The 17th edition of the HCL International Tournament held Aug. 5-10 in New Delhi was exceptional in every regard – organisation, participation as well as hospitality. Playing in the penultimate round of the Swiss League at the HCL 2019 Teams event, you are dealt ♠K86 ♥K ♦KQ954 ♣AJ103 as North.
After a brisk auction you land in 3NT, and receive the lead of ♠J. The sight of dummy – ♠A5 ♥AQ5432 ♦J83 ♣42 – leaves you with mixed feelings. On the face of it, 10 tricks are there for the taking if the diamonds behave (divide 3-2). In these circumstances you cannot be denied 2 spades, 3 hearts, 4 diamonds and the club Ace. But is there Plan B in case the diamonds divide 4-1? Another obvious complication is the shortage of entries to dummy. Apart from the spade Ace, there is no other guaranteed method of reaching dummy. The communication will be truly messy should West turn up with a tripleton diamond (or longer) headed by the Ace. This possible adversity should spark the search for a different path to 9 tricks. If the missing honors in the club suit are either split or both reside with West, a close to 75 percent chance, there is a safe way home provided you can find 2 entries to dummy. Since the luxury of ducking the opening lead does not exist given the threat of a spade continuation, you win in hand and unblock the heart King. East plays an ominous ♥9 at trick 2 which you secretly hope is part of a 3 card holding!
A number of expert declarers including a member of India’s Bermuda Bowl team in recent times fell from grace at this point by not playing a royal. When the diamond Jack held and a top heart was played, declarer twitched nervously at the sight of a club discard by East. Since the contract was now at the mercy of a benign diamond break, he immediately played a second diamond keeping the spade Ace intact as an entry. The roof fell in when West discarded a club this time around! East obviously returned another spade and declarer was restricted to 3 hearts, 2 spades, a club and 2 diamonds – a trick short of securing his contract.
Consider what happens if declarer opts to play a diamond royal at trick three from hand. Should East choose to win and return a spade, the winning line of play is determined by whether West unblocks the Queen or retains it. Assuming West unblocks the Queen, declarer cashes the two top hearts and finesses the club 10. East must necessarily retain 3 diamonds, 2 spades and ♣Qx in the 7 card ending. Should East bare the club Queen to retain 3 winning spades, declarer wins diamond Jack, Club Ace felling the Queen and exits with the carefully preserved spade 8. East is eventually forced to concede both remaining diamonds with declarer finally scoring 3 tricks in each red suit, 2 top spades and the Ace of clubs. If West stubbornly hangs on to spade Queen, declarer finesses immediately in clubs losing 2 diamonds eventually, a club and a spade. The knave of diamonds provides the much needed entry to dummy to cash the hearts. What a difference a single card can make.
The full deal, in all its splendour, appears below:
Next, try your hand at a deceptively simple slam in the next round.
You may be forgiven for thinking the pack with which this hand was dealt had a surfeit of clubs! Not really, just that bidding conventions can often be fairly abstruse. 3♣ was a pre-emptive bid showing at least 7 clubs and 4♣ by South conveyed at least 5-5 in the majors with sound opening s. 5♣ was an attempt to muddy the waters but North was the real star – bidding 6♣ to confirm a first round control in clubs and the desire to play a slam in whichever major his partner preferred.
West led a small heart, ruffed by East! After winning the diamond return in dummy, you focus your attention on the best way to tackle trumps. What card should you play from dummy at trick three?
It is certain that East has at most 6 cards combined in spades and diamonds, of which he has chosen to play one at trick two.
Unless East has 12 cards combined in the minor suits, he is bound to have a second spade. Therefore, playing the spade King from dummy seems to be the best option. Many expert declarers however managed to persuade themselves that West was more likely to possess the three outstanding spades. In line with that argument, they played a spade to the Ace hoping to scoop the Queen with a subsequent finesse. The plan went KAPUT when West showed out on the second round of trumps!
Finally, take your chance with the best defense on this innocuous deal. After a spirited auction, South found himself at the wheel in a challenging 3♦ contract. Sitting West, you find yourself on lead looking at ♠AQ1092 ♥J64 ♦K53 ♣KJ. Since you have no desire to under-lead from your holding in either minor suit and want to look at dummy before touching spades, you lead a low heart. The sight of dummy – ♠J ♥AK53 ♦J107 ♣AQ842 – especially the singleton spade and the ♣AQ is a cause for concern. Partner’s single raise of your 1♠ opening suggests declarer has 4 spades. You are hoping for more cues that will help you construct declarer’s hand as the play proceeds. After winning ♥A, on which partner plays the 10 (indicating interest in the suit and most likely the presence of ♥9), declarer is quick to tackle spades. Partner inserts the King which wins the trick and follows with a low trump.
Your moment of reckoning has arrived as you win the trick and wonder what to play next.
Even if declarer has just four 4 diamonds to the Ace and the ten of clubs to three cards, you can count 9 tricks for the enemy if you attempt to return a second trump. 2 hearts,1 spade ruff in dummy, 3 trumps for declarer and 3 club tricks at minimum. So, it seems vital for partner to hold the trump Ace. Is that sufficient to defeat the contract? 2 further rounds of trumps will eliminate the ruffs in both hands but is still not good enough to beat the contract. Declarer will win the third round of trumps with the Queen, finesse in clubs, drop your second honor and win the third round with 10. Now the ♥K provides access to the winning clubs and allows declarer to score 5 clubs, 2 trumps and the two top hearts. Finally, the bulb begins to flicker. You must return a heart immediately to destroy dummy’s link to the dangerous club suit. Regardless of whether declarer has the ♣10 , he is now held to 8 tricks – 2 top hearts, 2 heart ruffs and 2 spade ruffs and ♣AQ. Bravo! Let the applause soak in as partner and declarer congratulate you on the thoughtful defense. The full hand turns out to be
George Soros got it right when he said, “If investing is entertaining, if you’re having fun, you’re probably not making any money. Good investing is boring.”
If you’re having fun at the bridge table, you’re probably not winning enough. Good bridge is counting, counting, counting……till you get a fix on the odds.
Sanjoy Bhattacharyya is Managing Partner at Fortuna Capital and an avid bridge player.
The views expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of BloombergQuint or its editorial team.
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