Solution to Quiz 1.3

Quiz 1.3 Imps VUL= N/S	♠ K J 5 ♥ 9 8 5 3 ♦ T 9 4 ♣ A 5 2		WEST NORTH EAST SOUTH Pas Pass Pass 1 ♥-1 Pass Pass-2 1 ♠ Pass Pass 1 NT Pass 2 ♣ 2 ♠ Pass Pass Pass 1. 11-15 HCP and five or more ♥A's 2. 0-7 HCP
Lead ♥A	♠ Q 9 8 3 2 ♥ Q J ♦ K 8 5 3 ♣ Q 4

East-West are playing precision. Essentially all opening bids are limited to 15 HCP except 1 ♣, which promises 16 HCP or more and 2NT which shows a big balanced hand. When you see dummy, you don’t rush to play the low ♥, instead you start to do a little simple math. There are 40 HCP in the hand and you and your partner hold 18 of them. That leaves 22 for the opponents. West’s opening bid was limited to 15 HCP, and EAST’s pass shows 0-7 HCP. Since they hold 22 HCP, you believe West has 15 and East has 7. If East had one more point he would have responded initially, and if West had one more point, he would have opened 1♣. You don’t know what good this information will be, but you keep it in mind, just in case it is useful.

On the ♥A, East signals with the ♥8. This is an easy situation. You know West has at least 5♥ and dummy has 4, so East probably has 2. East is just sharing that information with his partner. West continues with the ♥K and East plays the ♥4.

At trick 3 West switches to the ♦J East plays the ♦7 as you win the ♦K.

Evaluate BLUE and determine how you will play the hand.

After the ♦J switch, the hand becomes an open book. East must hold the ♦A-Q accounting for six of his “known” HCP. His seventh point must be the ♣ J as it is the only missing J. If West had 5 ♣’s and a maximum 15 HCP he would have bid 2♣ directly over 1♠. Therefore, you can place West with 4♣’s. If West held 3 or 4♦’s he also might have doubled 1♠ directly for takeout. Therefore, you should tentatively play West’s distribution to be is either 2-5-2-4 or 3-5-1-4. You know WEST has the club King and the spade ACE. If there is a squeeze, it will be on WEST in hearts and clubs.

You plan on winning 4S, 2D, 1C for seven tricks. Where is the 8th one coming from? You see that WEST with club king and long hearts, might be subject to a squeeze. Entry will be club ACE, squeeze card last spade, threats heart nine and your club Queen. This time, you CAN NOT cash your club ACE for vienna coup as the heart threat has no entry in its own suit.

When you play ♠ 2, West wins the A, leads ♦6 to East’s A. When East cashes the ♦Q, West discards ♥2. East continues with the ♦2 which West ruffs with the ♠ 7 which you then over ruff with the ♠K. Cash the ♠ J, ruff a ♥, and run ♠’s for a ♥-♣ positional squeeze on West.

When you lead your last trump, this will be the ending. If West discards his ♥, the ♣5 is played from North, or if West discards ♣10, North throws away the ♥9.

Quiz 1.3 Imps VUL= N/S	♠ ♥ 9 ♦ ♣ A 5
♠ ♥ Q ♦ ♣ K T		♠ ♥ ♦ ♣ J 9 8
	♠ 9 ♥ Q ♦ ♣ Q 4

The defense could have done better by playing four rounds of hearts, or east switching to a club after cashing two diamonds but squeeze defense is often missed at the table. To east, blotting out your diamond 8 winner might look logical, but you cash the diamond or ruff it, it is all the same trick.

(browser back button to return to chapter one)