This real deal comes from Jane Love.

West	North	East	South
			1NT
Pass	2	Pass	2
Pass	4	All Pass

Vul:EW Dlr: S	K10754 QJ103 52 QJ
3 K85 AJ764 9632		QJ2 972 Q9 K10874
	A986 A64 K1083 A5

Responding to 1NT with 5-4 in the Majors

South deals and opens a normal 15-17 1NT. With some 5-4 hands, West might interfere, but not this lousy hand, vulnerable to boot! How should North respond?

It is hard to know how to value a QJ doubleton. In this case, it rates to be useful since partner will have at least 2 clubs and quite often some HCP there (given that he has 15-17 total). If we count the clubs as 3 HCP (a slight “overbid”) and then add for the decent 5-card suit and useful major-suit 10’s, I would say that North has enough to drive to game.

With 5-4 in the majors and enough for game, always start with Stayman (not a Jacoby transfer). South answers 2 and North, as planned, raises to game.

The Opening Lead

With lots of strength on your right, it is usually good to lead passively. Unless you think from the bidding that dummy has a long running side suit, there is no reason to attack. Leading from the K, or worse, leading that diamond suit is too dangerous. (Of course, if they were in notrump, it would be normal to simply lead a 4^th-best diamond.)

A singleton trump is a dangerous lead (it often picks off partner’s holding). Accordingly, I recommend a club lead.

Which one? This is a matter of partnership agreement.

Some always lead 4^th-best (even without an honor).

Some lead second-highest from small cards. Let’s assume that is the case and lead the 6.

The Play

In a suit contract, declarer counts losers. We do this from the point of view of the long trump hand (the dummy in this case).

Now that a club is led, there won’t be any losers there. Hearts and diamonds are both “50-50” suits. Declarer wants East to have the K and/or A. We can see that both of those cards are badly placed for South and that he is destined to lose a heart and 2 diamonds. We can see that there is also a loser in the trump suit, so things look bad for declarer.

Let’s say the Q wins trick one. East can use the opportunity to say he likes clubs (play the 8, high to encourage). Declarer has no reason to do anything but draw trump at trick 2. How? This layout lends itself to something called restricted choice. Lay down one high honor and if it goes low, low, quack (a queen or jack), then finesse on the next round. You can Google it if you want to know more.

It is a moot point here, because the spades can’t be picked up. Let’s say declarer takes the A at trick 2. He then cashes the A (might as well void both hands in clubs in case the opponents have to give a ruff-and-sluff later). Next, a spade to the king reveals the bad news.

Declarer can leave the high trump outstanding and lead dummy’s Q for a finesse. It loses. What does West do upon winning the K? West goes passive!

Leading a club is a no-no (a likely ruff-and-sluff). Cashing the A or leading any other diamond is just handing declarer the K (by counting HCP, and assuming from the trick-1 signal that East has clubs bottled up, West knows where all the high cards are). Furthermore, declarer can’t throw away lots of diamonds, so there is no need to grab tricks. West simply exits with a heart and sits back and waits.

Eventually, declarer must lose 2 diamonds (in addition to 1 in each major) for down 1. Not South’s lucky day. Should North chide himself for his decision to drive to game? Not at all. On a lucky layout, declarer would have made 12 tricks (losing only the A)!

Lesson Points

1) When responding to 1NT, with enough for game, use Stayman with 5-4 in the Majors.

2) When declarer has opened 1NT, lead passively unless there is some compelling reason to do otherwise.

3) When missing the QJ of a suit, you can lay down a high honor and if the jack or queen falls, finesse against the other honor (Restricted Choice).

4) With lots of trump in both hands, declarer should try to eliminate side suits so that the opponents might help when they get on lead.

5) When there is no reason to grab aces or make dangerous plays, defend passively.

6) Sometimes good contracts go down. Don’t assume you bid incorrectly.