Vul:None Dlr: South	A764  A652  952  A5
K103  KQ7  QJ1073  93		J83  1093  6  K108742
	Q95  J84  AK84  QJ6

West	North	East	South
			1
Pass	1	Pass	1NT
Pass	3NT	All Pass

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

With his 13 HCP, South opens 1 and West has nothing to say (an overcall of 2 would not be natural—it would be a Michaels Bid, showing both majors). With 4-4 in the majors, responder goes up the line. He responds 1 and opener rebids 1NT to show 12-14 balanced. Responder has only 12 points and poor spot cards, but aces are valuable. Likely he would raise to 3NT as shown (instead of inviting with 2NT). North should not worry about missing a 4-4 spade fit; opener would have shown 4 spades (by rebidding 1) if he had them.

A quick look at all 52 cards shows that North-South, in spite of their 4 aces and 25 HCP, are a bit overboard. There are only 5 top tricks in 3NT and it is quite a stretch to envision 4 more.

 

Opening Lead

Just looking at West’s hand, and ignoring the auction, the “obvious” lead against 3NT is the Q (top of the sequence). On this auction, the declarer has bid diamonds, so that is a slight deterrent. What about the K? Against a suit contract, KQx is a reasonable shot—since it will build a defensive trick. But, against notrump, it is dangerous. It will often set up an extra trick or two for declarer. Here, with dummy having bid hearts, I wouldn’t want to lead one. A spade from K103 is not attractive, and the small club doubleton, while okay against a suit contract, doesn’t have much appeal against notrump. So, with no other lead having much attraction, I’d go with the Q.

 

The Play

Declarer sees only the 4 aces and K as the immediate winners. Where should he look for more? Of the three combined 7-card holdings, spades is the best bet. Given that the defense led diamonds, that suit is unlikely to split. The spades are stronger than hearts, so merit more attention. The best play in spades is to lead up (towards) to the Q. There is no point in leading the Q (there is no “finesse” since you don’t have the jack and/or 10). After winning the A at trick one, declarer goes to the A and leads a spade towards his queen. This loses to the K and West is in at trick 3.

West can’t play more diamonds (he knows this will build an extra diamond trick for declarer). The K is still risky, and he won’t want to help declarer by setting up the spades, So, I’d expect a shift to the 9.

Declarer would play low, and East would win the K. Likely, East would then return a club to dummy’s ace.

At this point, declarer can play another spade, hoping the suit is 3-3. It is. That means dummy’s long spade is good. Also, declarer has a good club left in hand – so he is now up to 7 sure tricks.

Still, he is a long way from home. When East wins the J, it isn’t clear what he would do. He could play the 10, but likely would play a safe club to declarer. South now has taken 2 club tricks, and we can add that to 2 diamonds, 2 major-suit aces, and the now good spade in dummy. That’s 7 tricks. The endgame is a bit complicated, with entry issues and potential red-suit endplays against West. Probably, declarer will get up to an 8th trick (in either hearts or diamonds), but the defense will prevail. Declarer’s best play in this ending is a low diamond:

 

Vul:None Dlr: South	A652  95
KQ7  J107		1093    1087
	J84  K84

 

 

West has to win, and declarer should carefully unblock dummy’s 9. This means that if West plays another diamond, declarer can take 2 diamond tricks in hand. West would have to play the K. Declarer can duck that and West now has to give declarer an extra trick either in hearts or diamonds.

In all, this would mean an 8th trick for declarer on the endplay. The defense gets 2 spade tricks and one of everything else.

So, after a lot of complex play and defense, let’s score this as 3NT (slightly overbid, but well-played) down one trick.