Author: Larry Cohen
Date of publish: 07/01/2020
Level: Intermediate
This deal comes from the 2019 U.S. Team Trials. Take the cards of a recent HOF-inductee Peter Boyd:
AQ10765
AKQ3
6
92
He opened 1 and his long-time partner Steve Robinson responded 2 (2/1 GF, of course). It is almost always a good idea to introduce a 4-card suit here, especially when it is a major--and a very good suit, to boot. Boyd bid 2 and his partner raised to 3. Such a raise is stronger than a "closeout" jump to 4. Accordingly, Boyd looked for slam and after some control-bids and RKC, landed in 6 with the Q lead:
K
9762
872
AKQ43
|
| |
AQ10765
AKQ3
6
92
|
The defense played two rounds of diamonds, and Boyd trumped with his 3. What next?
Should declarer work on spades or clubs? Clearly, spades. Each suit has 7 cards with the AKQ, but spades also has the 10. Much more importantly, if clubs aren't 3-3, a club would need to be ruffed with a high heart--and this would almost surely set up a defensive heart trick.
Given that spades is the suit to work on, what is the order of play? We have to assume hearts are 3-2 (if 4-1, we've bid too much). If hearts behave and spades aren't horrendous (like Jxxxx in one hand), all should be okay.
Declarer crossed to the K and then drew two rounds of trump, happy to see everyone follow. Drawing the last trump would be relying on spades to run. Much better is to now trump a low spade in dummy. After that, play dummy's last trump to declarer's last trump, drawing the defender's last trump. That's a lot of lasts. Here was the Real Deal:
Vul:Both
Dlr: South |
K
9762
872
AKQ43
|
|
J843
84
QJ103
J107
|
|
92
J105
AK954
865
|
| |
AQ10765
AKQ3
6
92
|
|
Nothing fancy, just good bidding judgment and careful declarer play and a solid +1430.
