Through the Pack at Glenfield

 

The Ten of Spades

 

Last Updated on 8th January 2006

 

 

 

 

Terry Downs & Laurence Popple won the club duplicate on 4th January 2006

Board 27

Dealer N

Love All

North

 

ª

© KJT

¨ 87642

§ 98654

 

I helped them overcome a foul trump break to gain a top on this deal.

 

Terry and Laurence bid to the optimal contract of four spades.  They needed to make for the other scores were all plus for East/West; one pair had bid and made three no trumps, another had made ten tricks in two no trumps, while a third had chosen to defend one spade by South, taking it three down.

 

A likely sequence of play in four spades is a heart lead from South to the king and ace.  Declarer does best to play a club at trick two; there is no reason for South not to take the ace and continue with hearts.  East wins the queen, ruffs the two and tries the king of spades.  When North shows out, trumps are abandoned.  A diamond is discarded on the king of clubs and the king and ace of diamonds are taken.  A second heart ruff is taken and a minor card is led from dummy.  East ruffs low and South over-ruffs.  With three cards left, East has eight tricks; the defence two.  East holds ª AT8; South ª QJ9.  South does best to lead the queen of spades but, provided East allows South to win this trick, South will be forced to lead to trick twelve and I will take the vital tenth trick.

 

The results, travellers and personal scorecards are online.

West

 

ª K65

© 86

¨ KT9

§ KQT72

 

East

 

ª AT832

© AQ72

¨ A53

§ 3

 

South

 

ª QJ974

© 9543

¨ QJ

§ AJ

 

 

 

 

Most players would have led me against three no trumps on this deal – but:

S T94

H 854

D K84

C 9865

My owner was on lead against three no trumps after declarer had bid diamonds and dummy had been clubs.  What would you lead?   Probably you would make the same choice as my owner in the match between Glenfield A and County C on 5th March 2003 and lead me.   In fact there is just one lead that beats the contract.   It is the king of diamonds!   This was a rare opportunity to play the Merrimac Coup.

 

 

In this next example, I also cost my side many imps when I was led.

 

North

 

ª AK42

© KQJ73

¨ J6

§ 63

Board 7

Dealer S

Game All

The hand comes from the match between Glenfield B and County E.   Margaret Glover and Peter Tyers had bid the North/South hands to five hearts for Glenfield.  County E had doubled.  East was on lead.

 

Much rested on the lead.  On the actual lie, if East selected the king of diamonds, the contract was likely to fail.  On the other hand if North had ¨ AT7 and South ¨ J63 the king of diamonds lead would cost a trick.   The spade sequence was somewhat safer.  After a few moments, East led me.  Declarer discarded dummy’s losing diamonds on the ace and king of spades and just lost the ace of trumps for a score of 1050.

 

It looks to be one of those hands where you will either make ten or twelve tricks in hearts but, in fact, five hearts was declared at the other three tables and made precisely eleven tricks.  Len & Doreen Hillier were doubled for Glenfield to score 850.  The Glenfield East/Wests, Lesley Neville & Ken Clayton and Bas & Wendy Thomas, had the wisdom not to double and just conceded 650 each. 

 

That brought in 12 imps for Glenfield; vital in a match where the winning margin was just 13.

West

 

ª QJ753

© A2

¨ AT75

§ J8

 

East

 

ª T986

©

¨ KQ942

§ QT72

 

South

 

ª

© T98654

¨ 83

§ AK954

 

 

 

The next card is the Nine of Spades.

 

The previous card was the Jack of Spades.

 

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Last Updated

8th January 2006

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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6.1 Bidding

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Passing

 

6.1.2 Opening Bids

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6.1.3.1 Responding to 1NT

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6.1.3.2 Responding to 2NT

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Baron

 

 

 

 

 

6.1.4 Conventions

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6.1.4.1 Conventional Opening Bids

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6.1.4.2 Competitive Conventions

Jump Overcall

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Continuing after opponent’s take out double

Take out Double

Cue Bid

 

Fishbein

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6.1.4.3 Slam Conventions

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Roman Key Card Blackwood

Splinter

Jump to 5 of a suit

Grand Slam Force

Acol Four No Trump Opening

 

Asking Bids

DOPI and ROPI

 

 

 

 

 

6.1.5 Doubles

Optional

Penalty

 

 

 

 

 

6.1.6 The Protective Position

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

6.2 Declarer Play

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

6.2.1 General Technique

End Play

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Pin

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6.2.2 Trump Management

Ruffing

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Trump Coup

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Loser on Loser

Coping with bad splits

Cross Ruff

 

Dummy Reversal

 

 

 

 

 

 

6.3 Defence

Second Player

Signals

Third Player

Play the cards you are known to have

 

 

 

6.3.1 Defensive Tactics

Forcing Defence

Passive Defence

Merrimac Coup

 

 

 

 

6.3.2 Opening Leads

Fourth Highest

Third and Fifth

MUD

Top of Nothing

 

 

 

6.3.3 Plays in Third Hand

Finesse Against Dummy

Finesse Against Partner

 

 

 

 

 

6.3.4 Entry Management

Unblocking

 

 

 

 

 

 

6.4 Probability

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

6.5 Glossary of Terms

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

7 Through the Pack