Friday 28 February 2014

No Miracle - Deal of the Week #17

With one hand left in the week JW and NC were well behind. The only way to overcome the deficit was to bid a slam. So that's what they did.


Dealer East
Love All
♠ J x x x
♥ J x
♦ A K T x
♣ Q x x
♠ A Q
♥ Q x x
♦ x x x
♣ x x x x x
11
84
17
♠ x x x x x
♥ x x
♦ J x x x
♣ K x
♠ K x
♥ A K T x x x
♦ Q x
♣ A J x
IDNCAPJW
WNES
2♥
-6♥--
-

JW stretched slightly to open a strong 2♥, and NC stretched a lot to bid 6♥. Amazingly, the contract actually has a chance. JW had been on the tilt all week and I don't think anyone expected he actually had such a good hand.

West lead the ♠A and another Spades, which simplifies things for declarer. You need the rest of the tricks. First of all, that means no Heart losers. If the Heart suit was the only one you cared about, it's slightly better to cross to dummy and finesse. Eight ever, nine never. But you also need to get rid of your two Clubs losers. One goes on the extra top Diamond in dummy. To get rid of the other one you need to win either a fourth Diamond or the Club finesse. To combine your chances the best line is to cash the top three Diamonds, hoping the ♦J will fall, and if not then finesse Clubs. However, to do this you need to leave the Diamonds alone while you draw trumps. So, taking the hand as a whole, the best line at Trick Three is to play the Hearts from the top, overruling eight ever, nine never.

We'll never know what line JW would have taken, as after the opening lead of ♠A West showed his Hearts, and it was clear he was due a second trick.

So a valiant effort from North-South, but in vain as ID-AP win the week.

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