Mispractice

Author: Larry Cohen
Date of publish: 09/01/2014
Level: Beginner

This deal was played (actually misplayed) in an on-line practice match by one of the country's best teams. Vulnerable against not, South held: ?532
?KQJ4
?7
?AQ1087.
His partner dealt and opened 1?, overcalled with 1?.
South made a negative double and his partner cue-bid 2?. What does that show? It says nothing about spades (neither tells nor asks). It shows a huge hand, presumably forcing to game. Does it guarantee four hearts? Not necessarily. South should bid naturally, 3? for now.

Over this, opener jumps to 4?.  Maybe he was afraid to bid only 3? thinking it not forcing. In any event, he has shown more than a direct 4? bid, so he must have a hand just short of a strong two-bid. South now made a good bid--he raised to 5?. With such good trumps and a decent hand, he is worth a slam try. A bid of 5-of-the-trump suit when the opponents have bid a suit is used to request partner to bid a slam with the opponent's suit controlled. In fact, North not only bids slam, but control-bids 5?. This shows? It has to be 1st-round control of spades, and also shows interest (in context) in a grand slam (since it forces to a small slam). South, with great trumps and a source of tricks indeed jumped to 7?. Now, plan the play (you will take your partner's hand) on a spade lead:

?532
?KQJ4
?7
?AQ1087
 
?A7
?A832
?AKQ85
?K2

After winning the ?A, declarer tested trumps. If they split 3-2, he would be in great shape. He could draw trump in 3 rounds, then cash diamonds, throwing spade losers. If diamonds are 4-3, a diamond ruff in dummy provides the 13th trick (4 diamonds in all, 5 trumps in all, and 4 top black tricks). Even if diamonds don't split, the clubs can probably be set up.

 

 

Everyone followed to the first two trumps, so declarer drew a third round, the 1? overcaller (LHO) showing out. Now what? Declarer tried the top diamonds, but the suit was 6-1! The 1? overcaller had the singleton. Declarer threw dummy's spades on the top diamonds and then turned his attention to clubs. He played the king and then low to the ace. Disaster--RHO showed out! This was the Real Deal:

 

Vul: North-South
Dlr: North
?532
?KQJ4
?7
?AQ1087
 
?KQJ109
?109
?2
?J6543
  ?864
?765
?J109643
?9
  ?A7
?A832
?AKQ85
?K2
 

What was the error?

 

I like the auction, and I am happy with the early play, including cashing the top diamonds. But, once diamonds were 6-1, declarer need to take stock. More accurately, he needed to do some counting and calculating. LHO had overcalled only 1? at favorable vulnerability. With 6 spades (along with the known singleton and doubleton), he likely would have preemptively overcalled 2?. Since he rates to have only 5 spades, that means he started with 5=2=1=5 shape. Accordingly, after the ?K drew all low ones, declarer should have finessed the ?10 on the second round. This would lose only if RHO had a doubleton ?J and East had failed to preempt with his 6-card spade suit. The bidding and odds heavily favored the winning play.