After 1NT. Boards 1, 9, 17, 25. North Contract: 3NT K42 Lead: Q KQ AKQ QJ109 J J753 K8. AQ10 South A63 A J64

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1 Boards 1, 9, 17, 25 Contract: 3NT K42 Lead: Q KQ AKQ QJ109 J J753 K8 AQ10 A63 A J64 1NT Pass 2 Pass 2 Pass 2NT Pass 3NT All Pass PLAY COMMENTARY: At notrump you count winners. You have 2 spades, 3 hearts and 3 diamonds -- a trick short. You won't be able to set up the clubs (the defense will set up 2 spade tricks in time to take those 2 tricks and 3 clubs). Since you will need to work on hearts, you win the first trick in hand to save an entry to dummy for later. Rather than rely on 3-3 hearts (against the odds), you should make the sure play of overtaking the K with the A in dummy. Once you have seen the appearance of the 10 (or jack) you have a guarantee of your contract by playing this way. (This is the key play). Continue with the 9, a low club discard would lead to an extra undertrick in the incredibly unlikely event started with AKQ108. Discard a. You traded the 3 top hearts (A-K-Q) into 4 heart tricks (2 high and 2 low you set up). If you hadn t overtaken the K you would have come to only 8 tricks. The odds favor a 4-2 break when missing 6-cards. BIDDING COMMENTARY: 2NT is invitational. With your maximum, you go to game. You bid the notrump game since you have no good reason to want to play a 5-2 heart fit. LEAD COMMENTARY: Against a NT contract, lead top of 3-card sequence or top of a broken sequence.

2 Boards 2, 10, 18, 26 Contract: 4 K2 Lead: Q AQ9 QJ AK62 KQ7 AJ 7 K1054 A3 QJ J8632 PLAY COMMENTARY: In suit contracts, you have to examine the tricks you will lose. After this heart attack (sorry about the phrasing) you are in danger of losing a heart trick along with the 3 top losers ( AK, A). Your only hope of quickly disposing of that heart loser is to play a club from dummy and pray that has the A (throwing a heart from your hand on dummy's diamonds would be useless). To get to dummy overtake the J with the K and lead a club towards the K. Declarer had to postpone drawing trump until he found a parking place for the losing heart. 1NT Pass 4 Pass 4 All Pass BIDDING COMMENTARY: Partner is demanding that you transfer to 4. Usually, he has a hand that just wants to play in a spade game. LEAD COMMENTARY: Top of a sequence.

3 Boards 3, 11, 19, 27 Contract: 3NT Lead: 10 A654 A7654 J J QJ8 83 J AKQ 94 K73 KQ AKQ PLAY COMMENTARY: It s not right to play on clubs, you will lose the ace. The opponents would win and continue to set up hearts. No need to overtake a heart honor as in the previous hand (poor suit quality), if hearts are 3-3, they will always be 3-3. Combine your chances by playing a spade to dummy and play low. Spades might be 3-3 as well. By ducking the spade declarer is able to test spades and still be able to fall back on hearts if spades didn t split NT Pass 2 Pass 2 Pass 3 * Pass 3NT All Pass BIDDING COMMENTARY: 2 is Stayman, 3 shows 5 hearts and 4 spades. With no 8-card fit settles for 3NT. LEAD COMMENTARY: with all the club entries, leads the 10 (top of a sequence and longest suit).

4 Boards 4, 12, 20, 28 Contract: 4 Lead: Q A8 QJ109 K1076 K108 KQ76 K87 AQ Q AJ542 J A63 J98 PLAY COMMENTARY: There are 4 possible losers one in each suit. The key play is not to take a diamond finesse. wins the heart lead with the King, and plays A followed by the Q establishing the J in dummy for a heart discard. If you win the heart in dummy and finesse in diamonds, wins and continues hearts. You have no way back to dummy s good J. Even if the K is onside, there are still only 10 tricks. A 100% play is better than a 50% play. Even beginning players can take finesses. Experts find ways to avoid finessing. 1NT Pass 2 Pass 2 Pass 3 Pass 4 Pass Pass Pass BIDDING COMMENTARY: 3 in invitational with a 6- card spade suit. With great spades and an okay hand, accept the invitation and bid 4. LEAD COMMENTARY: Top of a sequence.

5 Boards 5, 13, 21, 29 Contract: 3NT Lead: 2 A1098 A KQJ9 K72 Q863 Q Q43 54 A854 A1074 J65 KJ72 KJ76 PLAY COMMENTARY: In NT we count our winners. 4 Clubs, 1 Diamond, 1 Heart, 1 Spade. Spades is the only suit that might produce extra tricks. Good news, the Heart 2 was lead, if the opponents are leading 4 th best, hearts will be 4-4 and declarer can only lose 3 Heart tricks. Since Hearts are 4-4 there is no need to hold up, Win the A and start working on Spades immediately. Play the K to the A (YES two dummy entries are needed) and play Spades for split honors, a 75% proposition. Lead the Q and play low from the hand if does not cover. As the cards lie, you can add 3 Spade tricks to make 10 tricks in NT. 1NT Pass 3NT Pass Pass Pass BIDDING COMMENTARY: only has 14 HCP, but adds a point for the quality 4-card Club suit and should count something for all those 10, 9 combinations. Standard 1NT 3NT auction LEAD COMMENTARY: 4 th best from longest and strongest suit.

6 Boards 6, 14, 22, 30 LEAD COMMENTARY: Against NT, lead top of a 3-card sequence or 4 th best from your longest and strongest suit. Contract: 3NT 85 Lead: 6 A65 Q972 Q1097 QJ10 K42 KQJ AK65 J64 AK32 A J NT Pass 2 Pass 2 Pass 3NT Pass Pass Pass BIDDING COMMENTARY: is allowed to open 1NT with a small doubleton. transfers to hearts and then gives partner a choice of game contracts, 3NT or 4H, by showing a 5-card heart suit with a semibalanced hand. with a small doubleton in hearts has no trouble choosing NT. DEFENSIVE COMMENTARY: When the 10 is played from dummy, plays the 8, count. The third hand rule is this: If partner leads low from length and dummy plays the jack or a lower card that third hand cannot top, third hand gives count. The opening leader knows it is count because third hand normally covers dummy's card when possible. PLAY COMMENTARY: As, look ahead! To make this hand you have to bring in the hearts. If the opponents take the second heart, where is your entry to the hearts? If you play a low spade at trick one, there is no sure dummy entry in spades to the hearts once they are established. ( can duck the K and has the Q over the J). However, if you win the opening lead with the K (key play), and then drive out the A, you have a spade entry ( Q) to the hearts. DEFENSIVE NOTE: When declarer leads up to a strong suit in dummy missing the ace, the defender lacking the ace () gives count. Standard count is low from an odd and high-low from an even number of cards. When plays the 3,, seeing the 2, knows has three hearts (odd) and has two. takes the 2nd heart, declarer's last, making it that much harder for declarer to get to dummy's hearts.

7 Boards 7, 15, 23, 31 Contract: 4NT KQJ Lead: KJ32 AQ A1065 J87 94 Q J98 A43 KQ9 A1065 K65 1NT Pass 4NT Pass Pass Pass BIDDING COMMENTARY: 's raise to 4NT is not Blackwood, it is quantitative (invitational) and can be passed. Facing a hand, it shows HCP. As opener, the 4NT invitation should be accepted with all 17 point hands and most 16 points hands. Only 16 point hands that have a pattern should pass, the reason why passes. You can accept a 4NT invitation in several ways. The most common is to bid 6NT. Bidding a four card suit at the five level might lead to finding a 4-4 fit which usually plays one trick better than notrump. A jump to the six level in a minor shows a five card suit. Some people play that you can also 'sort of accept' by bidding 5NT. This says "partner, I'm still not sure, you make the last mistake." In any case, one does not answer aces!!! LEAD COMMENTARY: You lead the same against 4NT as against 3NT. However against 6NT, you should avoid leading from a suit with 2 non-touching honors and opt for a passive lead. The 9 is best against 6NT. PLAY COMMENTARY: After plays the J denying the 10 or the ace, wins with the king (higher equal, remember?) and counts sure tricks outside of his best suit, diamonds. has three spades, one heart, and three clubs for grand total of 7. needs three tricks in diamonds, not four, to make 4NT. There is also a little problem in the heart suit. knows that has the A10x(x) of hearts from 's play of the jack which has denied both the ten and the ace. must be careful not to let, the danger hand, get the lead. Accordingly, all finesses are aimed into the nondanger hand,. A diamond is led to the king and then a diamond to the 10. Even if the finesse loses, has three diamond tricks and remains with hearts protected.

8 Boards 8, 16, 24, 32 Contract: 4 Q98 Lead: A108 A753 K2 K2 AJ9865 AQJ4 K5 K J1064 Q QJ96 LEAD COMMENTARY: Ace from AK only at trick one. During the rest of the hand the king is led from AKx(x). PLAY COMMENTARY: As declarer, when the dummy has more trumps than you, pretend you are sitting in partner s seat and count losers in partner s hand, not yours. is vulnerable in clubs from an attack by, now thought of as the danger hand. The idea is to keep from getting in before you can use your diamonds to discard clubs from dummy. Win the K, play the king-ace of hearts refusing a finesse into (the danger hand) and play the AQ of diamonds discarding a club. DEFENSIVE COMMENTARY: should ruff the third diamonds and lead the Q. The best they can do is take two clubs and a heart. 1NT Pass 4 Pass 4 Pass Pass Pass BIDDING COMMENTARY: Some partnerships use two level transfers only, however there are advantages to using four level transfers as well. A response of 4 is a transfer to 4 and a response of 4 is a transfer to 4. If a four level transfer is followed by 4NT it is some form of Blackwood. If a two level transfer is followed by 4NT, it is natural and quantitative, inviting a slam. There are other advantages. You should consider adding four level transfers to your bidding arsenal.

J32 AQ432 Q97. E-W VulnerableH K6. West North East South Pass 6 Pass Pass. A63 Pass

J32 AQ432 Q97. E-W VulnerableH K6. West North East South Pass 6 Pass Pass. A63 Pass Lc7-01 12/24/2010 Larry Cohen Printed by Dealmaster Pro LC07 1 65 2 109874 AKQ107 K1098 KQ 4 K865 1 2 87 AKJ82 104 2 4 KJ Q65 92 54 J2 A5 2 8765 QJ1062 A5 QJ109 A2 KJ6 AQ42 Q97 A2 J86 Q764 AJ1094 K987