This Real Deal comes from Roberta Salob of Bridge Holidays.

Vul:None Dlr: S	K109 Q764 5 QJ1054
J643 J1098 K86 97		Q852 A32 J973 K2
	A7 K5 AQ1042 A863

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

The Auction

What is South’s hand worth? There are 17 HCP, but with a very good 5-card suit and all those prime (aces/kings) cards, it is worth much more. Even though 1NT with this distribution is acceptable, the hand is too strong.

So, South starts with 1. With their meager values, East-West are passing throughout.

North doesn’t have enough to respond on the 2 level in clubs, so says 1.

What is South’s rebid?

South is not strong enough for 3 (opener’s jump shift is game forcing).

What about 2? That is certainly possible. It has a very wide range, and this hand would certainly be at the very top of that range. Because 2 is such an “underbid,” I prefer a different call. A jump to 2NT by opener shows 18-19 balanced. This hand is worth 18-19 (K &R* shows it worth 19.75!). Is it balanced? Balanced usually means 4-3-3-3 or 4-4-3-2 or 5-3-3-2. However, 5-4-2-2 (and 6-3-2-2) are considered “semi-balanced” and can sometimes be treated as balanced/notrump hands. Especially when the doubletons have honors/stoppers, bidding notrump is in the ballgame. Because 2NT gives a more accurate description than 2, that is the rebid shown.

North has 8 HCP (and is worth more because of the good 5-card suit). It is clear to boost South into game, thus 3NT (North knows there is no 8-card major-suit fit).

The Opening Lead

Usually, we prefer to lead unbid suits. We prefer to lead unbid majors against notrump. That would argue for the 3. We’ll see later how that would fare. However, there must be a reason we were put on opening lead while being dealt a 4-card sequence (J1098). Even though North bid the suit, the HJ is just jumping onto the table (sequences are both attacking leads, but at the same time, safe).

What if West had led the unbid major (spades)? That would give declarer three spade tricks. Dummy would play low and regardless of East’s play, declarer would have an extra trick (if East plays third-hand high, declarer later finesses against West’s jack).

The Play

In notrump, we count winners. There are two high spades and a high diamond. If the club finesse wins, there are 5 more tricks there (only 4 if it loses). The heart suit (which was led) will produce at least one more trick.

We also consider our stopper situation. Everything is double-stopped. That means we can afford to lose the lead.

East plays low at trick one (the ace would set up two heart tricks for declarer). When you are playing third to the trick and have an honor higher than dummy’s honor, it is almost always right to save your high one for dummy’s high one. South wins the K.

The suit South wants to work on is clubs. Wanting to be in dummy for a finesse, declarer crosses to the K at trick two and leads the Q.

Should East cover? There are conflicting rules. One is “cover an honor with an honor.” Another rule is “Don’t cover the first of touching honors.” Another rule is “Don’t cover if it won’t do any good.” Don’t you just love this game? Likely it won’t matter but covering is probably right (in case declarer started with an unlikely Ax).

Whether or not East covers, once the K is onside, declarer has 5 sure clubs along with the heart and the AK-A in spades/diamonds. That’s 9 certain tricks. The only remaining issue is overtricks (quite important at matchpoints).

Declarer might play a low heart from hand and duck in dummy. This would provide an extra trick if East started with a doubleton A. Or, declarer can lead to the Q, hoping West led from AJ1098 or the like. Neither of these scenarios is likely.

More promising would be to take a diamond finesse. Declarer can run all the clubs (the defenders won’t enjoy discarding). Then, declarer can lead a diamond and finesse either the 10 or the queen. Even if the finesse loses, the contract is safe (there is no East-West position where the defense can cash four heart tricks).

Which diamond should declarer finesse? Maybe it depends on the discards. Maybe it depends on table feel. Maybe it is just a guess. I think I’d finesse the queen. If it wins, I have 10 instant tricks and maybe a chance for more if the discarding was poor. Anyway, finessing the queen on the actual deal means only 9 tricks (unless the defense kept the wrong cards). Finessing the 10 would mean 10 tricks.

Double Dummy

If this deal were printed on hand records, it would say N-S make 6. We reached 3NT. Did something go wrong here? No. 6 just happens to make, but it is not a good contract. What it says “can” make doesn’t mean what “should be” bid.

Lesson Points

1) A hand with a good 5-card suit and lots of prime cards is worth more than its actual HCP.

2) 6-3-2-2 and 5-4-2-2 are considered “semi-balanced” and can be opened (or rebid) in notrump.

3) On opening lead, prefer a sequence, even if the opponents have bid the suit.

4) Declaring notrump, count winners.

5) Playing third to a trick on defense, save your high honor if the dummy on your right has an honor you can beat.

*K & R is a computer hand evaluation program that can be found with an online search