Page 10 - ABF Newsletter December 2024

can win but declarer will ruff the return and ruff a diamond in dummy. The defence will get one trump and two diamonds only. After that barrage, however, both EW played poorly for the rest of the set. And West might have saved any ire for his teammates who also made ten tricks in spades on this hand but played at the six-level.
Contrast and compare how Courtney dealt with a similar issue. He waited until we were back at our hotel, having dinner and a drink when he put for- ward that he was not convinced that mine was the best line in the 7] contract I had played. This was the hand:
]J542
[J
}975
{ A K Q 10 3
]AKQ96 [ A K 10 6 }A6
{74
North dealt and opened 1{, then supported my spades. RKCB got a 5} response (one keycard) which was doubled by East seeking a diamond lead. I now asked for kings and North showed the king of clubs specifically. That was enough for me to bid seven, as the round suit queens are the most likely cards to bring his hand up to an opening bid.
I won the diamond lead, drew trumps in three rounds, and played the top three clubs (discarding a diamond). East proved to have four clubs to the jack, but it was an easy matter to ruff the fourth round, cash a heart, ruff a heart and discard the remaining heart loser on the 13th club.
North’s 6{ response to my 5NT inquiry shows either the club king or the two red kings (which I knew to be impossible). Courtney thought a superior line was to play a top heart at trick two, ruff a heart low in dummy, cross back to hand with a trump and if they both follow ruff the heart ten with the ]J, draw trumps and claim. I suspect my screen-mate also thought my line inferior: “good auction” was his comment after the hand was over! Perhaps though, it wasn’t a comment on the line I chose – he might have had genuine concern his teammates wouldn’t find the grand slam, and he was right.
Courtney’s line is perfect except when trumps are 4-0. In that event you cannot afford to ruff the second heart high. But even if your low ruff doesn’t get over-ruffed, after you cash the spade Jack there is no convenient way back to hand to draw the re- maining trumps, so that makes it about 90%. Unless of course the defence ruffs the first round of hearts... Page 10
Earlier in the event I played 7} doubled with these
hands:
]—
[AKQ107 } A Q 10 5 {AKJ9
]A7654 [93 }KJ43 {104
As dealer I got to show a hand with five spades and 4+ of a minor by bidding 2]. Partnered asked which minor I had, used RKCB to establish that I had both the ace of spades and king of diamonds and confidently bid 7}. East doubled the final contract, West led a random heart, East ruffed, and that was 14 imps away when the wimps at the other table stopped in six. Perhaps this was why I was paranoid about a heart ruff in 7]!
Alerted to the heart situation North could have pulled this to 7NT making (West had all the missing hearts and the {Qx). Why didn’t North do this? Ear- lier in the event this hand arose:
Board 5. Dealer North. North-South vulnerable.
]— [AJ8632 }AJ982 {76
]A986 ]5432 [95 [—
}643
{ 10 9 3 2
] K Q J 10 7 [ K Q 10 7 4 }Q5
{A
} K 10 7 {KQJ854
At one table West valiantly doubled North’s 7[ con- tract, seeking a spade lead through South’s first bid suit. North redoubled to reassure his partner that he had first round control of spades. That should have been the end of it but South panicked to 7NT! This was also doubled, and went one down after a spade was led. (On a club lead this might go five down!) Well over 30 imps swung on that bidding decision.
Perhaps this was why Courtney was so paranoid about pulling 7} to 7NT.
You could write an entire book about just the grand slam hands in this event – and I haven’t even men- tioned the one where declarer played 7[ at one table and was able to claim as soon as dummy went down. At the other table the pair playing that same
Australian Bridge Federation Ltd. Newsletter: December 2024