Hand of the Week #7

This week's hand is a defensive problem that East faced at the Friday evening game, 07 March.

South deals and opens 1; North responds 1; South jumps to 2NT. North timidly passes. Your partner is on lead, and he chooses the three of diamonds. Dummy comes down with

J 7 4
K J 8 3 2
Q 9 6
T 4

and you have

A 8 3 2
6 5 4
T 8
A K J 5

Declarer calls for the 6 from dummy, you play the 8, and declarer wins the ace. After declarer gets done running the heart suit, he's going to have to let you in. When he does, what do you plan to do? What tricks can you find in your partner's hand, to go along with your black-suit winners?

If you listened to the bidding and saw the play to trick one, you have all the information you need. How strong is your partner's hand? Declarer's bidding -- opening 1 then jumping to 2NT -- shows 18 or 19 HCP, a balanced hand too strong to open 1NT, but not strong enough to open 2NT. With 7 HCP in the dummy and 12 in your own hand, simple subtraction tells you that your partner has either 2 or 3 HCP.

Which face cards can your partner have? Your instinctive reaction is probably "most likely the king of diamonds!", assuming he chose to lead his best suit. But why did declarer with the first trick with the *ace*? If partner had the K-J of diamonds, your 8 would force declarer's ace... but partner cannot have 4 HCP unless South misbid. If partner has the king of diamonds alone, that leaves declarer with AJ or AJ2 - from which he surely would have won the first trick with the jack. The first trick proves beyond any reasonable doubt that partner doesn't have the K.

Given the bidding, it's also very unlikely that partner has the queen of clubs, leaving south opening on 9xxx and then jumping in notrump without a stopper. A thinking East should know that his partner's only meaningful face card is the king or queen of spades. The first time you gain the lead, your play is a small spade, in case partner's queen needs to be set up.

On the actual hand, it made no difference (declarer can always make 3 with best play, thanks to the Q behind the AK) but on a slightly different layout it could be vitally important to know whether West has the K or the K -- say, defending 4, and needing to cash four fast tricks before South is able to discard a loser.

	J 7 4 K J 8 3 2 Q 9 6 T 4
K 9 5 T 7 7 5 4 3 2 9 6 3		A 8 3 2 6 5 4 T 8 A K J 5
	Q T 6 A Q 9 A K J Q 8 7 2