September 2018 - 52

Intermediate Players

Misplay These Hands with Me
BY MARK HORTON

markhorton007@hotmail.com

Too quick on the draw
My partner in a top international
event is a multiple champion when I
pick up the following hand:
♠K9
♥J75
♦A987
♣AK76
I am the dealer and, with only the
opponents vulnerable, I open 1NT. My
partner bids 2♦, which I Alert as a
transfer to hearts. East doubles, presumably to show diamonds, and I bid
2♥ which we play as promising three-

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game, and the von Zedtwitz Award, which
honors inactive players who have achieved
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ACBL members in good standing may
submit candidates' names to the Hall of
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52 Bridge Bulletin September 2018

card support and a minimum. My
partner continues with 2♠, and from
the myriad possibilities, I decide to
bid 3♣ which elicits a bid of 4♦ from
partner, which I take to be a singleton.
I have good controls, but my hearts are
weak, and I content myself with 4♥.
However, partner is not finished, as he
asks for key cards with 4NT. When I
reply 5♥, partner settles for 6♥.
This has been our mildly sophisticated auction:
West

North

East

Pass
Pass
Pass
Pass
Pass

2♦
2♠
4♦
4NT
6♥

Dbl
Pass
Pass
Pass
All Pass

South
1NT
2♥
3♣
4♥
5♥

West leads the ♦3, and dummy is
about what I expected:
♠A876
♥ A K 10 9 6 3
♦6
♣J8
♠K9
♥J75
♦A987
♣AK76
If the trumps break, I can ruff a
spade in my hand to get to 12 tricks, so
I win the opening lead and cash the top
hearts. However, East discards the ♠2

on the second round, and when I then
play three rounds of spades, ruffing,
West overruffs and exits with a diamond, leaving me a trick short.
The full deal looked like this:
♠A876
♥ A K 10 9 6 3
♦6
♣J8
♠Q5
♠ J 10 4 3 2
♥Q42
♥8
♦532
♦ K Q J 10 4
♣ Q 10 9 5 4
♣32
♠K9
♥J75
♦A987
♣AK76
Postmortem
After winning the opening lead,
declarer should forget about drawing trumps and play three rounds of
spades, ruffing with the jack. West
can overruff and return a trump, but
declarer wins, ruffs a spade, ruffs a
diamond, draws the outstanding trump
and claims.
Were West to find a trump lead,
declarer could win in dummy - the fall
of East's 8 making his ♥J 7 equal - and
play to ruff a spade. Here, West can
overruff and return a trump, preventing a further ruff, but declarer can
win in dummy, cash the top clubs, ruff
a club and run dummy's trumps to
squeeze East (somewhat fortuitously)
in spades and diamonds.
◾

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of September 2018