Bridge News:
During the Sectional Tournament at Clubs (STaC) game on Nov. 13, this was Board #6. For the defense, the critical decision is what to make as the opening lead.
Your choice can make a 2-trick difference in the play of the hand! Before reviewing the bidding and play, try to visualize how the bidding might proceed, and then how the hand should be played, paying particular emphasis to South’s choice of an opening lead.
Board 6: East was the dealer; East/West were vulnerable.
East has a very strong hand, looking probably at 9 tricks without any help from partner. Should East decide to open 1♠, this auction might very well end right there!
*Since 4♠ could also be opened with a much weaker hand, there is a convention common among duplicate players to differentiate a very strong hand from one much weaker. The convention is called NAMYATS, which is “Stayman” backwards. With a weaker preemptive hand, opener just bids four of his/her suit. With a very strong hand, like the one above, opener bids two suits below the suit he/she holds, in this case East would open 4♦. In this example, West, holding a terrible hand, would just bid 4♠. With a good hand and slam interest, he/she would bid the next higher suit, in this case 4♥.
The killer opening lead will be very hard to find, and most South’s will probably lead the ♦K. If this happens, declarer wins the ♦A and leads a small club. Now declarer has an entry to dummy (ruffing his/her other club) to take the successful heart finesse. Making 11 tricks!
The only clue as to what might be the killing lead is the fact that South has only one spade, making it realistic to think dummy might have a couple of trumps and be able to ruff something. Should South follow this line of reasoning, the lead of the singleton ♠J might be the best defense. And, on this hand, it defeats the contract.
Now if declarer leads a club to try to ruff his/her 2 nd club, North will win and lead a second trump. Now, provided the defenders don’t lead hearts, declarer must lose two clubs, a diamond and a heart. Down 1!
When this hand was played locally, one E/W pair played 5♠ down 1, two pairs played in 1♠ making 5, and the other two E/W pairs played in 4♠ making 5. Nobody found the killing opening lead!
In the ACBL-wide Instant Matchpoint game on October 30, Steve Kemic and Jennifer Young placed 5th overall nationally, and 1st overall in our district. In the District-wide STaC games November 12 and 13, Sig Lodwig and Beth Schaefer placed 1st in the 12.5 table limited game on the 12th, and Cliff Rudy and Jerry Fleming placed 4th in the 125.5 table main event on the 13th. Sig Lodwig, Beth Schaefer, Jerry Morzinski and Joy Green also placed in the Wednesday event.
The Los Alamos Duplicate Bridge Club games are held at the Betty Ehart Senior Activity Center (BESAC) Wednesdays starting at 12:45 p.m., and at the White Rock Senior Activity Center (WRSAC) Mondays at 12:45 p.m. Duplicate lessons are given at the BESAC 10 a.m. to noon Fridays when BESAC is open. Bridge players are welcome to participate. If you need a partner, please email Bobby Haynes at rsh@valornet.com or Jerry Fleming at peanutcat@aol.com.