Novice Declarer Problem of the Month
March, 2000
This hand occurred in the Friday afternoon Open Pairs at the 2000 Blue Hen Sectional in Wilmington, Delaware.
MPs
Dealer: North
Vulnerable: N-S
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NORTH  T 3 T 9 8 5 4 9 6 4 K 9 5 |
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SOUTH A Q 4 A K 6 T 8 5 A Q T 2 |
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| NORTH | EAST | SOUTH | WEST |
| Pass | Pass | 1 |
2 |
| Pass | Pass | 2N | Pass |
| Pass | Pass |
A word about the bidding: You open 1, planning to jump to 2N to show a balanced 18-19 HCPs. West
muddies the waters by bidding a preemptive 2, which shows a 6-card suit and 5-10 HCPs. You bid 2N and
everyone passes.
West leads the 2. East wins with the Q and shifts
to the 8; you play low and are pleased to see West play the
K. West continues with a diamond to East's king. East plays a third diamond to West's jack, and West
then cashes the A--you discard small hearts from each hand, East also pitching a heart. West exits with
the 7. You cash a second high heart, and West pitches a small spade.
You have seven sure tricks (2 spades, 2 hearts, and 3 clubs), with a chance for an eigth trick coming from the club suit. All you have to do is get the club
suit right.
Plan the play.
Solution
All you have to do is COUNT! West has shown up with four diamonds, one heart, and (based on the bidding) six spades; that leaves room in his hand for exactly
TWO clubs. This means that East has four clubs; so, cash the A, and lead a club to the king. If the
jack hasn't appeared yet, finesse the T on the way back to your hand. Of course, before you make this
marked play in clubs, it can't hurt to cash the AQ, just to make sure West didn't make some off-shape
jump overcall holding five spades, one heart, four diamonds, and three clubs.
The full deal:
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EAST |
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SOUTH |
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Extra Credit
If you follow the suggested line, look what happens when you cash the last spade. You have reached this position, with the lead in your hand:
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SOUTH |
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After you cash the Q and pitch a heart from dummy, East must throw a club in order not to set up
your T. This means his J will appear when
you are leading back to your QT. Don't tell anyone, but you just executed a simple squeeze! Of
course, that is just a peculiarity of this hand, and you didn't really care if you were squeezing East or not--you just wanted to get a completely
accurate count on West's hand (in case he had preempted with a 5-card suit). When you cashed the Q,
the squeeze just happened to show up. Naturally, if East follows to the third spade--meaning West has a 5-card suit--you cash the
AKQ and the suit will be dividing 3-3.
Click here to send questions or comments regarding this month's hand.