Look for a better move

Love all
Dealer North

• A954
• K86
• Q109
• A86

• QJ62
• J4
• J76
• Q1094

N

W

E

S

• 108
• 109752
• K853
• K3

• K73
• AQ3
• A42
• J752

West

North

East

South

 

Jon

 

Paul

-

1^~11-15

Pass

2^{art. force}

Pass

2^{4 spades}

Pass

3NT

All pass

This was an instructive hand for me at the local club.  North, playing a strong-club system, opened one spade, I enquired and discovered only four spades opposite (possibly with a longer minor) and bid the inevitable 3NT. West led the four of clubs, which went to the king, and a club came back won by dummy's ace.  East had shown more than the usual interest in partner's diamond bid, so I ran the queen of diamonds, winning the trick, before ducking a spade, won by East, who switched to a small heart.

At this point I had eight top tricks, with a 3-3 spade break the only simple chance for a ninth.  However, I saw that if West was 4324 I could strip the hand and exit with the fourth round of spades, making the jack of clubs at trick 13.  So I tried the spades, then cashed my red winners ending in dummy.  The last of these was a heart, perforce, on which West discarded the jack of diamonds instead of a club as he should have done, so I did indeed make the jack of clubs at the end.

West, the dominant member of the opposing partnership, told his partner she should have covered the queen of diamonds. But it was I who was in need of instruction: obviously I should have cashed the hearts before the spades.  At this stage, West can't afford to throw a club, and does have to discard a diamond.  (There are other ways to squeeze West, but this is the simplest.)

The standard was quite mixed, and there was instruction of a different sort available on other hands also:

Game all
Dealer North

• 9
• AK65
• Q84
• QJ1053

• J8732
• 10972
• J75
• K

N

W

E

S

• KQ106
• J3
• A932
• 962

• A54
• Q84
• K106
• A874

West

North

East

South

Paul

 

Jon

 

-

1

Pass

3NT

All pass

I led a spade, and declarer, a very inexperienced player bravely stepping into the lions' den, won the third round. I was feeling confident until something about declarer's demeanour disturbed me. Perhaps she didn't know enough to take the club finesse...

-600.

N-S Game
Dealer East

• AJ86
• none
• KJ10762
• J98

• 1093
• 1062
• none
• KQ107653

N

W

E

S

• K
• KQ83
• A8543
• A42

• Q7542
• AJ9754
• Q9
• none

West

North

East

South

Jon

 

Paul

 

-

-

1^{strong club}

2*

Pass

2

Pass

2

4

5

All pass

There was no attractive downgrade available for my 16-count, so I opened a club despite the singleton king of spades. South bid two clubs, alerted by North.  Jon enquired, and was told that two clubs showed a strong hand.  North ought to have known that we were playing a strong club system since we'd had a long strong-club auction to five clubs on the previous hand, but something made him remind her of our system, and she corrected the explanation to "clubs".  After one more round of bidding it was obvious to him that South had nothing of the sort, so he clarified matters by bidding four clubs.  It now seemed likely to us both that South too had forgotten our system and ignored our alert, and attempted to make a Michaels cue-bid.  Some Norths might have worked that out also, but this one passed and I bid the obvious game.  South led the ace of hearts, so we were swiftly one off.  Which gave us a fair matchpoint score, since four spades is easy to make.

Subsequent conversation revealed that North in this long-standing partnership had no notion that they might be playing Michaels, whatever the meaning of the one club opening.