Hand of the week commencing
Sunday 15th July 2007
©Q
is led what fatal mistake must declarer avoid at trick one. Plan his play.
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K
Q 10
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9
8 6 4 |
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10
9 8 7 |
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A
9 |
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N |
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8
7 5 3 2
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J
9 4 |
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Q
J 10 7 |
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K
2 |
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3 |
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A
5 4 |
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Q 7 |
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6 5 4 2 |
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A
6 |
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5 3 |
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Q J 6 2 |
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10
8 3 |
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1¨ |
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1© |
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1NT |
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When
this hand was played against me, remarkably, the declarer went down and we
obtained 86% of the Match Points. What did he do wrong when all the other
declarers were making 9 and even 10 tricks.
Our
featured declarer knew that if the opponent attacked a suit where you had only
one controlling card sometimes it was correct to hold up the first and maybe
even the second trick. So this
is what our poor declarer did . My partner won the second trick with the
King and with the diamond Ace still in tact and no more Hearts to play found the
Club switch. The defence were now way ahead in the tempo and we eventually
realized 7 tricks, by way of 2 Hearts 4 Clubs and a Diamond.
The
message of this hand is that if you have 2 precarious suits and cannot afford a
switch to the second then holding up the first will prove to be fatal. Declarer
had 4 reasonable Hearts in the dummy so the duck is not necessary. Taking the
first trick and setting up the Diamonds, declarer will quickly notch up 9 tricks
– 3 Spades, 1 heart, 4 Diamonds and a club.