7b: a cool, ... or defiant manner; assertive manner assumed as a challenge
Playing on OKbridge tonight, Kate found a neat avoidance play that paid big dividends. During the fourth round, we faced two old friends as we played board 8:
♠ J 10 7
♥ 8 7 3 2
♦ 2
♣ A K 9 8 7
♠ 9 8 6 4 2 ♠ A K 5
♥ Q 6 ♥ J 10 9 5
♦ J 9 6 ♦ K 8 7 3
♣ Q 10 2 ♣ 4 3
♠ Q 3
♥ A K 4
♦ A Q 10 5 4
♣ J 6 5
East opened 1♦ in third seat and South overcalled 1NT. North bid Stayman and then 3NT after South's 2♦ reply.
West led the ♠4 to the ♠K. East continued with the ace and another spade won in dummy with the ♠J.
Declarer, Kate, could see that she had to set up the club suit without allowing West to gain the lead. Accordingly, she led a heart to her hand and advanced the ♣J. West covered with the ♣Q, won in dummy. It still wasn't clear how many tricks the club suit would render. The diamond finesse was almost a sure thing, however, so she led to her ♦Q and played a second club. When West played low, she inserted the ♣7.
When this won and East followed, Kate had 10 sure tricks, and, in fact, she made 11 for a score of plus 460 and 6.99 IMPs.
You can see all the results for this deal here.
Why not low to the 9? When that holds, easy enough to avoid giving West and entry with QTxx.
ReplyDeleteJust checkin'
The text font is fine but the cards are really tiny. Just sayin'
Thank you for your comment. I am a noobie blogger and not sure why the suit symbols were small, but I redid it and I think it's corrected now.
ReplyDeleteI don't see the advantage of low to the 9. Any layout where that works, the jack works too, doesn't it?
One case in which the jack gains is when there is a stiff 10 in East hand (although not a big deal because it's IMPs and your are more concerned with four club tricks).
Sorry, didn't mean to imply that it was a superior line, just another one. The post sounded like declarer had found the only way to make it.
ReplyDelete