37 The missing seven

37 The missing seven

ª K 10 8 6

¨ 5

§ K J

ª Q 7 5 ª J 9 4

¨ 9 8 7 3 ¨ J 10 4 2

§ Q 9 7 6 2 § 8 4

ª A 3 2

¨ A K Q 6

§ A 10 5 3

West North East South

2NT

Pass 3¨ Pass 3©

Pass 3ª Pass 3NT

Pass 4NT Pass 5¨

Pass 6NT End

Lead §6 won by §J in dummy

This deal occurred in the Friday pairs event at Richmond Bridge club and there are two very interesting aspects to the deal. First, North’s excellent choice of contract. Since South has shown two hearts and at most three spades 6NT has more chances than 6© (although double dummy 6© can be made!). West’s lead solved one problem and when the dummy was tabled declarer thanked partner rather more effusively than perhaps she expected. The reason was the heart suit and his eyes lit up. There is a little-known safety play for such a suit. I hope she did not notice his slight disappointment when he saw that the heart suit was missing the seven!

Holding ©A 10 8 7 5 3 opposite ©K 4 the safety play is to lead ©10 from dummy. If you haven’t seen it before that looks foolish. With hearts 3-2 you will always make five tricks. If the opponent under the length (West) holds four and the other a singleton ©9, ©J or ©Q the obvious way of playing – small to ©K – will be adequate; when the second heart is played from hand cover West’s card. If West holds ©J or ©Q singleton there is nothing to be done. East will always make two hearts. But if West holds ©9 singleton the safety play wins. What is not so obvious is that it also succeeds without losing more than one trick when East has ©9, ©J or ©Q singleton. If East plays any of these three cards on ©10 declarer wins with ©K and plays towards the length and covers West’s card. It’s a relatively rare suit layout and the extra percentage playing the safety play is small – 2.8% whereas if ©Q J are doubleton (6.8%) the safety play loses a trick (but half the time so does the “normal” safety play). I’ve played it several times and only once been rewarded. Without holding ©7 the safety play cannot win and may lose.

So the obvious way to play the hand was to come to ©K and cover West’s card on the next trick. When West showed out declarer had a rethink. West clearly had length in clubs and East had the two heart stoppers so tricks were needed from the other two suits. West threw ¨3 on the second heart – his diamonds were very puny but could have played a part in the ending. Declarer could not afford to duck so won ©A. Needing three spade tricks it was important to keep East out of the picture. A small spade from dummy caught East napping – he was still relishing declarer’s discomfiture at the heart break. He played ª4 which declarer ducked to West. The spotlight was on West again. A diamond return would break up the entries for the simple squeeze on East but he opted for a safe club. Declarer needed no more help to get home. ªA and §A were cashed and a spade to ªK dropped ªQ and ªJ together. This was the happy ending:

ª 10

¨ 5

§ --

ª -- ª --

¨ 9 8 7 ¨ J 10 4 2

§ Q 9 § --

ª --

¨ A K Q 6

§ 10

When ª10 was played East had no good discard. He chose ¨2 in case declarer had opened (very) light or had only three diamonds. Declarer’s §10 was superfluous and the last four tricks were diamonds.

The lesson for West is to keep parity with declarer in all suits if possible. Admittedly, declarer could have held five clubs but that would leave him without an entry for the long club. The other lesson is to attack entries when a squeeze is imminent.

If East had played ª9 declarer would have to win ªA otherwise East could win and cash two hearts. Then a small spade would put West to a decision but he could afford either ªQ or ª7. If he played ªQ he would be left on play but declarer cannot unscramble his entries. If he ducked declarer would have to play for one off giving him the third round spade.