Limited losers

Today’s hand comes from the final round of the 2008 South West Pacific Teams Championship, held in Canberra each year. It was a wild hand with some auctions to match.

Dealer South, NS vul.

          NORTH
          ♠ 843
          ♥ AQ76
          ♦ J4
          ♣ QJ94
WEST                EAST
♠ 2                 ♠ 965
♥ T98542            ♥ KJ
♦ 3                 ♦ 9865
♣ A8752             ♣ KT63
          SOUTH
          ♠ AKQJT7
          ♥ 3
          ♦ AKQT72
          ♣ —

How good a hand is South’s?

Read more: Limited losers

Slammers’ paradise

Here is a tough hand from a past Gold Coast Congress, submitted by Nick Hughes.

Dealer North, Nil vul.

          NORTH
          ♠ J94
          ♥ T863
          ♦ T72
          ♣ 972
WEST                EAST
♠ Q                 ♠ A853
♥ AKQ94             ♥ 752
♦ A984              ♦ KQ53
♣ A84               ♣ KT
          SOUTH
          ♠ KT762
          ♥ J
          ♦ J6
          ♣ QJ653

How would you bid this hand?

Read more: Slammers’ paradise

Adding another convention?

After partner opens 1S, what do you bid with the following:

♠ QT32
♥ AK98532
♦ A2
♣ -

Read more: Adding another convention?

Beating the experts

Wednesday nights at Trumps are streamed into two sections. The advanced game usually offers the option to stay for analysis of interesting deals at the end of the session, and one or more experts are usually playing. On the hand below, one of the experts pointed out that he had allowed 4H to make – but one of the other players, Alex Cook (playing with Robin Ho), found the defence to shoot the contract.  

Dealer North, NS vul.

          NORTH
          ♠ 75432
          ♥ 84
          ♦ KT73
          ♣ J8
WEST                EAST          
♠ J6                ♠ AKQT8      
♥ A762              ♥ Q953
♦ J942              ♦ 5
♣ 653               ♣ AK9
          SOUTH
          ♠ 9
          ♥ KJT
          ♦ AQ86
          ♣ QT742

WEST   NORTH   EAST   SOUTH
       Ho             Cook   
       Pass    1S     Dble
1NT    Pass    3H     Pass
4H     All pass

The 3H bid from East, being a jump shift by opener, is forcing to game and shows about 19+ points. West raised to show the fit.

Cook started on the right footing with a low club lead; with such a good trump holding, it would be poor to lead the singleton spade because there is nothing to gain by ruffing. On the club lead, North properly played “third hand high”, losing to the CA.

Declarer next played the HA (with Cook contributing the H10), then a low heart to the H9, losing to the HJ. What should South do next?

Read more: Beating the experts

Hands that make the difference

A common format of a Sydney teams congress is to play seven matches, each of eight boards. A fair degree of match fitness is required to maintain concentration throughout the day, and retain focus for those hands that can make a big difference. Here is one of those hands:  

Dealer South, NS vul.

          NORTH
          ♠ 8654
          ♥ 76
          ♦ A52
          ♣ T932
WEST               EAST          
♠ QT7              ♠ AJ      
♥ AK832            ♥ QJ54  
♦ —                ♦ KJ8643
♣ Q8765            ♣ A
         SOUTH
         ♠ K932
         ♥ T9
         ♦ QT97
         ♣ KJ4

WEST       EAST
1H         2NT*  
3D*        4C*
4D*        4NT*
5H*        6H
All pass

Read more: Hands that make the difference

Vanishing losers

Playing in a teams match, you pick up the hand below:

SOUTH
♠ AQ53
♥ AK985
♦ KQJT
♣ —

Best is to start quietly with a 1H opening. There is a small chance that you will miss a game if the other players pass (and your partner has, for example, Kxxxx of spades and nothing else) but so long as the bidding does not die out, you will have room to continue describing your hand if necessary.

Anyway, partner makes a limit raise to 3H (11-12). Your hand revalues to 24 total points (including the void) so you figure you have values for slam, and bid 6H.

West tries leading the DA and another diamond. What is your analysis of the hand?

Dealer South, nil vul.

NORTH
♠ J42
♥ QJT
♦ 43
♣ AQ932

SOUTH
♠ AQ53
♥ AK985
♦ KQJT
♣ —

Read more: Vanishing losers