To change the card's design check / uncheck the 'Text Cards' menu.
Vuln: None
You are: S
West | North | East | South |
---|---|---|---|
Board # 1 Dealer: Vuln:
Click to Play | Board List |
A problem? | |
Assisting partner | |
Defense and Offense | |
Thank you, partner |
Go Back
A problem?
By Andy Hung
On this hand, you will encounter a hand that may have no problems at all...or so you think! But first, you will start off with a bidding problem.
Bidding.
Partner (North) opens 1NT and we initiate a Stayman sequence with 2♣. Partner responds 2♥ showing four Hearts (does not deny four Spades yet), and as a 3NT rebid comes to mind with our hand, we opt for a more scientific route via 3♣, showing a game-forcing hand with five-plus Clubs and (implied) four Spades.
Partner, with no Spade support, no Diamond stopper, and four-card Club support, makes the right decision by raising our Clubs. As we can see, 3NT would down as the opponents thrash away in Diamonds whereas 5♣ is the perfect game contract to be in.
You can now imagine what would have happened if we had jumped to 3NT over partner's 2♥ Stayman response - partner would have passed (rightly so), and we would be left wondering who was at fault.
Play.
West, not a first timer as he has been listening to the auction as well, leads the ♦K. Two rounds of Diamonds proceed but that pretty much wraps up the play. With a ten-card Club fit missing the Queen, the suit is likely to break 2-1 so no finesses need to be taken. After cashing ♣AK, the Queen will drop in two rounds.
However, we should still try to cater for a possible 3-0 break because if that arises, we will need to take a marked finesse. Are there any clues as to which opponent is more likely to hold a void in Clubs?
Well, the only possible clue we can go by is that if East had a void in Clubs, he may have decided to interfere over partner's 1NT given that E/W are not vulnerable. If West had the void in Clubs, he may have backed off due to our 2♣ Stayman bid (as we are looking for a major). There, if anyone is to have the three Clubs headed by the Queen, it would be East, as we have concluded that it's not likely that East will have a void in Clubs.
Accordingly, when it's time to draw trumps, we should start with the ♣A first to guard against the possibility of East holding three Clubs to the Queen.
Of course, the Clubs are 2-1 on this deal so our thoughts didn't come to play - but it is always best to prepare ourselves for these eventualities, otherwise we may never bother to think about them and it would be too late.
This application has been designed to play in portrait mode. Please rotate your device.
Click the deck that suits you best above...
If you want to change deck again later click the 'Menu'
During the play, click the "Menu" button below in order to display extra playing options.
West | North | East | South |
---|---|---|---|
Read the comment! The play is locked until you click on
Click on the back of the rightmost card to review the last trick.
Click on the back of any card to review the trick.
West | North | East | South |
---|---|---|---|
- | 1NT | P | 2♣ |
P | 2♥ | P | 3♣ |
P | 5♣ | P | P |
P |
Click to Play | Board List |
A problem? | |
Assisting partner | |
Defense and Offense | |
Thank you, partner |