Author: Larry Cohen
Date of publish: 07/01/2024
Level: Intermediate to Advanced
This deal was played by my friend Gary Cohler in Atlanta in the 2023 Blue Ribbon Pairs. At favorable vulnerability, he held:
K10953
Q87
97
Q104.
LHO opened 1 and partner overcalled 1NT. After RHO passes, what is your plan?
I like to bid aggressively when partner has overcalled 1NT. The finesses rate to work and the hand is easy to play when you know so much about the opposing hands. Transferring to spades and then bidding 2NT (somewhat optimistic) or 3NT (very optimistic) are the main routes. But Gary realized that a spade contract with the lead through the Q might not play so well. Accordingly, he responded 2 and over partner's 2, he bid 2. This shows an invitational hand with 5 spades (typically unbalanced since there was no transfer followed by 2NT). Partner cooperated and Gary landed in 4 with the Q lead:
A76
A54
K8
AJ973
|
| |
K10953
Q87
97
Q104
|
Notice how nice it was to have the opening bidder on lead (no heart through the queen). Gary won the A and played a spade to the 10, West discarding a heart. The Q was run to East's king (a bit of a surprise). The J came back. Finally, the defense had gotten to lead through that Q. Gary played low and won the ace in dummy to take another spade finesse. He drew the last trump and ran clubs. With dummy's last club to be played, this was the position:
| |
--
5
K8
9
|
|
--
K10
AQ
--
|
|
--
6
J64
--
|
| |
5
Q
97
|
East threw a diamond and South threw his last heart. What could West do? If he throws a heart, declarer ruffs a heart and plays a diamond to get an 11th trick. If West throws a diamond, declarer ducks a diamond to set up the K. Quite an unusual squeeze. Bidding and making 4 would have been a near top, but +450 was a super top!
This was the Real Deal:
Vul:E-W
Dlr: West |
A76
A54
K8
AJ973
|
|
Q
K10932
AQ1052
52
|
|
J842
J6
J643
K86
|
| |
K10953
Q87
97
Q104
|
|
Sure enough, the Double-Dummy analysis on the hand record shows that South can make 11 tricks in spades. And North? Only 9 (on the J lead).
