March 2025 - 57

Intermediate Players
The Real Deal
BY LARRY COHEN
larrycohen.com
T
his deal is from the 2023
Grand National Teams
semifinal.
If declarer is in 3NT and leads the
jack from his hand, and you have
K-9-8-7, should you cover?
Right, you need more information.
OK, dummy on your left has
A-Q-10-4-3-2.
Still not enough information. Here
is the Real Deal:
Dlr: East s K 6 5
Vul: E-W h A Q 10 4 3 2
d 10 2
c 10 5
s 9 7
h K 9 8 7
d Q 9 4
c Q 9 7 4
s Q J 8 4 3
h 6 5
d J 8 5 3
c A 6
s A 10 2
h J
d A K 7 6
c K J 8 3 2
At one table, East opened 1s as
part of an unusual system with very
light opening bids. I'd have overcalled
1NT with the South hand, but the
player at the table tried 2c. North
bid hearts and declarer ended in 3NT
with the s9 lead. Can declarer set up
the hearts? No.
He captured the sJ with the ace
and advanced the hJ. If West ducks,
declarer has to overtake with the
queen. He will need a good layout
in hearts but doesn't get it here.
He'd continue with the hA and play
another - no dice.
But West made the mistake of covering.
Now it was easy. Declarer won
the ace, then cashed the Q-10 and
conceded a heart. He had five hearts
and a pair of A-Ks for nine easy
tricks.
Cover an honor with an honor?
At the other table East made the
normal pass and South opened 1c.
North responded 1h and East overcalled
1s. Declarer ended up in 3NT
with the same s9 lead to the jack and
ace. He advanced the hJ, but West
correctly played low. Declarer overtook
with the queen and played the
hA and another heart. West won and
played another spade. Declarer had
no chance.
So, how should West know? Rules
such as " cover an honor with an
honor " go only so far. Here, West
had to consider the entire deal. How
many hearts did declarer start with?
Not three (or North-South would
have arrived in 4h - and if three, the
contract was unlikely to be set anyway).
So, while it is true that covering
saves a trick if South started with
hJ 6 5, that couldn't be the case here.
Declarer (on the bidding) is going
to have hJ or hJ x. In the latter case,
West is doomed. If he covers, declarer
wins in dummy and sets up the
suit. If he doesn't cover, declarer lets
the jack win and plays another and
knocks out a heart to take five heart
tricks. So, if declarer has hJ x, West
should know his play is irrelevant
(five heart tricks no matter what).
But, if declarer has only the singleton
hJ, West's play is crucial. If he
covers (as West did at the first table),
declarer sets up five heart tricks. If
West ducks (correctly), declarer gets
only two heart tricks! He is forced to
overtake and play ace and another.
The player who correctly ducked
was on the Wolfson team, winning
the event. The player who incorrectly
covered lost the semifinal match by
only 8 IMPs. If all other boards were
the same, we would have had a different
winner in the 2023 GNT. 2
CHALLENGE OF THE MONTH
CHALLENGE ANSWER
continued from page 50
s 6 5 4
h Q 7
d Q 10 5 4
c J 7 6 5
s 10 8
h K 10 8 5 2
d J 8 7 6
c K 4
s K 9 7 3 2
h J 9 6 4
d 9
c A 3 2
s A Q J
h A 3
d A K 3 2
c Q 10 9 8
With seven likely tricks in the
bag, you need two more to make
your contract. Clubs offers a source
of tricks, but it will take too long to
set them up. The defense will knock
out your remaining heart stopper
before you can enjoy any club
tricks. That means you need the
spade finesse to work.
So at trick two, take the spade
hook. When it works, you'll need
to return to dummy to repeat the
finesse, but a little care is required.
If diamonds are 3-2, you could
immediately return to dummy with
the dQ, but to guard against 4-1
diamonds with West holding the
length, cash the dA K first. When
East shows out on the second round,
you can take the marked diamond
finesse against West and then take
another spade finesse. (If East started
with dJ x x x, you can't make it.)
That's three spades, two hearts,
four diamonds and a lot of luck! 2
March 2025 | Bridge Bulletin |
57
http://www.larrycohen.com
March 2025

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