This Real Deal was dealt by Brenda Manning

I’m going to let the readers in on a secret. Because I am analyzing randomly dealt hands, occasionally, there is a dud. Accordingly, Better Bridge asks the guest dealers to deal out 2 hands—just in case. This time, it was a good precaution. Deal 1 contained four flat non-opening bids! Imagine if this column had a deal where the auction was Pass-Pass-Pass-Pass. How would I describe the opening lead, play and defense? Thankfully, Deal 2 was more interesting, as below:

Vul: E-W Dlr: S	92 J1085 A10742 Q3
6 K KQ9863 KJ1087		AJ108753 Q96 J5 4
	KQ4 A7432 -- A9652

West	North	East	South
			1
2NT	3	Pass	4
All Pass

The Auction:

South opens 1 (always the higher-ranking suit when 5-5). West has opening-bid strength, but should not double—East would never stop bidding spades! Unless you have a really big hand (18+), a takeout double promises support for the other three suits. West could overcall in diamonds, but has a way to introduce both minors—the unusual notrump. A jump overcall to 2NT shows at least 5-5 in the two lowest unbid suits. Here, West is vulnerable, so shouldn’t mess around—but the quality of the suits is good enough to come in at this level.

What does the responder to the opening bid do after the opponents make an Unusual notrump overcall? There are some fancy methods (something called “Unusual over Unusual”) whereby bids of 3 and 3 (the opponent’s suits) send various messages. Such agreements are very difficult to remember and not recommended except for experienced regular partnerships. Fortunately, North has an easy natural call here—3. This is just what it sounds like: “Heart support—enough to want to be on the 3 level, but not enough to insist on game.

East would love to bid the 7-card spade suit, but is facing a hand with length in the minors. Possibly East could risk 3 (Vulnerable, I wouldn’t); the Pass shown is the cautious route.

Should South go to game? The void is nice, as are the aces. On the downside, the trump suit is poor and it is hard to picture what South will do with all of those low clubs. In real-life, South probably should Pass, but let’s have some fun and go with the optimistic 4 bid shown in the diagram.

West has already shown the minors, so there is no need to bid (or even be tempted to bid) again.

Opening Lead:

The K is possible, but I love the legendary Benito Garozzo’s advice: “If you are on lead against a suit contract, and a side-suit singleton is possible, then lead it.” So, West leads the singleton spade and South must plan the play.

The Plan:

In a suit contract, declarer should count losers. Here, there is at least a spade to lose and even on the best day, a trump trick. What about all of those clubs? Declarer can hope to throw one club from dummy on a spade. Then, the A and club ruffs in dummy might take care of other club losers.

Things start poorly when East wins the A and issues West a spade ruff. At least it is with the trump king. What should declarer make of that? Probably it is a singleton king of hearts. Why? With KQ doubleton, West wouldn’t be interested in getting ruffs and probably would not have led a singleton. Also, West showed at least 10 cards in the minors, further indicating shortness in the majors.

After West ruffs, he exits with the K. Declarer can win the ace (throwing one club) and trump a diamond to hand. Next comes the Q (remember that declarer expects West to be out of trumps, so there is no need to draw any trump). Sure enough, West discards and dummy throws a low club. Now comes the A and declarer still has 3 losing clubs in hand in this position:

Vul: E-W Dlr: S	-- J1085 1074 --
-- -- Q986 KJ10		J1085 Q96 -- --
	A743 -- 965

Declarer lost the first 2 tricks and can afford to lose one more. The problem is, he knows from the auction that East is out of clubs—and that he has the exact cards remaining as in the diagram. So, declarer plays a club and trumps with dummy’s J. What should East do? Let’s say he chooses to overruff with the Q, the 3^rd trick for the defense. Now, he should return a trump. A spade play would be costly—allowing declarer a ruff-and-sluff. Declarer would be able to throw a losing club from hand and trump low in dummy. Then he could come to hand and trump his last club with the 10 to make the contract (later running dummy’s 8 through East). But, if East correctly avoids the ruff-sluff and returns a trump, declarer is left with two losing clubs. He can trump one with the 10, but can’t do anything with the other one (East’s trump 9 is too pesky). Bottom line—in the diagrammed position above, declarer should fail—losing 2 tricks against proper defense. 4 down 1; perhaps South should have passed 3 after all.

Lesson Points

1) With 5-5 distribution, always start with the higher-ranking suit.

2) Don’t make a takeout double without support for all 3 unbid suits (unless you have 18+).

3) A jump overcall of 2NT shows at least 5-5 in the 2 lowest unbid suits.

4) After an opposing Unusual 2NT there is something called “Unusual versus Unusual,” but I recommend it only for long-time experienced partnerships.

5) When in doubt, against a trump contract, lead a side-suit singleton.

6) On defense, avoid giving declarer a ruff-and-sluff.