Good Lead
Playing in a regional KO, everyone is vulnerable, and
I pick up an unexciting hand.
Q73 83 AQ1063 Q73
Pretty good Chinese Poker hand. Partner, in first chair,
opens 1, RHO passes, and I bid 1. LHO passes,
partner bids 1, and RHO somewhat surprisingly now
bids 1. I wonder why RHO didn't bid over
1 but did over 1. I can't think of a good
reason, and outguessing opponents on things like this is
the way to madness. Anyway, I assume she has some
sort of spade overcall, but what now? I suppose I could
bid 1NT. That seems a little wimpy, plus my spade stopper
isn't exactly robust. I'd really prefer to have the notrump
played by partner in case he has Kx. If I don't bid
NT, what's left? I suppose I could bid 2, but what's
that going to do for us? OK, I've talked myself into an
overbid. I try 3. Maybe RHO didn't bid spades the
first time because she has AKxx or something. ("Stop! Don't
go there!") Anyway, the opponents don't bid anymore, but
partner wheels out 3. I can't do anything but
retreat to 3NT, though not with great conviction.
LHO thinks for about 3 minutes about his opening lead. He
finds the K. That doesn't look so good until dummy
appears.
| A A942 K92 K10865 | |
| | |
|
Q73 83 AQ1063 Q73 | |
Dummy | RHO | Me | LHO |
1 | Pass | 1 | Pass |
1 | 1 | 3? | Pass |
3 | Pass | 3NT | All Pass |
| | | |
That looks like a real good lead. For us. Assuming
diamonds come home, I have two spades, one heart, and
five diamonds. It's easy to generate a club trick, so
at trick two, I lead a low club from dummy. RHO shows
out, pitching a spade. That's odd. But I'm making a
lot of tricks now. LHO wins his A and goes back
into the tank. He emerges with the 10. I pitch
a heart from dummy, and when RHO overtakes with the jack,
I suspect this lead is not from a sequence. I win the
Q and advance the 7. After a little thought,
this is covered, so I win. I cash the K and A,
and LHO shows out on the second round. This is easy now.
I take another club hook, cash the K, and run diamonds
with a finesse to reach this position:
On the last diamond, LHO has to keep the J, so
when he pitches a heart, I pitch dummy's club. RHO
knows it's hopeless to pitch a heart, so she tries tossing
her 9, but to no avail. I saw her pitch the 8
already, so I just cash my spade and claim twelve tricks.
This wasn't such a hard hand to play; all the finesses sort
of take themselves, and the defense did more to set up the
double squeeze than declarer did, but it was a lot of fun.
Copyright © 2007 Jeff Goldsmith