What if, after 1NT opening, responder has weak hand with long suit?
Board 1 Dlr:N Nil Vul
NORTH
♠ AK93
♥ KQJ
♦ A72
♣ 962
WEST EAST
♠ QJT ♠ 754
♥ A82 ♥ 3
♦ KQJ6 ♦ T983
♣ 875 ♣ AKQT4
SOUTH
♠ 862
♥ T97654
♦ 54
♣ J3
Bidding: N E S W
1NT P 2♥
Despite holding only 1 HCP South must bid 2♥ - a terminal bid. Remember, the range for this bid is 0-7 TP. When opener bids notrumps, responder is in charge. 1NT is a horrible contract and should be defeated by four tricks on a club lead for a bad score of
4 x -50 = -200.
As declarer in 2♥ you win ♦K lead with dummy's ace and flush out West's trump ace. As soon as you regain the lead you draw the remaining trumps with two more rounds and end up with eight tricks for a score of
2x30 + 50 = 110.
Want to know how it might be possible to make nine tricks?
Let's say that West leads a top diamond as before, and wins ©A on the first round of trumps. If he plays two more top diamonds you will lose the first and ruff the next. A cunning play now might be to play a low spade from hand and when the ten (or jack or queen) appears from West, duck it in dummy (i.e. play a low one, decline to win it - after all, you will always have to lose a spade with this combined holding, and losing it early may make it harder for the defence to do what's best).
If West sensibly switches to clubs you will lose two club tricks and make only eight tricks as before. But if West does anything else, you will be able to throw a losing club on the fourth round of spades because the spade suit breaks 3-3. Play it out and see.
Board 2 Dlr:E NS Vul
NORTH
♠ T8
♥ JT8
♦ 764
♣ T9872
WEST EAST
♠ QJ753 ♠ K962
♥ K932 ♥ A5
♦ 3 ♦ A852
♣ KQ6 ♣ AJ4
SOUTH
♠ A4
♥ Q764
♦ KQJT9
♣ 53
Bidding: E S W N
1NT P 2♣* P
2♠ P 4♠ P
Opposite 15-17 West has enough for game, but with only a singleton diamond she would prefer to play in a major if there is a fit. Therefore she investigates via 2♣, Stayman. East's shows 4/5 spades and West bids game.
North leads ♣T. As declarer you can count ten easy tricks - four tricks in trumps after the ace has been taken, two top hearts, one diamond & three clubs.
Time to be greedy. How can you win more? You have to lose the trump ace, but you can do something about the two heart losers in your hand by making use of dummy's trumps.
Win ♣T lead in either hand and play low towards a spade honour. When South wins the trump ace and switches to ♦K, dummy's ace wins. Now one round of spades draws the remaining trumps.
Next play ♥AK and trump a heart in dummy. Return to hand with a club and ruff another heart in dummy, making 12 tricks for a score of 6x30 + 300 = 480.
This hand demonstrates a way of creating extra tricks in a trump contract by ruffing losers with trumps in the short trump hand. Declarer made four spade tricks in hand and two more by ruffing hearts with dummy's trumps.
3NT on the lead of ♦K will go one down because the defenders can win four diamonds and a spade.
Board 3 Dlr:S EW Vul
NORTH
♠ AK862
♥ QJ743
♦ A3
♣ 3
WEST EAST
♠ 4 ♠ QJT97
♥ 86 ♥ T5
♦ T8654 ♦ J92
♣ AQ975 ♣ T84
SOUTH
♠ 53
♥ AK92
♦ KQ7
♣ KJ62
Bidding: S W N E
1NT P 3♠ P
3NT P 6♥
Whenever partner opens in notrumps and you hold two five-card suits, you know you have a fit in at least one of them because a notrump opener, having a balanced hand, can hold no more than one doubleton. Although North's spades are stronger than the hearts, the best contract will nevertheless be in opener's longer major.
North has 18 TP in one of the majors, enough for slam. She checks for a fit in the higher-ranking suit first by jumping to 3♠ (forcing) and further jumping to 6© when South denies spade support with 3NT. 4© would be terminal!
East leads ♠Q. It is unusual to lead declarer's second suit because it is more likely to help declarer than cause problems for him - never a defender's dream! You need a very good reason - here an extremely long and strong sequence.
As declarer you form your plan. You have ten top tricks. Since dummy has only a doubleton spade, you can make two more tricks by trumping two spades in dummy, the short trump hand.
To trump two spades you obviously require only two trumps. Therefore it is sensible to win ♠A and play two rounds of trumps first to extract at least some of the enemy trumps. After all, why play in the traffic? The spade lead is more than a little suspicious.
Next play ♠K and ruff a spade in dummy. Return to hand with ♦A and trump another spade. Now with dummy's ♦K and ♦Q (on which you throw the losing club from your hand) there are twelve tricks and a score of 6x30 + 300 + 500 = 980.
But if you fail to draw trumps first, West will trump your high spade and cash ♣A for one down and -50.
Note that while declarer can throw her singleton club on one of the extra diamond winners, she will still have a spade loser in her hand. As long as East is not foolish enough to discard one of his spades! And since East knows first from the bidding and then from the play that declarer started with five spades, he will not be tempted to make such a mistake. A basic catchcry of defence is 'Keep equal length with dummy's long suit or with any long suit bid by declarer'.
Board 4 Dlr:W All Vul
NORTH
♠ A9
♥ T
♦ 87653
♣ A7542
WEST EAST
♠ J874 ♠ Q6532
♥ 32 ♥ AKQ84
♦ QJ94 ♦ AK2
♣ K86 ♣ -
SOUTH
♠ KT
♥ J9765
♦ T
♣ QJT93
Bidding: W N E S
P P 1♠ P
2♠ P 4♠
East must open the higher-ranking of two long suits. Again, no matter how much better the hearts look, the right trump suit will be partner's longer major.
When West raises spades showing 6-9 TP, East now revalues the hand in the light of the announced fit. It is worth 18HCP + 5DP = 23TP, enough for game.
As declarer you should duck (= not cover) ♣Q lead, since North must hold ♣A. Why? Because a good player never leads away from an ace against a suit contract i.e. never leads any other card in the suit when holding the ace.
You ruff in hand and play a trump. South rises with ♠K and continues with ♣J or imaginatively plays ♦T, hoping partner has ♦A and can return one for South to ruff.
You win and lead another spade. As the spades break (divide) 2-2, trumps are now drawn. The three trumps in your hand, four top diamonds, three top hearts and a heart ruff in dummy add up to eleven tricks. Your score is 5x30 + 500 = 650.
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