Page 12 - ABF Newsletter October 2024

A GAME
AT THE
VCC
Barbara Travis
www.bridgeatbeaumont.com
There were lots of interesting and educational hands during the VCC. Let’s start with a declarer play hand:
]A10765 [A
}J7 {AKJ109
]J94 {Q75 {AJ6 [K983 ]A865
}AK43 [QJ9764
{32 }Q
You’ve had an aggressive auction to 5], stopping when you discovered that you were missing one key card and the ]Q (and specifically an eight-card fit). East led a heart, won with the ace.
Rather than drawing trumps, you should think about the need to trump some club losers. Cash the {A and {K, then continue with the jack. East shows out, so you trump with the ]4. Now you cash the [K, discarding a club, and the }A and }K – in case East gets too many opportunities to discard diamonds, then trump a heart to hand. You should now lead your last club and trump it in dummy, and finally you are ready to lead the ]J, running it to East’s queen (West playing the ]8).
You only have spades left, but East proves to hold ]K-Q-3-2, so you have two trump losers.
Those who led trumps suffered the indignity of going down, losing two trumps and a club (since East could exit with a trump to prevent club ruffs).
What a difference a lead can make!
On the next deal, some Wests doubled 4[, based on the trumps:
]7
[K3
} A K 10 9 2 { K 10 8 4 3
]J4
[ A 10 8 5 2
}753 }J864
{92
WEST NORTH EAST
SOUTH 1} 1] 2[ pass 3{ 3] 4[
all pass
They then led the ]J, which proved fatal – to the defence. South won the ]A, cashed the }Q, then trumped a spade to dummy. The }A and }K allowed for the losing clubs to be discarded, then a club was ruffed to hand, and another spade led.
The spade was trumped in dummy, and declarer could trump a second club. Eight tricks taken, with declarer still holding [Q-J-9-7, and having to win two more trump tricks by force, since West only had trumps left!
What lead defeats the contract? The [A and another heart. Now declarer has no ruffs in dummy but, even worse, no entries to dummy! They can cash the }A and }K, discarding one spade loser, but they will still lose [A, two spades, two clubs, and the [10.
Congratulations to Bertie Morgan’s team, the only West to lead the [A (or any trump).
] K Q 10 9 3 2 [—
Page: 12
Australian Bridge Federation Ltd. Newsletter: October 2024