bridge

bridge

Both vulnerable. South deals.

NORTH

xA 10 8 4

u7 5 4

vA Q 10

wK 10 9

WEST EAST

x5 3 2 x9 7 6

uQ J 10 6 3 uK 2

vJ 4 2 v7 6 5 3

wA 2 w7 5 4 3

SOUTH

xK Q J

uA 9 8

vK 9 8

wQ J 8 6

The bidding:

SOUTH WEST NORTH EAST

1NT Pass 3NT Pass

Pass Pass

Opening lead: Queen of u

Here’s another hand from Eddie Kantar’s excellent series “Thinking Bridge,” published in the Daily Bulletins at the recent Fall North American Championships in Seattle.

“Routine — if you go along with ‘no Stayman with a 4-3-3-3 hand pattern.’ Most top players abandon Stayman with this distribution.

“As East, when partner leads the queen and you have K-x or A-x, overtake and return the suit to drive out declarer’s lone stopper without blocking the suit. If you do that, partner can clear hearts keeping the ace of clubs as the entry to the established hearts.

“As South, assuming East plays the king of hearts at trick one [indicating shortness], duck the first heart, win the second and lead the jack of clubs! Why? You have eight tricks outside of clubs and need at least one club trick to make the contract. If West has the ace of clubs plus a likely five-card heart suit, you are a dead man walking. Alternatively, if East has the club ace you can’t lose the hand. The reason for leading the jack is that it looks for all the world like you are taking a finesse. If West is taken in by this little piece of skullduggery and ducks, you have stolen your ninth trick.

“As West, assuming South wins the second or third heart and leads the club jack, don’t be greedy! Take the money [the setting tricks] and run. If you stop to work it out, partner can’t have the queen! Dummy has 13HCP and declarer has 15-17, so assume 16. This means the opponents have 29 HCP give or take a point. You have 8 HCP and partner has shown 3 with the king of hearts for 11. So guess who has the queen of clubs? Good thinking — they do. Nonetheless, leading the jack from the Q-J toward the king in dummy is a neat way to hypnotize second hand into ducking the ace. You are becoming so tricky!”

2012 Tribune Media Services