Deja Vu

Once again we were riding high in the Bath Swiss teams, until a loss in the last match led to ninth place rather than second. Just like last year, there was a difficult declarer play hand in the last round.

At our table the opponents ended in 6NT by South and I led a spade. Declarer started with a heart to the ace and another heart to the queen and king, followed by a diamond to the king and a diamond to the jack which held. After two winning finesses declarer now tried for the hat-trick, but the queen of clubs lost to the king and there was no play for the contract.

Declarer missed a better chance. After the winning diamond finesse, she should cash her winners in the majors, throwing a club from dummy. The distribution is now an open book, and if East discards a diamond declarer can exit in diamonds to force a lead into the AQ of clubs. The only chance for the defence is for East to bare the king of clubs without showing any sign of distress - not easy. Even then, declarer should play to drop the king of clubs as East is a 4 to 3 favourite to hold the king.

At the other table, Chris was also declarer in 6NT and claimed to have spotted the end play, the only problem being that he had already misguessed the hearts and had to rely on a winning club finesse and four diamond tricks. This led to two down and a loss of 2 imps on the board.

Luck of the Draw

We were rather lucky to win the Weymouth College Trophy Swiss Teams, leapfrogging the field with a 20-0 win in the last match after we had avoided playing most of the other leading teams. The decisive hand in our match against the runners up was also somewhat fortunate

That was our auction to an almost solid slam, which made with an easy overtrick when North led her singleton spade.

In the other room Hilary opened the North hand with a frisky three diamonds, not a bid you will find in many textbooks, but you cannot argue with success. Even with a view of both hands, I cannot come up with a sensible way of bidding slam and at the table they did not come close. East bid 3 hearts (for take-out, a method I would only recommend to my opponents) and West ended the auction with a jump to four spades.

A Fine Defence

This was a fine defence played against us at the Christchurch Friday pairs. I will give it as a problem.

You are East, and your double of the transfer bid showed a strong hand that would have doubled 1NT. Your partner leads the ten of hearts, playing standard leads. Plan the defence.



Our round against Krzys and Patrick started well when the famed Polish Club misfired, allowing us to play in 2 diamonds up one when they were cold for 4 clubs and the club suit never got a mention. They got their revenge on this board, where this was the full layout. Your double has marked you with most of the high cards, so click 'Next' to see your fate if you play the ace of hearts on the first trick.

Playing a low heart at trick one will lead to the same end play. At the table, Krzys found the fine defence of the jack at trick one. Now there was no chance of an end play as West can win the second round of hearts to play a diamond through. Declarer was reduced to trying the trump finesse and the contract failed.