sept20

English 2020 ספטמבר 205 גיליון 49 The following deals from the Madiera bridge festival were reported by Mark Horton in his online "NewBridgeMagazine" (January 2020). Usually bridge magazines prefer to report game and slam hands which seem to be more exciting, but partscore deals may swing a lot of matchpoints in pair events, depending on the quality of the defense. Dealer North. Vul E/W T84 K95 K873 J54 A763 QJ52 A732 QJ4 T5 Q64 Q63 T98 K9 T86 AJ92 AK72 West North East South Pass Pass Pass 1NT Pass Pass Pass We start with yet another "routine" 1NT hand. In fact, it is a tough battle for the defense to contain the overtricks, in Mark Horton's words: "West had a nasty hand to lead from – personally I would try the ♦ T which on this deal leaves declarer to guess the play". However, the popular choice would be the ♠3 – from the stronger (by a whisker) four-card major. Declarer wins the trick with his ♠K and now the most precise play at trick two is to lead the diamond nine, in order to be able to repeat the diamond finesse, just in case West has a singleton ten. At one table South cashed four diamonds and exited with a spade, with the idea of letting the defenders to do something wrong. Indeed, West took the ♠A and switched to a small club. Dummy won the club jack, and declarer re- entered his hand in clubs. Now he led a small heart, and West let it slip past his ace. Ten tricks (one spade, one heart, four diamonds and four clubs) were a top score for North- South. In the second deal (rotated for convenience), routine defense allowed declarer to make a two spades contract which seemed destined to failure due to an unfriendly lie of cards in the critical suits. Misdefended Partscores // Ram Soffer