Test Your Bridge Skills #38

What do you know about partner's hand? They have between 12 and 14 points, a balanced hand and 3 aces, otherwise they can’t have an opening. They must have 3 Cards in Hearts but not 4 cards in Spades (given they didn’t bid 1♠). That also means that they must have at least 4 cards in Clubs (if they’d had 3♣, 4♦, 3♥, 3♠ - they would’ve opened the bidding with 1♦).

Next you can count the tricks: 1 Spade, 5 Hearts, 1 Diamond and 4 Clubs. So there are 11 sure tricks. You can’t hope partner has a K, as if they had they would've opened 1NT with at least 15 points.

So, if partner has only 4 Clubs you can’t make a small slam in Spades, or in NT as you’ve only 11 tricks (you can only make 12 tricks if partner has 5 cards in Clubs, which is possible, but not sure).

However, if you choose Clubs as trump, partner will have a great chance of making 13 tricks by ruffing twice in dummy (your hand), making the ♠A plus 2 Spade ruffs, 4 Clubs, 1 Diamond and 5 Hearts.

This could be the hand:

Note that although partner has absolute minimum and a bad 3-3-3-4 distribution, 7♣ is cold even if Clubs are 4-1, while 6♥ and 6NT have no chance to make as you’re stuck with 2 Diamond losers that you can’t do anything about. Playing 7♣, partner simply ruffs 2 Spades in dummy, pulls out 4 rounds of Clubs (discarding 2 Diamonds on the last 2 Clubs) and then plays all the Hearts, onto which they can throw the last 2 diamonds from hand.

Note:

• Playing in 4-4 fit is almost always better than playing in 5-3 (or even 6-3) fit as you can ruff from 1 hand and discard 2 losers on the long 5-3 side suit. While if the 5-3 suit is the trump, you can’t discard anything on the 4-4 side suit, and will probably only be able to ruff from the long hand, which doesn’t help, as you’ve already counted the tricks from that hand (while ruffing from 4-4 fit, you have 4 tricks plus the amount of ruffs you get from the same hand).
• New Minor Forcing asks partner to continue to describe their hand. If they bid your suit, it means they have 3 cards in it (with 4 cards – they’d have supported immediately).

Hand 3

Against 4♥ you led the ♠2. Partner played the ♠J and declarer won with the ♠A and played the ♥J. You won with the ♥A. What will you do now?

Best Answer: ♦9

Against 4♥ you led the ♠2. Partner played the ♠J and declarer won with the ♠A and played the ♥J. You won with the ♥A. What will you do now?

You have 3 sure tricks. The key card which partner played is the ♠J. That card DENIES the ♠10 (otherwise partner would play the ♠10 - 3rd hand plays high, but LOWEST from a touching sequence) and also denies the ♠K (else he plays it as 3rd hand).

That places ♠AK10 in declarer's hand, so don’t whatever you do continue with Spades.

You have 3 sure tricks: 1♥, 1♦ and 1♣. The setting trick would need to be the ♠Q which means you need to put partner on lead so they can play a Spade to your hand to help you to develop your ♠Q.

The menacing Club suit means that you need to win your tricks fast, before the declarer develops Clubs and discards losers on it. The only way to set is to hope partner has the ♦K, as it’s the only possible entry to their hand. So, play the ♦9 (preference to Spade) and when partner gets the ♦K, they’ll continue with a Spade. Declarer will win with the ♠K, pull out the last trump, but when they play Clubs you can win the ♣A and the ♠Q to set 1 down. If you play ♦A and something, declarer will manage to pull out the trumps and develop Clubs for a Spade discard. If you play a low Diamond back, partner might continue with Clubs, wrongly thinking you have a void (♠Qxxx ♥Axx ♦AQxxxx ♣ - ).

Note:

As 3rd hand:

• Play high (assuming hands 1 and 2 played low)
• From a touching sequence of high cards - Play the LOWEST card of that sequence (unlike 1^st hand, which plays TOP of sequence). For example. If partner had played the ♠10 at trick 1 to the declarer's ♠A, it would be clear to you that they also have the ♠J, otherwise the declarer would have won the trick with the ♠J. Then, the right play would be to continue with another low Spade to partner's ♠J. But here, when partner played the ♠J, they deny having the ♠10 in their hand).
• Dummy completes the sequence:
  a)
  
  As 3rd hand play the ♠K (3rd hand plays high, and you have only 1 high card).b)
  
  As 3rd hand play the ♠Q (lowest from a touching sequence)c)
  
  As 3rd hand (if dummy played LOW) play the ♠10 (the ♠Q in dummy completes the sequence and therefore you play low from a touching sequence. The ♠10, is high enough to win the trick if partner holds the Ace OR high enough to draw out declarer's ace, if they have it).
• If partner led a top card (or dummy okayed a top card) – you should signal attitude (want/don’t want) OR count (odd/even cards in hand), according to you agreement with partner.

Hand 4

You’re playing 3NT. West chose to lead the ♠K and East followed with the ♠2. What will you do?

You’re playing 3NT. West chose to lead the ♠K and East followed with the ♠2. What will you do?

Many players sitting West will chose to lead a low Spade (as K is normally from KQJ or KQ10 vs NT), but "your" West has found the worst lead for you, which immediately kills your entry to dummy - if they lead low, you try low, win it in hand and start developing your Diamonds, using your ♠A to make your developed Diamonds later, and make overtricks.

Clearly, you can’t hold up, otherwise you will win only 1 Spade trick and by continuing a 2nd spade, opponents will be able to kill your entry to dummy and promote their Spades.

Counting tricks: 1 Spade, 2 Hearts and 1 Club, gives you 4 sure tricks. Assuming opponents will hold up 1 Diamond, you can make 1 Diamond trick too. You will also manage another Spade trick, bringing you to 6 in total. So, you’ll need 3 more tricks form the Club suit, and that will only happen if the Club finesse works, and Clubs are 3-3 – not a high chance, but that is what you have.

On top of this, if this is going to happen, you’d need to finesse twice and start immediately! So, take the ♠A, finesse Club to the ♣J and now play LOW Diamond to dummy.

If opponents take with the ♦A (which could be a singleton) your Diamonds are now high and you still have another Diamond to enter dummy and take them. Assuming opponents hold up, win the Diamond in dummy, finesse another Club to the ♣Q, take ♣A and when the ♣K drops, win your 4th Club too. Now it’s time to develop another Spade for 9 tricks: 2 Spades, 4 Clubs, 1 Diamond and 2 Hearts.

Note:

• Normally, in NT play, you develop your longest suit assuming you have an entry to enjoy your developed tricks. But if you have no entry, or you had it and opponents attacked it, you’ll need to seek an alternative plan, even if the chances of succeeding are lower. You don’t have any other choice.
• Note that you had to hope for a successful Club finesse, and that you had to make sure you could make it twice. So a Club at trick 2 for the 1st finesse was a must as you only have 1 more entry to dummy to finesse again.