Six Tries

Six Tries


J 10 8
K 4
K Q 8 6 4
A 9 7
Q 7 5 2 9 4 3
A J 3 2 10 7
9 3 J 10 7 5
Q 5 4 K 8 6 3
A K 6
Q 9 8 6 5
A 2 Contract: 3 no trump
J 10 2 Opening lead: 2 of spades

This hand took on some interest for me when I noted that six people had gone down in their 3 no contract. To be sure, it's not an altogether easy hand, even with 27 hcp's. Still, some declarers were handed gifts they simply threw away, and I think simple counting of winners would have brought any alert declarer to at least 9 tricks.
Looking at all four hands, it would seem that declarer should pick up four diamond winners, two spades, two clubs and a heart. No, they won't fall into your lap. If the ace of clubs is knocked out early, you don't have a certain entry to the long diamond, though the 50% heart entry will pan out, so that's academic. Well, anyway, lemme take up the first declarer whose play I went over.
This declarer got a low spade lead, which was a gift! He now has three spade winners. He can hit diamonds, into the fourth round, sluffing hearts. With a certain entry in clubs, he could count on 4 diamonds, 3 spades, the top club and a heart to be developed. Or he might come to the A of diamonds and start a double hook in clubs (using a spade honor for a later entry to the closed hand). That gives him two clubs, three spades, three diamonds (with a hope of running 5), needing only one round of hearts for a 9th winner. So how did he go down? Run four diamonds, sluffing two hearts as East takes the fourth round, a spade back, a club to the ace to cash the last diamond and . . whoa! a club to the ace! Please, please, please. You don't want to uncover their high cards until you're done doing all the developing you can. Count your winners (at that point). Three spades, four diamonds, an ace of clubs. You only need to establish a heart winner!
Furthermore, he wasn't dead yet! You might think he stood to lose 3 clubs in addition to a diamond and ace of hearts, but no. East sluffed a club on the last diamond. Declarer can't know it came from the long holding, but he's still gotta develop his ninth winner, and had he led a heart here, would have had it. You don't give up. But that's exactly what he did in leading his last spade! . . . uncovering a spade winner, a trick that East had substantially given up by discarding from his 4-card club holding, now given back in the form of a spade to West. And that was the last trick declarer got.
This was an IMP game, and declarer can be forgiven for not taking a double hook in clubs, though he can't he hurt at that point. But he can't easily be forgiven for not establishing a heart winner for nine, opting instead to uncover first club winners for the defense and then a spade!
The next declarer got a low club lead, the king winning as declarer played the deuce. She should play the jack. She had all she needed for the completion of the double hook and might get an extra entry on a cover of the 10 of clubs. A club came back, the 10 covered by the queen and ace. Now her only entry to the long diamonds is the king of hearts, which she can't be sure will prove to be an entry. Anyway, she properly ran four diamonds, sluffing two hearts, got a club back to the jack.
And now came her undoing: she led the queen of hearts, and I don't suppose I need say did not overtake. Please, please, please. Do not count on defensive stupidity. Of course you'll get it sometimes, and you're entitled to take advantage of it when you get it. But when you bypass a perfectly reasonable winning line in hopes of getting a dumb play by an opponent, it can't very well please your partner.
Everyone can see that declarer wants to get to dummy for that 5th diamond. It would take a rank novice to jump on the queen of hearts. Declarer's got to take her chances with the king of hearts on a low heart lead. And if it's off? Well, your only consolation is that you'll have company. That's what duplicate is all about, not that you rack up the largest number of raw points but that you handle the cards you're dealt wisely. So this declarer must lead low toward her king of hearts, allowing her a 9th winner. But that she never got.

A K 6
Q 9 8 6 5
A 2
J 10 2
9 4 3 Q 7 5 2
10 7 A J 3 2
J 10 7 5 9 3
K 8 6 3 Q 5 4
J 10 8
K 4
K Q 8 6 4
A 9 7

I turned the hand around to make it easier for the reader to see what's happening when played from the opposite side of the table, where four declarers played it and where, it would seem, the play becomes much more difficult.
The first declarer, playing from this closed hand, got a club opening lead, establishing two club winners, the equivalent of a successful double hook, which lead wiped out what might be a valuable entry. This player also might have anticipated this and played the jack from dummy, which may or may not lead to an extra entra to the closed hand, but cannot hurt. Run four diamonds, sluffing, well almost anything you want except two of anything. You've good enough spots in hearts that the defense shouldn't be able to take more than two to go with a club and a diamond. Whatever West returns after winning the fourth round of diamonds, you've got an entry in hearts, even if you're not certain yet, and you've gotta knock out the king of clubs for a second club winner, but there doesn't seem to be any defense that can beat you.
However, this declarer was all over the place and it's a wonder he went down only one. At trick two, he cashed the ace of diamonds and then led a heart to the king! Oh, please! That's your entry to the long diamond! Now it's awfully difficult to see how the hand could be made. If diamonds had split 3-3, it would have resulted in a made contract on poor declarer play. When that held, declarer now cashed two more rounds of diamonds and abandoned the suit when it didn't break. Now a heart went to the 10, not covered. Not covered? But a cover, with those high spot cards, would have ensured that the defense got no more than 2 heart winners.
West cashed his high diamond and led a spade, and declarer declined the hook, which we can see wouldn't have worked, but at least should have offered some hope. Now the lead of the queen of hearts ensured that the defense got two more heart tricks! A club to the king sealed the fate of this declarer who tells us he's an advanced player.
When you've got a powerful suit like the diamond here, you'll almost surely want to go after it. The heart suit here represents an entry to the 5th diamond and is not your most promising suit, while the spots proclaim you can't be hurt too badly as long as you cover the 10 (on that line when the king is already used up).
The next declarer took the opening club lead, queen to the ace (also without an unblocking) and immediately led the king of hearts! I just don't understand it. That's not a big suit here, though it does represent a valuable winner and an entry to the long diamond. You wanna use it later. You've got to go after diamonds. Anyway, East took the K and led a club, ducked by West. Three diamonds were run and the suit was abandoned, for good reason (no access to the 5th diamond) and the spade hook was taken, East wins, shoots a club through, allowing two club winners, which West set up by ducking the second round. West does not cash his good diamond but it doesn't matter, for dummy is showing three top winners and the 9 of hearts, and declarer would merely sluff the 9 of hearts on trick 10 rather than lose to the J at trick 13. A spade allowed declarer to cash the king and ace, followed by the queen of hearts, then a heart to the jack, the fifth defensive winner.
And lastly, here I think declarer had some justification for going down. The defense was flawless and as I read the play, it seems to me declarer can't make it. Opening spade lead to the ace, run three diamonds, play the fourth to LHO's jack, a spade ducked, then another spade clearing the suit. Now declarer's on a path to lose two spades and one in each of the other suits, and I don't see what declarer could have done all that differently.
It was just the luck of the draw. Played from the wrong hand against the wrong opponents, and we can only congratulate them for getting it all right and offer condolences to the declarer.