Be Careful


But Six can be Made

K 7
K
A Q J 10 4
A 8 6 5 2
Q 6 2 J 8 5 4 3
8 4 A 9 6 5 3
9 7 6 3 8 5
K 10 7 4 3
A 10 9
Q J 10 7 2
K 2 Contract: 3 NT, 6 NT
Q J 9 Opening lead: various

This hand is tricky in itself, requiring just a bit of care to achieve the maximum number of tricks, which is twelve, but it became doubly interesting in view of the various strategies by which declarers threw away a trick, and triply so in view of the curious handling of the club suit. One declarer was down in 6 no (four made), while 10 declarers picked up only 11 tricks, for a matchpoint penalty of 33 (55 for making six, 22 for five). As for clubs, no fewer than 3 declarers out of the eleven referred to played a totally unnecessary higher club than needed, resulting in the giving up of a trick there. When I add in those who led away from the A of clubs, also unnecessarily so, we get to about half who threw away at least one trick in clubs.
First, how many entries do you have to the closed hand and how many do you need if East doesn't take the K of hearts with his ace? The answers are two and two. Yes, you've just got two of them, so you'd better preserve them in case East doesn't take that K of hearts. Here's the slam bidder: Diamond opening lead to the K. Unwise. You want to take that trick in dummy, yes, blocking the suit for the nonce. But you're going to unblock very soon. Indeed, you'll want to lead the K of hearts, and whatever East does, now play the K of diamonds. So that wasn't such a terrible blocking, now, was it?
Anyway, this declarer now went back to dummy's diamonds! Very unwise. You can't live without the hearts, and knocking out the ace should be your first priority. Nor is it wise to run diamonds when you don't know whether you want to sluff clubs or hearts. This declarer sluffed a spade and two hearts, which cut out one winner, and had hearts split 4-3, those both would have been winners.
Now came a spade to the A, Q of clubs covered by West, back to the J of clubs with the 8, knock out the A of hearts (about time, Mr. Slam Bidder), win the spade return, club 5 to the 9 and West's 10, and the final trick is West's 7 of clubs, winning over the 6.
The 7 beating the 6 was the last club trick? Well, what happened to the 8? And the answer is that after winning with the A when West covered the Q, declarer with 2, 5, 6 and 8 of clubs led the 8 to the jack! I have no idea why any declarer, even a novice, would think that a wise decision.
Well, that was poorly played. This declarer got only one heart winner, and that's because East ducked the K. His winners were 5 diamonds, two clubs, two spades and that heart. Not good enough for a slam bid.
Well, on to those who got only 11 winners for a rather poor 22 matchpoints. The first declarer actually had a good excuse. That's because he got two spade leads, on the opening lead and after knocking out the A of hearts. Had hearts split evenly, of course he wouldn't have needed the club hook, but of course, hearts didn't split evenly. So he's wide open in spades with two overtricks, not needing the club hook for a five bid, which indeed, if off would jeopardize his contract if taken and losing. So I don't think we can blame this declarer.
Case 2: Diamond opening to K, heart to K and A (so this declarer was given a reprieve from wiping out a valuable entry too early), spade from East going to dummy's K, lead away from the A of clubs ! ! ! ! That play is all the more amazing in that declarer has either a 4-3 split in hearts or the club hook for 12 winners. On top of which, he could have taken the spade return in either hand. So it baffles one that declarer took the lead in dummy so as to lead away from the A of clubs!
Case 3: Spade to K, diamond to K ! ! ! We don't go after those hearts? J of clubs holding, Q of clubs covered -- and ducked! So already at trick 4 he's conceding a trick in addition to the heart ace which he knows he must lose. So out of the four declarers, three have already shown a strange relationship to that club suit. When the J of clubs held, the opponents held K 10 over the Q. Why hit it? But that concession at trick 4 wasn't the earliest a declarer gave up that trick.
Case 4: Opening lead a spade, low from dummy, J from East -- and ducked! With all the potential there for 12 tricks, this declarer is conceding that second losing trick at trick one (with the certainty of the A of hearts loss yet to come)!
Case 5: same as Case 1. Can't blame anyone with 2 spade leads not taking the club hook.
Case 6: Same as 1 & 5. In wrong hand for club hook, but can't blame declarer for disinterest in club hook.
Case 7: This one will knock your socks off. Opening lead the 4 of clubs, riding to the Jack. Wait a minute. Riding to the Jack? ? ? Declarer didn't want to win with the 9? That beats everything. To be sure, declarer has ample entries now to establish three heart winners to go with 2 spades and 5 diamonds, the club hook already having been taken care of. So going up with the J, giving West a tenace over the Q isn't what queered the 12th trick. But it shore didn't augur well. Declarer isn't focussed. And sure 'nuff. Declarer went to the K and A of hearts, took a spade return in dummy -- and now with a certainty of 12 tricks by a simple count -- five diamonds, two spades, two clubs and three hearts -- he led a low club to the Q and K! ! ! Strange, strange relationship with that club suit.
Case 8: Diamond to K, heart to K and A. When East takes the K, it wipes out the need for keeping two entries to dummy, of course. Declarer now can cash 12 winners with either a 4-3 heart split, or an onsides K of clubs. But what's this? Spade return by East taken in dummy! Why on earth! He should have taken the diamond opening with the A. East gave him a reprieve by taking the first round of hearts, and declarer lets the spade return ride to the K! He's almost determined to wipe out his potential. Now he ran four diamonds and led away from the A of clubs, West taking the trick with the K.
Case 9: Spade to the K. (Actually, played from the other side of the table, so letting the lead ride works here, except that . . . ) K of hearts, ducked by the ace-holder, diamond to the K. Good, Q of clubs holding. Okay. You've got all the clubs winners you've got coming (counting the cashable ace). Jack of clubs! But why? You've got powerful hearts to establish. They've got the K 10 tenace over the J. It just make no sense that declarer doesn't hit those powerful hearts. But wait. It gets worse: West covers the J, of course, and now declarer leads the 8 of clubs to the 9 and West's 10, and West now cashes the 7 of clubs! Oh, that club suit. Declarer held the 5, 6 and 8 of clubs opposite the 9, and leads the 8 to knock out the 10? Well, it coulda been worse. They never did get their ace of hearts! Declarer's winners were three clubs, a heart, five diamonds and two spades.
Case 10: This was another give-up play, but it wasn't in clubs this time. Opening lead a spade to the K (also played from the opposite side of the table), K of hearts holding, diamond to the K, Q of hearts holding, J of hearts holding, 10 of hearts into the defender's tenace! I mean, it shouldn't have been a surprise. One defender showed out on the third round, you know. The club hook at least offers some hope of being productive. Declarer was in the right hand for it, still had the ace of spades. But rather than take a 50% finesse, he chose a zero% play? Somebody wasn't focussed.

I looked at 11 declarers, counting the slam bidder, and found better'n half had a strange relationship with the club suit, to wit:
Three led away from the A from clubs. Two continued the suit after the first round finesse worked, establishing a third round high club for the defense at no gain to declarer. Three played an unnecessarily high card. And one negative strange relationship, one declarer, poised for a 50% finesse that would have yielded a 12th winner, abjured that danged club suit so as to lead into declarer's heart tenace for a sure two losers.
Does that look like too many declarers? No, a few committed two strange actions, as for instance the declarer who got a low club lead which he could have won with the 9, but chose instead to win with the J, giving West a tenace over the Q. It didn't hurt. Declarer's got all the clubs he can use, since he only needed to establish 3 heart winners at that point, but in fact, he did later lead away from the A of clubs!