feb-new.indd

English 46 the killing lead of the ♥ J. Apparently he fi gured that his hand was so weak, and he would need to fi nd unexpected strength in partner's diamonds to be able to rattle off some tricks in that suit. Since I did not support my partner's suit, he was hoping to fi nd heart strength in his partner's hand, which he did! Here is the full deal: ♠ ♥ ♦ ♣ KQJ3 Q763 Q4 A92 ♠ ♥ ♦ ♣ 764 JT2 KT532 54 ♠ ♥ ♦ ♣ T982 A984 87 QJ8 ♠ ♥ ♦ ♣ A5 K5 AJ96 KT763 I was not proud of my second bid. Perhaps it would have been better to open 1NT with 15 HCP despite the two doubletons, since I held honors in both majors. At my second turn I was a bit too strong for either 1NT or 2 ♣ . and not strong enough for a reverse bid of 2 ♦ . Anyway, the majority of the fi eld played 3NT as well, and after the "natural" diamond lead they were quickly chalking up 11 tricks: 4 spades, 1 heart, 2 diamonds and 4 clubs. The heart lead opened up the suit for the defense, and did not give me time to develop both clubs and diamonds. It ran around to my king. Then I ducked a club to East, protecting myself from a heart continuation, but Martin (East) found the killing switch to the ♦ 8. I could see that if I let Malcolm (West) win, he would continue hearts and (if East indeed held the ♥ A) my contract would die painfully. Therefore I rose with the ♦ A and ran home with 10 tricks: 4 spades, 1 heart, 1 diamond and 4 clubs. This proved necessary, as fi nessing diamonds would have been fatal. After winning his ♦ K, Malcolm would revert to the ♥ T. Going down one would have been a terrible score, as half the fi eld made 3NT+2, some pairs just made it, and others went down in 5 ♣ or even 6 ♣ . Our actual score of 3NT+1 resulted in an average. Good defense and careful declarer play balanced out each other. ēđĘĥĚ ĘĘđė 077-3330775 : ĦđĜĚĒĐđ ęĕĔĤĠ ĤĝđĜĕĎ ( đĜĕĎ ) ďďĘČ ' ĎďĕĤčč ĕĚđČĘĜĕč ěĚČ ďēđĕĚ ĤĕēĚč ' ĎďĕĤčĐ ĦđďĎČĦĐ ĕĤčēĘ ē " ĥ 45 ęĕĤĚČĚ ġčđģ