August 2019 - 52

Intermediate Players

Misplay These Hands with Me
BY MARK HORTON

markhorton007@hotmail.com

Inference and hypothesis
In the middle of a knockout match, I
pick up these cards:
♠A7
♥AQJ98
♦A873
♣J9
With both sides vulnerable, my partner deals and opens 1♠. I respond 2♥,
and when partner rebids 3♣, I resort
to a fourth-suit 3♦. West now emerges
from the bushes with a double, and
when my partner passes, I have to decide how to continue. Although we play
that a redouble here would promise
a high honor in diamonds, I prefer to
show some support for one of partner's
suits and bid 3♠. When partner replies
with 4♥, I am inclined to place him
with a doubleton king. Although I can't
be sure of partner's exact strength, the
fitting cards in the majors suggest we
should have a play for a slam, so I decide to jump to 5NT, inviting partner to
choose a spot. After a little reflection,
he replies with 6♦, which I take to be
shortness. Unwilling to risk a grand
slam, I bid 6♥, which leaves us with
this auction:
West
Pass
Dbl
Pass
Pass
All Pass

North
1♠
3♣
Pass
4♥
6♦

East
Pass
Pass
Pass
Pass
Pass

South
2♥
3♦
3♠
5NT
6♥

West leads the ♣Q, and I get a fair
dummy:

52 Bridge Bulletin August 2019

♠ K Q 10 5 3
♥K4
♦Q
♣ A 10 7 6 5

Mentally tossing a coin at trick nine,
I put in dummy's ♠10 and East wins
with the jack and plays the ♦9. When
the dust has settled, I am down four.

♠A7
♥AQJ98
♦A873
♣J9

Postmortem
The opening lead suggested that
West held a doubleton club, and he had
followed to three rounds of trumps.
He had doubled 3♦, which suggested
strength in that suit. If declarer places
East with spade length, then after
drawing trumps, he cashes the ♠A and
plays a fourth round of trumps, discarding dummy's ♦Q. East is already
under pressure. Discarding a spade is
immediately fatal, and pitching a club
allows declarer to play the ♣9, establishing enough winners. So, East must
part with a diamond. Now declarer
cashes the ♦A to reach this position:

The lead looks to be either a singleton or doubleton, so I win with
dummy's ace, unblocking the ♣J, and
play three rounds of trumps, throwing
dummy's ♣5 as everyone follows. I exit
with the ♣9, and when West follows
with the ♣3, East wins with the king
and returns the ♦5. I win with the ace,
cash the ♠A, West following with the 2
and East with the 6, and play a second
spade, West following with the 4.
If either black suit is breaking, I have
enough tricks, but I am sure the clubs
are 2-4, so the extra tricks must come
from the spade suit. I know West has
the ♦K, but there is no clear indication
as to his length. Before I show you what
happened, this was the layout:
♠ K Q 10 5 3
♥K4
♦Q
♣ A 10 7 6 5
♠42
♠J986
♥653
♥ 10 7 2
♦ K J 10 6 4 2
♦95
♣Q3
♣K842
♠A7
♥AQJ98
♦A873
♣J9

♠ K Q 10
♥-
♦-
♣ 10 7 6
♠4
♥-
♦ K J 10 6
♣3

♠7
♥9
♦873
♣9

♠J98
♥-
♦-
♣K84

When declarer plays the ♣9, East
must duck. Now declarer cashes the
last trump forcing East to part with a
club. Declarer crosses to dummy with
a spade and exits with a club, forc-
August 2019

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