Good defense.
It’s a shame that 3NT is cold for 10 tricks.
Is it ever right for North to accept the invitation to the no-trump game AFTER having found the spade fit?
Wishing you and Lady Kay-Wolff happiness and health for the New Year,
Michael

Hi Michael,

Yes, I would accept the NT game, instead of jumping to 4 spades if I was exactly 4-3-3-3 and a little extra (which North was). Since there is no way to distinguish beforehand partner’s exact cards it becomes a guessing game.

For example on this real hand, if the opening leader had been dealt 5 diamonds, or even on this hand with diamonds 4-4 (with honors split and led originally) or with a low heart lead if West would have had a spade entry, 3NT would not be manageable, at least, against optimum defense.

What you suggest does get a yes answer, but sometimes the winning call is just a random guess.

Also, and even more important, Judy joins me in also wishing you and yours a great holiday season and all winning finesses for 2012.

I think on a D lead, 3N goes down.

Happy new year to everyone, esp. to you Mr. Wolff.

Hi Mike,

And a very happy and prosperous New Year back at you.

A diamond lead from 3 to the jack would certainly cause consternation for declarer, but no cigar for result. As long as declarer lets it ride to his hand wins it, then goes after spades, and because of the diamond blockage, declarer’s playing luck would begin shortly before 2012 arrives.

Whatever anyone wants to say about our great game, it never ceases to amaze me how bridge itself creates the puzzles, leaving us all victims to its sensational intrigue.

Some perhaps minor points. Beyrouti claims 3NT is cold for 10 tricks; your own analysis holds south, on best defense, to 9 tricks. Also, there are very many distributions of the cards in the defensive hands, as you point out, that will defeat 3NT. On the other hand, 4 spades should fail only because hearts are 5-2, not 4-3, Even then, west must have one of the key cards (spade A or K or heart A). Perhaps even more important: when your side discovers a 4-4 major fit, it is almost always superior or at the very least equal to NT, so stick with the fit. On the rare occasions when this is wrong, you can always ascribe your misfortune to bad luck, but if you go for NT and it’s wrong, your partner may never let you hear the end of it.

You state that with a singleton heart, east should cash both A-K of trumps before leading the heart. Why does he/she do this?

East doesn’t know which red ace partner holds -if any. With a singleton heart, is the best defence from east not to win the first trump, then lead her singleton heart. If partner does not have the ace, then he/she can win a second trump and try a diamond. That way if partner has either red ace, east can still score a heart ruff.

Hi Matt,

Your comment is not only appreciated, it is right on, making me nothing but a selfish results player, based on the actual hand.

Yes, if East had a singleton heart, he would have two shots by first leading it and then hopefully getting an immediate ruff when partner wins the first one and returns the suit, but if declarer held the heart ace, which he well may have, then upon winning his 2nd spade now hopes for partner to have the diamond ace for a belated heart ruff, which, of course, is the setting trick.

Also, on this hand, should West win his ace of hearts after seeing partner win the first spade lead with his king?
(which probably will be accompanied by the ace, based on the play).

No, because on the bidding South is very likely (perhaps 99%) to have only 3 hearts since he bid 1 spade with almost certainly exactly 4 spades so if he also had 4 hearts he would have bid 1 heart first, up the line, instead of 1 spade and since he didn’t, presto chango the overall bidding will have told West how to defend. However, it is very necessary for West to signal the ace, by playing the 10 rather than his lowest one, otherwise the whole defense collapses.

If we the authors would have thought about your accurate sleuthing we could have gone in other directions to describe it, although we may have run out of room along the way.

“Forsooth, my dear Watson, you have uncovered the murderer of this poor hand, and I am the culprit”.

The paragraph starting with “equally valid” is very simply not so.

Hi Bobby,

Thanks for that. You have my sympathy – whenever I post a problem on an internet forum or contribute to a discussion I agonise over every detail to see if I’ve missed something blindingly obvious or to see if my logic is wrong. I can’t begin to imagine how difficult it must be to find instructional hands and then posit the definitive to the solution contained in them without missing anything.

I agree that the most interesting problem on the hand is west’s, who needs to think through the consequences of the auction and play to defeat the contract. This is the sort of thing which I love to read about and try desperately hard to be able to incorporate into my game. My main issue sitting with west’s cards is that even if I were able to duck the first heart I doubt I could do it in tempo – I would probably think so long I’d eventually decide I’d have to play the ace since I’d told partner I held it… Learning to count up the hand and figure out everyone’s shape during the pause at trick one is something I am struggling with.