Here’s a hand submitted by Beltan Tonuk playing with his partner Burak.
Dlr: East   Vul: N-S
North  K Q 9 2  Q 10 8 4  A 9 6 2  A
West  10 8 6 5  3  8 7 4  10 9 7 4 2
East  A  J 9 6  Q J 5  K Q J 8 6 3
South  J 7 4 3  A K 7 5 2  K 10 3  5
West
North
East
South
1
1
5
5
5
Pass
Pass
6
Dbl
All Pass
After a one-level overcall, Beltan found the bidding at the slam level on his second turn. Since his side was vulnerable, he knew his partner’s 5was a bid to make. He also knew his pass would be forcing. Holding a singleton club, trumps headed by the AK and a diamond control, he chose to pass and let his partner choose to double or bid 6. His partner bid 6, which East doubled.
After the lead of the 10, things were not that bright. After winning with dummy’s ace, he played the Q to cover the possibility that RHO had all four trumps. He drew trumps in three rounds and played a spade to the king. RHO won with the ace and switched to the J.
Well, normally he would return a passive spade and Beltan would have to rely on a 2-2 diamond break to make his contract. But the J play was suspicious. Beltan was wondering why East didn’t play a spade. He realized that the A must have been a singleton. So he played East for a 6331 shape with the QJx.
Beltan won the J with dummy’s ace and came back to his hand with the J. He was happy to see that East’s A really had been a singleton. He finessed to the 10 and then took the diamond finesse. That was worth 13.60 IMPs.
On our second deal, sent to us by Murat Molva, North and South were very aggressive. They climbed all the way to a grand slam in clubs. With the bad club break, it looks as if the grand slam will go down, but the Turkish declarer, Alpay Ozalp, found the route to 13 tricks.
Dlr: North   Vul: E-W
North  10 9 6  Q 7 6 4 3  K J 7 5  4
West  A 7 2  A J 10 2  6  K Q 8 7 6
East  K J 5 3  5  A Q 8 4 2  A 9 3
South  Q 8 4  K 9 8  10 9 3  J 10 5 2
West
North
East
South
Pass
2
Pass
2
Pass
2
Pass
3
Dbl
4
Pass
4NT
Pass
5
Dbl
7
All pass
Some people lead a trump against any grand slam. Others, afraid they may trap partner’s presumed trump queen, look for alternatives. North was a skeptic, so out came the 10. Ozalp realized immediately that he probably was facing a 4-1 trump break because North didn’t lead a trump. He also realized that his only hope was for a successful diamond finesse and a subsequent crossruff.
After the lead was covered by the jack and queen, declarer took his ace and took the diamond finesse. It worked! He had a chance!
He discarded a spade on the A and ruffed a diamond. He crossed to dummy with the K, came back to hand with the A, and ruffed a heart with dummy’s small trump. South craftily dropped the K on this trick, but declarer continued his crossruff. What else could he do? Next he ruffed a spade and trumped another heart, leaving this position:
North  —  Q 7  J  4
West  —  J  —  K Q 8
East  J  —  8 4  A
South  —  —  —  J 10 5 2
South still had all his trumps, but it did him no good. Declarer led a diamond from dummy, and South put in the J. Declarer overruffed and trumped his last heart with the A. When he then led the J, South was finished. Making 7.
If North had led his singleton trump, declarer never would have had a chance.
Harold Schogger has just celebrated 40 years of bridge teaching. He opened his bridge club in Hendon London in 1983. Since 1997 he has devoted his time to teaching and directing.He holds the Professional Teachers’ Diploma from the English Bridge Union, and now trains teachers for the EBU. He is also a member of the International Bridge Press Association. Harold is the author of Practice Your Rule of 11 and the ebook Bridge for Winners.Harold has been an OKbridge member since 1997. You can see his valuable blog posts here under the category Bridge Hand Review. Harold is also a Premier Life Master.
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