Choose your rebid

With a pleasant 15-count, you open 1♣ and partner responds 1♥, the opponents both passing. What now?

There are three choices, all of which are misleading in one way or another:

• 2♣  Technically the 'correct' bid, but understates your strength a bit. It would be a shame if partner had 10 points and passed, having concluded that game was too unlikely to bother with. *
• 3♣  The 'jump rebid' describes your hand better (16-18 points and a good 6-card suit), but technically you're a point short.
• 1NT  Not quite a 'balanced hand', but gets your points spot on.

Any of these choices is kinda OK, but consider our 'holy grail': seek out a major fit; failing that look for no trumps; and only as a last resort settle for a minor suit. The major fit looks unlikely: this would require partner to be holding 6 hearts, so why not go straight for the 2nd best destination: no trumps. 1NT gets my vote. ** 

As it happens, it doesn't much matter which you choose on this deal. As you'll see if you look at the whole deal, partner has a chunky balanced 13 points, so if you rebid 1NT she's raising you to 3NT. And if you rebid clubs, she's bidding 3NT anyway.
 

Who rebid what?

On the posh night, everyone was in 3NT, and it's interesting to note that five of the eight declarers were West: meaning that most Wests preferred to rebid 1NT instead of rebidding clubs.

It was a similar story in AP: three of the four 3NT declarers were West.

As always, the trick tally wasn't as good in AP. The posh declarers made 9, 10 or 11 tricks, which in AP, two declarers went one off.
 

Where are the tricks?

If West's the declarer, North will probably lead the ♥10 (top of the 'sequency' bit of the broken sequence ♥Q109). So where are the tricks coming from? In the event, South wins the trick with the ♥A and returns another heart, which you take with your ♥K. So what's next?

You've got one heart trick (two if they carry on with hearts), three spades and at least one diamond, so you only need 4 more from clubs to make your contract. So attack clubs NOW, while you still have (a) stops in the other suits and (b) entries to your clubs. It's probably simplest to cross your fingers and bang out the ♣AK, and as long as they're 3-2 you've got 10 tricks. You lose a trick to the ♣Q and probably to the ♥Q, and the rest are all yours.

cj

* With 10 points, partner shouldn't pass, as you're by no means denying a 15-count if you rebid 2♣. I have a 'rule of 10', which says that if partner opens and I have 10+ points, I keep the auction going until 2NT. Sometimes you end up getting too high, but on the whole you find yourself missing games a whole lot less.

** If partner does have 6 hearts, you won't miss your fit - she's sure to bid them again.

Temptation

The shapelier you are, the less you have to worry about point-counts. So when her partner opens 1♠, North's bidding game - even without the 2♦ overcall from West. With a great trump fit, North's hand has just 7 losers - enough for game in itself - and it looks even better after the overcall, as there's a max of just one diamond loser. Add to that a void in hearts and long clubs (a good chance that partner's short in them, then) and 4♠ is a no-brainer. And if you go off, you're not vulnerable - so even if you're two off (-100) that's less expensive than EW making (say) 9 tricks in diamonds for 110. 

But you've no intention of going off ...
 

Making 4♠ 

West starts off with the ♣AK (everyone following suit) and switches to a low diamond. Sitting South as declarer, are you going to make your contract?

Well, if you play sensibly, the answer's yes. It's pretty well a lay-down. This is the situation:

You have just two possible losers: the ♠K and a diamond trick. Lose both and you're going off. Lose just one and you're home. Lose neither and you're making an overtrick.

OK. How do you get home with pretty much 100% chance of success?

Easy. Simply dump dummy's diamond loser. You win with the ♦A, cross to your hand with the ♠A and lead a heart, discarding dummy's ♦2. You will still lose a trick to the ♠K, of course - unless it was a singleton and dropped under your ♠A - but you can put up with that because you've just made your contract.
 

Trying for an overtrick

The temptation, of course, is to try for the overtrick. Instead of leading to your ♠A, you take the finesse: play your ♠Q in the hope that East holds the ♠K. If it works, that's lovely: you can dump your ♦2, as planned, catch the ♠K and make 11 tricks. 

The trouble is that if it doesn't work - if West holds the ♠K - you're off. She wins a spade trick, leads a diamond and you lose a diamond trick as well.

Which explains (as you'll see if you look at the whole deal) why so many people went off instead of making a comfortable 10 tricks ...
 

On the night

In AP, apart from one table in 2♦, everyone was in 4♠ by South. Good so far. The downside was that only one of the five declarers made the contract.

On the posh night, everyone was in 4♠ and six out of the eight made it. Two fell for the temptation and made just 9 tricks.
 

A final thought

There's no suggestion here that declarers went down because they were greedy. It's declarer's job to be greedy! In pairs, an overtrick can make all the difference between a top and a bottom.

So it would, of course, be correct to try the spade finesse if you could afford it. If dummy had, for instance, one club fewer and a singleton heart, you could come over to your hand with a heart, then discard dummy's ♦2, get back to dummy with a diamond ruff and then take the spade finesse. It still loses, but you'd be right to give it a try. Here, though, with no other sure entry to your hand other than the ♠A, it's better to play safe.

cj

Sacrifice?

9-card suits don't come up very often, so when they do it's as well to make the best you can of them. If the opps have a spade fit (which looks pretty likely from where you're sitting) you want to shove your oar in as high as you can - but how high is that?

Well, think about opening pre-empts. With a 7-card suit you'd open 3♦ and with an 8-card suit 4♦ ... so with a 9-card suit 5♦ looks about right. What's nice about 5♦ is that it forces the opps above their game slot of 4♠, so they're either going to have to stick their necks out and risk 5♠ or else (presumably) double you for penalties. So the next question is:

Can you afford it?

The difficulty is that you're vulnerable and they're not - the worst combination if you're making a sacrifice. They only have to get you two off for a penalty of 500, which is worse than the 420 they get for making 4♠.

On the plus side, though, you have a very nice hand. You have none of their spades - no losers there, then - and will lose a maximum of four tricks: the ♦A, ♣A and possibly two hearts. So partner will have to stump up just one of those tricks to make it all worthwhile.

So do you bid 5♦ or settle for something a bit more modest? Up to you! Let's say you go for it ...
 

What happens?

Take a look at the whole deal. Partner's hearts are good enough to save you one of those four tricks, anyway. East will probably lead the ♠5 * - her partner's suit. Plan your play.

Well, it's easier if you can see all the hands, but it turns out that you can make your contract. Can you see how?

It's all about the ♣K, isn't it? Once you've got rid of their trumps (which doesn't take long!) you cross your fingers and lead your singleton club towards the ♣K, and whether East takes her Ace or not, you're home. Let's say she does. All you have to do now if get over to dummy, dump a small heart on the ♣K, and, crossing your fingers again, take the heart finesse ... job done!

... Erm. Fine. But how am I supposed to get to dummy? Easy - lead a small trump to dummmy's 10! 

So there you are, thinking you're sacrificing in 5♦ to stop them making 4♠ ... and it turns out that you're the one making the contract, while they can't make 4♠ anyway. They're the ones that should be sacrificing in 5♠ to stop you making game. 
 

On the night

On the posh night, three Norths were in 5♦ (two of them doubled) and two of them made 11 tricks. All the others were in 4♠ or 5♠, all going off. 

In AP, three Norths were in 5♦ and one was in 6♦ (!): two made 11 but two made just 10. The other two EWs were in spades, both going off.

cj

* NOT the ♠2 or the ♠7. The ♠2 (see last week's HOTW) would be promising an honour (lead low for like), while the ♠7, followed by a lower card on the next spade trick, would be promising a doubleton. The ♠5 is MUD (middle-up-down), which, followed by the ♠7, promises what you've got: three rubbish spades! 

Two chances - either will do

Here's a nice hand. I already sent notes about the auction to Wednesday AP players (summarised below) so here we're focusing on the play. It's simple enough: You're sitting North and East leads the ♠6 against your 6NT contract. What are your thoughts?

The first thing to do is to count your tricks, and here you have 11 tricks 'off the top': 3 spades, 4 diamonds and 2 each in hearts and clubs. Where's your 12th trick coming from? 

Well, if East has led from the ♠J, you can make an extra spade trick right now, so let's try that before anything else: you play the ♠10 from dummy, but West goes up with the ♠J and you win the trick in hand.

So you're still looking for your 12th trick, which will clearly have to come from hearts or clubs. You hold AKJ in each suit, so the 12th trick will have to come from either the ♣J or the ♥J, How to proceed, then? There are two lines you can try:
 

No contest

Option 1  Bang out your spades and diamonds and then cash the ♥AK and ♣AK, hoping that one of the Queens will drop, This is pretty unlikely to happen. The chance of a player holding just Qx in either hearts or clubs is less than 10%. So assuming that the defenders aren't daft, this option has around 17% chance of succeeding.

Option 2  Finesse, hoping that the Queen is in the right place. That is, lead a low heart (say) towards the ♥AKJ and play the Jack, crossing your fingers. If it works, you've made your contract. And if it doesn't, try it again in clubs: lead a low club towards the ♣AKJ and play the Jack, again crossing your fingers. The chances of a finesse working are 50% (the Queen might be in either hand), but here you only need one of the two finesses to work to make your contract. That's a 75% chance.

No contest, then. Finessing is almost 5 times as likely to succeed as playing for the drop. Let's try that, then ... 
 

What happens?

You've just won trick one in hand. Lead your small heart and play the Jack. It works - East has the ♥Q. No harm, then, in trying for an overtrick with the club finesse. Lead a low club from dummy and play the Jack: again, it works: West has the ♣Q. You've just made all 13 tricks.

And Option 1? Well, as neither player started out with ♥Qx or ♣Qx (as expected) you end up going one off with just 11 tricks.

So in this case, 'finesse for success'. If that seems a bit obvious, read on ...
 

On the night

In AP, nearly everyone was in 6NT, but only three made 12 or 13 tricks. The other four - presumably following Option 1 - went one off.

On the posh night, two declarers made 12 tricks and the other 5 all made 13.
 

When leading: low is for like, high is for hate

We all know about leading the '4th highest of our longest and strongest suit' against NT contracts. But that only applies if the suit has something to offer. The lead of the ♠3 here, then, would promise at least one honour. From a rubbish suit (and the ♠7643 is just that!) you should lead the 2nd highest: the ♠6. Please take note if you were one of the Easts that led the ♠3. Leading low from an honour and high from rubbish is a great way of telling partner what you have and haven't got.
 

A note on the auction

• 1♦: Sure, you've got 20 points, but I don't like opening 2NT with a singleton (especially a small one!) so I make a standard opening bid and hope partner doesn't pass.
• 1♥: sure, you're strong, but first things first: show your longest suit and see what partner says next: it's opener's 2nd bid that really puts you in the picture.
• 3NT: you're pretty sure that NT is where you want to be, but you're too strong to rebid 1NT (15-16) or 2NT (17-18), either of which can be passed. To be sure, go straight to game.
• 6NT: you now know that partner has at least 19 points. Add that to your 15 and that's enough for the small slam: go straight there!

cj