| MONTHLY HAND | DEC 1999 |
|
THIS MONTH'S TOPICS:
Counting tricks Creating winners with a long suit and by promotion. In No Trump contracts
count winners off the top. That is, all the tricks which can be
taken without having to give up the lead. If the opponents can win
the first trick in a suit, then consider that you have no winners in that
suit. If you have enough winners then the contract should be made easily.
Say you are in 2 No Trump and you count 8 winners off the top. The contract
is readily made. Just execute.
|
| BIDDING |
| After two passes,
South with 17 High Card Points and a balanced
hand opens the bidding with 1 No Trump. If North/South have a
No Trump range of 16 - 18, then North with 10 points knows that the combined
point count is definitely in the Game Zone of 26 points. 10 + 16 =
26. Then North can bid 3 No Trump, which is game.
Note: a 2 No Trump bid by North is invitational. It invites South to either bid 3 No Trump with a maximum (18 points or a good 17); or pass with a minimum (16 points or a bad 17). In the above hand South would pass a 2 No Trump response by North and a potential game could be missed. If game is there, bid it. |
| OPENING LEAD |
| A No Trump contract
is usually a race of the long suits. But West does not really have a long
suit. And Hearts and Clubs are of equal length. The safest (and most
informative) lead against No Trump however, is from the top of a three
card sequence.
Also, once the Declarer is forced to play the high honors (or if partner has one or two), then the suit might produce some winners. The opening lead is the Q  .
Note: leading the 6
(the fourth
best in the Heart suit) is wrong. Leading the top of the sequence
takes precedence over "fourth from the longest and strongest" as a rule
for the opening lead. Always look for sequences when making decisions
about the opening lead. |
| PLAY |
| Dummy comes
down. Grab the A ?
No! Declarer must make a plan and a good time to do it is before
playing the first trick. A good plan is based on counting.
In a No Trump contract Declarer counts winners. And this is winners off
the top; winners that can be taken without giving up the lead. So let's
do it:
2 Spades; 2 Hearts; 0 Diamonds; and 0 Clubs. That is 4 winners; five short of the nine needed to make the hand What is Declarer going to do? Take the four winning tricks and surrender? No! A smart chimpanzee can be trained to take winning tricks. The Declarer must find a way of creating five winners. PLAN: Since a No Trump contract is a race of the long suits, Declarer considers Diamonds. Once the A  is played
four winning Diamond tricks are created for Declarer. But that gives
only eight winners: 2 Spades, 2 Hearts and 4 Diamonds. Where is the
ninth trick coming from? It has to be from Clubs. Once the A 
is played, the other high honor in Clubs will be promoted
to a winner, making the needed ninth trick.
PLAY: Win the opening lead with the A .
Then play a small Diamond towards the King. When West takes the A
there will now be four winning tricks in that suit for Declarer. If West
does not take the Ace right away, continue playing Diamonds. West will
eventually win with the Ace and return a Heart. (As good a defense as any.)
Now for creating that ninth trick. Bang down the K .
If the Ace takes it then the Q
is promoted to a winner. Note: after winning the Club trick,
Defender could now take two Heart tricks. Don't panic! Just
be sure to not give away any of your winners. After East/West has exhausted
their resources, you can cash out your remaining winners to make the contract.
It took nine tricks to win this hand (2 Spades, 2 Hearts, 4 Diamonds, 1 Club). Five of these tricks were created during play (4 Diamonds, 1 Club). QUESTION:
Why not take the winners in Spades before playing Diamonds or Clubs?
Why give up the lead so early in the play?
|
| DEFENSE |
| There is not much
the Defenders can do. If the hand is played properly they will just
get their two Hearts plus the A
and A . |
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