: W Vul: N-S |
North ♠ J 8 3 ♥ A Q 3 2 ♦ A 8 2 ♣ 9 7 3 |
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| West ♠ A Q 9 6 4 ♥ 7 ♦ K J 9 ♣ Q 8 6 2 |
East ♠ 7 5 2 ♥ 9 5 4 ♦ Q 7 6 3 ♣ 10 5 4 |
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| South ♠ K 10 ♥ K J 10 8 6 ♦ 10 5 4 ♣ A K J |
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| Lead: ♣2 Bidding:
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Had West not made that thoughtful shift to the king of diamonds, South would have made four hearts. Why would West make that play? Look at the West hand for a moment. West saw that South had three club tricks, five heart tricks, and the ace of diamonds. West suspected that South had the king of spades. If so, South could set up a spade trick, which would give him ten tricks. It is true that South might not have the king of spades, but West made that assumption and was right. His defense was accurate.
Could South have made four hearts? Hm. I think so. What do you think would happen if South won the first trick with the king of clubs? You would continue by drawing trumps and then would finesse the ten of spades as before. Look again at the West hand. Might not West decide to lead another club instead of that killing diamond? If he does, you get the club trick back and you now have time to set up a spade trick.
The error was in not looking ahead far enough. If you do your thinking at trick two, it is likely that you are doing so too late.