Ascot Bridge Club

 

  Sometimes when looking at a travelling scoresheet, you wonder how on earth some results were obtained. Take the hand below from a recent club evening. Everybody bid game, mostly 3NT, and 9 or 10 tricks were the norm. However, one entry showed 3NT by South, making 13 tricks, +520!

The hand:

 

 

 

S

 A10

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

H

K6

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

D

A9872

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

C

J653

 

 

 

 

S J752

 

 

N

 

 

S

K4

H

987

 

 

 

H

Q10432

D

J6 W E

D

Q54

C

KQ97

 

 

C

1043

 

 

 

 

S

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

S Q9863

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

H

AJ5

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

D

K103

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

C

A8

 

 

 

 

 

How on earth did that happen you ask? Here is the inside story……

 The bidding (with interpretations)

 

S

W

N

E

1NT1

-

2S2

-

3NT3

-

-

-

 

(1)   Right point range [ 12-14 pts] I don’t fancy 1 spade because of rebid problems

(2)   I could raise to 3NT or invite with 2NT. However, we’ve had this conventional response on our card for 3 years with 2S meaning forcing to game with at least 5-5 in the minors. It’s never come up before, we’re having a bad night and I’ll see if partner’s awake – even if I don’t quite have the right hand….

(3)   I got partner’s message but I’m not interested, in spite of being maximum and having good controls. 3NT is where I want to be…..

 

West is on lead, had asked about the bidding. Thought process went like this:

-         South thinks he has the majors stopped

-         I’ve got clubs in front of North’s 5-card suit

-         Partner has 7-8 points. I’ll lead through dummy’s strength and hope that his points are in diamonds

 

Opening lead: Jack of diamonds!!

 

The play:

  

Trick

 

W

N

E

S

 

Comments

1

 

JD

AD

5D

3D

 

 

2

 

6D

2D

5D

10D

 

 

3

 

9H

7D

QD

KD

 

West suggests a spade holding

4

 

7H

KH

2H

5H

 

 

5

 

9C

9D

3C

6S

 

South suggests lack of interest in spades

6

 

2S

8D

3H

8C

 

 

7

 

8H

6H

4H

JH

 

 

8

 

5S

2C

10H

AH

 

West makes a mistake in discarding a second spade

9

 

7S

AS

KS(!)

8S

 

East believes West’s signal at trick 3 and unblocks!

10

 

JS

10S

4S

QS

 

 

11

 

7C

5C

3C

9S

 

 

12

 

QC

6C

4C

3S

 

 

13

 

KC

JC

10C

AC

 

All 13 tricks!!

 What we have here is what often happens in practice. No single major brilliancy or crass error. A bidding influence; some mistakes by the defence; lots of human factors

 Submitted by George Somerville, Dec. 2000