1. 

Hand of the week, week commencing Sunday 6th May 2012

♠ Jack is led  Plan your play in 7NT keeping all your options open.

Partner opens 1NT and North thinks he can give partner 9 tricks (6 Hearts 2 Clubs and 1 Diamond) and when his partner gives him 1 Ace and 2 Kings he decides partner must have one queen too so this amounts to counting all 13 tricks so bids a safer 7NT rather than 7♥ and it also produces a better match point score.

Where should you start on this hand ?

If the Hearts break 3:2 or there is a singleton Jack in either hand then the hand is a doddle (6 Hearts 3 Spades 3 diamonds and 2 Clubs- trick to spare). If the Hearts breaks  badly you could fall back on the Diamonds. Maybe the Diamond Jack will fall or the Diamonds will break 3;3 and again the hand will be a doddle (now 3 Hearts, 3 Spades 5 Diamonds and 2 Clubs)

However if everything lies badly then there might be a Squeeze against an opponent who cannot guard both red suits.

To keep all your options open  you need to see the lie of the land before touching the red suits and there is no harm in cashing three rounds of Spades. On the third round of Spades East releases a Club. When you now cash two top clubs East again surprises you by dropping the Queen on the second round. Now it’s a simple matter of coming back to hand, by playing ace and king of Diamonds before cashing the Club Jack knowing that East has only red cards left. East has in fact been subject to a progressive squeeze in three suits from trick three onwards,

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You can also watch the following movie to see how the hand pans out. To view this programme you will need  to download htttp://www.haroldschogger.com/bridgevu.setup

  alternatively watch the film www.haroldschogger.com/movies2.htm