october17

English 55 Virtual European Championship - part 1 Krzysztof Martens BOARD 25 ♠ ♥ ♦ ♣ KJ832 5 963 Q1073 ♠ ♥ ♦ ♣ A1097 KJ83 87 J54 ♠ ♥ ♦ ♣ - AQ102 AKQJ104 A82 ♠ ♥ ♦ ♣ Q654 9764 52 K96 Contract: 7♥. Lead ♣3. The main point - Guard yourself against unfavourable distributions. Order of play: 2. The ace of hearts. 3. The queen of hearts, if South follows suit – overtake with the king. 4. Ruff a spade with the ♥ 10. 5. Finesse the ♥8 – if South began with ♥ 9xxx. Closed room – Contract 6♥, +1430 for EW. You protected yourself against four trumps with South: +13 IMP. You failed to do so: -13 IMP.. BOARD 26 ♠ ♥ ♦ ♣ J10754 J942 A6 Q5 ♠ ♥ ♦ ♣ 9632 AK KQJ108 K9 ♠ ♥ ♦ ♣ AQ 65 9752 A8743 ♠ ♥ ♦ ♣ K8 Q10873 43 J1062 Contract: 3NT. Lead ♠5. The main point - Block the suit that has been led against you. The opening lead was made from one of these combinations: 1) J10754 2) KJ854 3) K10754 If instead North held: 4) KJ1054 He would have led the jack (or ten, depending on the lead convention) instead. Taking the first trick with the ace is effective in all three cases. Playing the queen will fail against case (a) when the ace of diamonds is with spades. So, winning the first trick with the ace is correct although in long run the profits will not be high. Closed room – Contract 3NT(East): +600 for EW. You played ace – no swing. You played the queen: -12 IMP. חדר ® ש