The second hand of the event showed which way the wind was blowing. Against these opponents, I was looking forward to a chance to claim the beer card but it was not to be. Instead, I had a nasty bidding problem.
3♥ was an easy make, and much the same thing happened at the other table where Dorset were North-South, but at the other two tables both London pairs punted 3NT. To defeat this the defenders must avoid leading hearts, but this was a tough defence to find and 3NT made at both tables.
Should I have bid more strongly? A take-out double of 3♥ was one option, but that may have led to an even worse score as North would probably leave it in. As I see it, the only winning action would be to bid 3♥ over 2♠ - a definite overbid and likely to lead to a silly contract when partner only has a single heart stop.
This was an interesting hand to play
Ann's 4♥ was a slam try with 6 spades and heart shortage.
West leads ♣4, you play low from dummy and are pleased to see East follow with the 3. When you play on spades, West discards a heart on the first round and you duck the trick to the king. East returns a club and West follows with the 6.
If you are going to finesse in diamonds you should play West for the queen, as he started with nine red cards to East's seven, but a better option is to play for a double squeeze. Run the spades, discarding a heart and two diamonds from hand. Now come back to hand with a club and cash ♥A. The squeeze works if West holds ♦Q, or if East holds ♦Q and ♥K, or if East's ♦Q is singleton or doubleton.
Was I up to all this? We will never know as West started with four small diamonds and discarded three of them on the spades, so it was no problem to pick up East's doubleton ♦Q.
This hand was the subject of a post in the BBO Forums www.bridgebase.com/forums/topic/63696-play-6s/, discussing how you should play 6♠ by South after a heart lead where the queen wins the first trick. You can still play for the double squeeze but it is much less obvious when you do not know the club position. An alternative line is to discard two clubs on the hearts, then ruff a club and two hearts to try and get a count on the hand. This would suggest that East had four diamonds and you should play him for the queen - unlucky!
What about my decision to play in 6NT rather than 6♠? At the time, I could see no benefit in playing in spades and on another layout 6NT might avoid a diamond ruff. That was wrong, as on this hand you are better placed in 6♠. Say West makes the best lead of a heart and you decide to play West for the ♦Q. Instead of taking a simple finesse you can throw a diamond on a heart and then take a ruffing finesse, gaining when East holds a doubleton queen.
After the first day we were propping up the table, but a much better performance on Sunday allowed us to win a couple of matches and avoid the wooden spoon.
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