Page 20 - ABF Newsletter February 2025

A GAME
AT THE
CLUB
Barbara Travis
www.bridgeatbeaumont.com
You are declarer (West) in 2] and see: ] K J 10 4 2 ]K6542 ]A873 [J96 [987 [4 }764
} J 7 } Q 10 9
{ K 5 3 { A J 10 9 7
North leads the [K, which wins. He then switches to
the }A and another diamond to South’s King. South returns a diamond. What do you play/discard on the diamond (dummy’s }Q will win the trick)?
You should discard a club. By reducing your hand to 2 clubs, you no longer have a ‘guess’ for the {Q. Furthermore, you can always trump the hearts, so there’s no need to discard one.
I held this hand and thought that the auction every- one had lacked some ‘finesse’:
] 9 8 5 [ 10 3 } Q J 10 { J 8 6 5 3
WEST NORTH EAST SOUTH 1}
1[ pass pass 1] 2{2]3{ pass pass 3] pass pass 4[ all pass
1. Dubious, opposite a passing partner!
Well, partner should have started with a strong double, but he did manage to convey his 6-4 shape eventually – though he did underbid until he bid 4[.
The full deal was as shown at the top of the next column, and 4[ made easily. Clearly, South should not have re-opened on that 12 HCP hand, with North passing. I can understand why West didn’t want to make a ‘big’ double initially, in case my hand jumped in spades... but perhaps he should have rebid 3{ over 1]? However, imagine if South had passed out
{ 4 2
] 6 ]985
[KQ7542 [103
}AK
{ A K 10 7
1[ and we had languished there. All in all, an initial double, then bidding one’s own suit, would have de- scribed the strength of the hand better.
You hold:
] Q 10 4 3 [ Q J 9 2 } 9 3 { K 10 3
WEST NORTH EAST SOUTH 1[
pass 2[ pass 4[ all pass
What would you lead? What would you not lead?
When I have long trumps, I tend to try a long suit lead. I would have led the ]3. I don’t want to give away tricks or allow declarer discards. My second choice would be to lead the }9, but I don’t particu- larly like short suits leads when I have natural heart tricks, as here.
Leading the {3, around to the strong hand, is far too dangerous – and gave away the contract when declarer held {A-Q-9-4 and dummy {J-5 (and the ability to trump).
]AQ73 [A8 }98532 {Q9
}QJ10 {J8653
Page: 20
Australian Bridge Federation Ltd. Newsletter: February 2025