Saturday, December 8, 2007

Analysing the auction

Blind leads aren't always that blind. While there may not be much useful info at first glance, there can be inferences to guide you when taking a closer look. Here's a lead problem from the first division in Denmark against declarer Lars Blakset.

My hand:
Q52
J63
T7532
K5

The auction went:
1S - 2D (FG)
2NT - 3S
4S - 4NT (showing 3+ aces)
5C (cue) - 6S

So, what do we know? What would you lead?

Declarer seems to have hand with scattered minimum strength from 2NT-rebid and refusal to cuebid after 3S. Dummy jumped to slam after hearing a 5C cue. That indicate tricksource and weak clubs. So, I tabled the K of clubs. This was the layout:

_______AK4
_______A94
_______AQJ94
_______82
Q52____________83
J63____________QT52
T7532__________86
K5_____________QJ973
_______JT976
_______K87
_______K
_______AT64

Declarer can always make the hand by finessing in spades but went for the percentage line of AK of trumps and running diamonds, pitching clubs. One down when the diamonds didn't break and the trump queen didn't come down. After anything but a club lead, declarer can take the trump finesse in comfort and then try to run diamonds, combining the chances. With a club lead it was decision time right away.

Reaching for opp's bidding motives, i.e. why they bid the way they did can provide the crucial indicators. As always, buyer beware, remember some people just can't be trusted!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Great to see that you are posting again! I really appreciate what you write, and I regularly go through the deals and system disussions with my partner.

Thanks!