Jacoby 2NT. Board 1, 9, 17 & 25 Vul: None Dealer: North. The decision. The Lead: D-10 Top of a 2 card sequence S AJ1032 H 2 D AQJ7 C 1043

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Magdalen Cameron
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1 Board 1, 9, 17 & 25 Vul: None Dealer: North Ø6S The decision S AJ1032 H 2 D AQJ7 C 1043 S 98 S 7 H KQ108 H AJ743 D 8543 D 1096 C K98 C Q752 S KQ654 H 965 D K2 C AJ6 1S Pass 2NT Pass 3H Pass 4NT Pass 5H Pass 6S Pass Pass Pass Ø3H Ø4NT Ø5H 13+ DP in support of spades Singleton heart S has an extra trump and the perfect heart holding, so although he has only 13 HCP, he should head for slam. Since the H-KQJ won t take any tricks, we often make slam with 27 out of 33 HCP instead of 33 out of 40 2 aces The Lead: D-10 Top of a 2 card sequence Analyze the lead & think about distribution: The lead is from 10, 10x, 109(x) Count Losers: Losers are 1 heart and 2 clubs Note: To count the losers as declarer, decide which hand we are going to set up and count, as losers, all the cards that are not high, or are not covered by high cards in partner s hand. Therefore Axx opposite a singleton starts off as 2 losers, if we are counting losers from the hand with Axx and no losers if counting from the hand with the singleton. Counting Axx initially as 2 losers is done even if we have a huge trump fit. Ruffing the small card in the dummy is part of the plan. If we don t start off counting those losers, we might forget to include that ruff in the timing. Make a plan before playing to the first card from dummy: Win the first diamond trick in dummy and pull trump. Play the remaining 3 winning diamonds, discarding 2 clubs. After we lose 1 heart, we can ruff 2 clubs in dummy and 1 heart in hand.

2 Board 2, 10, 18 & 26 Vul: NS Dealer: East S A976 H 108 D K872 C Q76 S KQ5 S 2 H A964 H KQJ32 D AQ6 D 543 C J54 C AK109 S J10843 H 75 D J109 C 832 1H Pass 2NT Pass 3S Pass 4H Pass Pass Pass Ø3S Ø4H 13+ DP in support of hearts Singleton spade With 5 HCP wasted in spades, W signs off in game Analyze the lead & think about distribution: The lead is from J, Jx, J10, and J10x(x), KJ10(x) Count Losers: Losers are 1 spade, 2 diamonds and 1 club Make a plan before playing to the first card from dummy: We can establish a spade trick for a diamond discard, and successful club finesse will avoid loser. The first thing to decide is what to do on the diamond lead. If we play the D-Q and N wins and returns a diamond, now when we lose to the S-A, they can take a second diamond trick. Instead, win the D-A, draw 2 rounds of trump, ending in hand and lead a spade (keep the H-A as an entry to the spade winner). Subsequent play depends on the location of S-A. If S wins the S-A, he can lead a diamond through the D-Q and we will lose 2 diamonds and 1 spade. We can discard 2 club losers on the S-KQ, making the game. When N has the S-A, we have only 1 discard available. However, the defense can only cash 1 diamond trick since N is on lead. Then successful club finesse will allow us to make 5. The Lead: D-J Top of a 3 card sequence Defensive Strategy: N can see 25 HCP between his hand and dummy. If opener has 12 HCP, S will have 3 HCP. With at most 1 queen or 2 jacks apart from D-J, S is unlikely to have an entry..

3 Board 3, 11, 19 & 27 Vul: EW S Q1054 H K3 D AKJ9 C K43 Dealer: South S K6 S 87 H H AQ9 D 8 D C C Q107 S AJ932 H J42 D Q104 C AJ 1S Pass 2NT Pass 4S Pass Pass 1 Pass that trick and 2 heart tricks. It is also possible there could be a diamond ruff. Analyze the lead & think about distribution: The lead is a doubleton or singleton. Count Losers: Losers are 1 spade and 2 hearts. Make a plan before playing to the first card from dummy: We can ruff 1 heart loser in dummy, or discard 1 heart on the diamonds after trump are drawn. A successful spade finesse would avoid a loser there, however if the D-8 is a singleton, we might lose 1 spade, 2 hearts and 1 or 2 diamond ruffs. The safe play is to win the D-A in dummy and lead the S-Q from dummy. We do not intend to finesse, but leading the queen might tempt E to cover with his king. If E plays low, win the S-A and lead another spade. When W wins the S-K, the defense can lead hearts through dummy and we can guess whether to play H-K or low for an overtrick. 13+ DP in support of spades Ø4S with no short suit ØPass 1 N has a nice 16 HCP, but that is not enough when opener has and no short suit. With 2 balanced hands, we need 33 points for slam. The Lead: D-8 Defensive Strategy: E can see 24 HCP, S showed leaving 2-4 HCP for W. If W has an entry, the defense can take

4 Board 4, 12, 20 & 28 Vul: Both Dealer: West S J432 H Q D 1095 C J10654 S Q9 S AK10 H AKJ1032 H 9654 D A32 D KQJ5 C K2 C Q3 S 8765 H 87 D 876 C A987 The Lead: C-J Since S did not double 3S or 5D for the lead Defensive Strategy: S can see 19 HCP and W showed at least 15 HCP, leaving at most 6 HCP for N. Analyze the lead & think about distribution: J is from J, Jx, J10, J10x Count Losers: There is 1 club loser Make a plan before playing to the first card from dummy: If S takes the C-A at trick one, win the return, draw trump and claim. If he does not take the C-A, we can take 13 tricks via 3 spades, 6 hearts and 4 diamonds. 1H Pass 2NT Pass 3H Pass 3S Pass 4NT Pass 5D Pass 6H Pass Pass Pass Ø3H Ø3S Ø4NT Ø5D Ø6H 13+ DP in support of hearts 18+ points 1st or 2nd round control in spades Opener has diamonds and clubs controlled and a hand worth 19 points because of the heart length, so checks to see if they have enough aces 1 ace The decision

5 Board 5, 13, 21 & 29 Vul: NS Dealer: North S AQ3 H K8743 D KQ2 C K2 S S 54 H A H QJ9 D 107 D 9865 C C QJ104 S KJ2 H D AJ43 C A3 Analyze the lead & think about distribution: The lead is from Q, QJ(x) Count Losers: There are 3 potential heart losers Make a plan before playing to the first card from dummy: Win the club lead in dummy and lead low to the H-K, but W should pop up with the H-A. Win any return and play the H-K and another heart and claim. We will make 1 overtrick with the division in the trump suit. 1H Pass 2NT Pass 3NT Pass 4H Pass Pass Pass Ø3NT Ø4H 13+ DP in support of hearts Since S also has weak hearts and a hand with scattered values, he signs off in 4H The Lead: C-Q Top of a sequence Defensive Strategy: Opener has shown a good hand but no shortage or long suits. With 13 HCP in dummy and 15+ HCP in opener s hand, partner can have up to 6 HCP..

6 Board 6, 14, 22 & 30 Vul: NS Dealer: East S J9 H KJ965 D 876 C 976 S K654 S AQ1032 H A43 H 2 D Q9 D KJ1032 C A542 C K3 S 87 H Q1087 D A54 C QJ108 1S Pass 2NT Pass 4D Pass 4H Pass 4NT Pass 5H Pass 6S Pass Pass Pass Ø5H Ø6S The Lead: C-Q 2 aces The decision Defensive Strategy: N can see 18 HCP, if opener has 13, that leaves 9 HCP for S. It is hard for N to form a strategy since he has a weak hand and might never get the lead. He should discourage in clubs and if he has a chance, discard H-9 to tell partner he has strength there. Analyze the lead & think about distribution: The lead is from Q, QJ(x) Count Losers: Losers are 1 diamond and 1 possible trump with a bad split. Make a plan before playing to the first card from dummy: Win the lead with the C-K,. If N has 4 trump we can finesse for no trump losers. If S has 4 trump, we will lose 1 trump. After pulling trump with the 2-2 break, we can concede a diamond, making our contract. Ø4D Ø4H Ø4NT 13+ DP in support of spades Good 5-card suit, 2 or top 3 or 3 of top 5 honors. W shows his heart control to encourage a slam. With D-Qx in E s second suit and controls outside that suit, the hand is ideal even though minimum HCP With partner s encouragement, E asks for aces to see if they have enough to play slam.

7 Board 7, 15, 23 & 31 Vul: EW Dealer: South S KQ43 H Q1054 D 54 C KQ3 S J98 S H 87 H K6 D AQ76 D 98 C J1094 C A8765 S A2 H AJ932 D KJ1032 C 2 1H Pass 2NT Pass 4D Pass 4H Pass Pass Pass placed for declarer. The best chance is to find W with strong diamonds. Analyze the lead and think about distribution: The lead is from J, Jx, J10x Count Losers: Losers are 1 heart, 2 diamonds & 1 club. Make a plan before playing to the first card from dummy: If the defense is on its toes, the first 4 tricks will be taken before we get a chance to play. C-J to C-A, then a diamond return which will lose to either the D-A or D-Q, then another diamond winner is taken and a diamond return for the defense to over ruff. Down 1. If we see the danger of the diamond switch from E before trump are drawn, we can play low on the C-J lead and put E to the test! He has to win the C-A instead of leaving his partner on play. Ø4D Ø4H 13+ DP in support of hearts Good 5-card suit, 2 of top 3 or 3 of top 5 honors. Responder has no fitting diamond values and no aces, so signs off in 4H The Lead: C-J Defensive Strategy: E can see 19 HCP. If opener has 12 HCP, that would leave 9 HCP for W. It looks like the H-K is well

8 Board 8, 16, 24 & 32 Vul: Both Dealer: West The Lead: H-K from a strong sequence S Q7 H KQ106 D J1054 C 876 S AJ932 S K10654 H A2 H J54 D KQ2 D 3 C A32 C QJ54 S 8 H 9873 D A9876 C K109 1S Pass 4S Pass Pass 1 Pass Pass Pass Defensive Strategy: S can see 14 HCP. If opener has 12 HCP, that would leave 14 for N. Since the jump to game was weak, opener could have extra values and still pass 4S. Analyze the lead & think about distribution: The lead is from KQ(x) Count Losers: Losers are 1 heart, 1 club and 2 diamonds. There is a possible, although unlikely, loser in trump. Make a plan before playing to the first card from dummy: Win the H-A, draw trump, ending in our hand, and lead a heart towards the H-Jx. N can take the H-Q, but the jack is established for us to discard a club loser. We will lose the heart and the D-A. If S has the C-K, we can make an overtrick. In addition, if S has the D-A, we can make an overtrick if the C-K is with S. Ø4S The jump to game in the major shows a hand with 5 or more trump & a singleton or void, but less than 10 HCP ØPass Even though he has a nice balanced 18 HCP, opener should pass the preemptive raise to game. It would take a distributional hand to have a chance for slam after the game raise.

Blackwood and Gerber. Board 1, 9, 17 & 25 Vul: None Dealer: North. Declarer Plan (Defense in italics):

Blackwood and Gerber. Board 1, 9, 17 & 25 Vul: None Dealer: North. Declarer Plan (Defense in italics): Board 1, 9, 17 & 25 Vul: None Dealer: North S AQ3 H KJ9 D AK1093 C K2 S 65 S J10974 H Q5432 H 876 D J872 D 6 C 109 C A876 S K82 H A10 D Q54 C QJ543 2NT Pass 4NT Pass 6NT Pass Pass Pass Analyze the lead