A Few Dicey 3NT Contracts **

At this weekend's Swiss Teams, I had to work my way through a minefield of 3NT contracts that were a bit hard on my nervous system.

1. I dealt and held:

xx
AKJx
Kxx
AKQx

With this nice balanced 21-count, I naturally opened 2NT, which Jenn raised to 3NT. I got a low diamond lead, and looked at:

Qx
xxx
QJT9x
xxx

xx
AKJx
Kxx
AKQx

I would have been down right off the bat with a spade lead, but prospects were still pretty bleak. RHO showed out and played a low spade (encouraging). There was only one chance. I had to hope that LHO would hold up her ace of diamonds to keep me from setting up and running them, instead of grabbing the ace and playing spades. So I took the king of diamonds and shot back a diamond. When LHO played low to trick 2 and I won in dummy, there was a glimmer of hope. All I needed was for the heart finesse to work and clubs to split 3-3, so I could run home with 2 diamonds, 3 hearts and 4 clubs. Amazingly, everything worked and we were +600.

2. I picked this up in 4th seat:

KJ
xxx
xx
AKQ98x

LHO opened 1 spade, and it went pass, pass to me. I tried 2 clubs. Jenn now cue bid 2 spades. This sounded like she had a decent hand but couldn't act over 1 spade. Since I had a spade stopper and a source of tricks, I applied Hamman's rule and took a shot at 3NT. LHO led the queen of diamonds, and I looked at:

8xxx
AJxx
AJx
Tx

KJ
xxx
xx
AKQ98x

If LHO had led a spade, this would have been easy: 6 clubs, two red aces and a spade. But this lead gave me a problem. I asked about the queen lead, and was told that they play standard leads. So what was going on? Clearly LHO had something like AQTxx of spades, and red suit cards to justify an opening bid. The only chances for a ninth trick seemed to be either the jack of diamonds (if LHO made a deceptive lead from KQx) or possibly the 8 of spades might set up (if RHO had either the doubleton 9 or ten). In any event, there was nothing to lose by ducking this trick. If RHO had the king, I'd have to rely on stopping the spades, as he would surely overtake the queen and shoot a spade through me. Fortunately, the queen held, and now I had 9 tricks, as I ran the clubs (they split) and played a diamond to the jack. Another nervous +600. (The defense's best shot would have been a heart lead (RHO had the king), but LHO had Qx and didn't find it.

3. I picked up, in third seat:

x
KQJxx
Kxxx
A98

Jenn dealt and opened 1 club. RHO passed, I bid 1 heart, and LHO doubled. Jenn rebid 1 spade, which showed spades and denied 3-card heart support. So I followed Hamman's rule again and bid 3NT (what else makes sense?)

LHO led the queen of diamonds, and I looked at:

J9xx
Ax
Ax
QT7xx

x
KQJxx
Kxxx
A98

I had 8 tricks: 5 hearts, 2 diamonds and the ace of clubs. My 9th trick had to come from clubs. How should I play the club suit?

Clearly, LHO had most of the 16 points outstanding, and based on the lead, probably didn't have AKQ of spades. So he probably had the king of clubs. However, since he doubled to show spades and diamonds, he was probably short in clubs, with his most likely holding Kx. I could push a club through him toward the queen to set up the ninth trick, but I thought that this play was very dangerous, since he would see the club suit ready to run and would probably shift to a spade, which I didn't want to happen. So I decided to play the queen of clubs from dummy and pass it to him. Now, looking at a club suit in dummy headed by only the ten, he wasn't so sure it was necessary to shift to spades, and he continued diamonds. I won the king in my hand, played a heart to dummy, and played another club to the 9. Bingo! This held and was home with 9 tricks. If LHO had shifted to spades after winning the club king, I would have gone down since his partner had KTxx.

4. Here's one where the cards were friendly but I was very nervous after trick 1. I was in fourth seat and picked up:

AQJxx
T
Kx
AJTxx

LHO dealt and opened 1 club. Jenn overcalled 1 diamond. With this nice 15-count, it looked like we should be in game somewhere, so I had to create a force with a cue bid of 2 clubs (1 spade wouldn't have been forcing). Jenn now bid 2 hearts. I tried 2 spades, Jenn rebid 3 diamonds, so it was once again time for Hamman's Rule: 3NT. LHO led the king of hearts, and I looked at:

Kx
Jxxx
AQT9x
Qx.

AQJxx
T
Kx
AJTxx.

It looked like I had 9 tricks as soon as I got the lead, but the defense attacked my weak spot. It sure looked to me as if they were about to run 5 heart tricks, with LHO holding AKx and RHO Qxxxx. But luck was in for me, as LHO shifted to a spade! After I got over my surprise, I managed to cash out 11 tricks - 5 spades, 5 diamonds and the club ace. It turned out that LHO started with AKQx of hearts so I was always safe.

5. I picked this up in 3rd seat:

Qxxx
T98x
AJ
xxx

Jenn dealt and opened 1 club. I bid 1 heart, and Jenn bid 2D, a reverse. I didn't like this hand much, but I decided to apply Hamman's Rule again and steer it into 3NT. I couldn't bid that directly (it would have shown at least 10 points), so I did it by first bidding 2NT, which is known as a Wolff Relay (she has to bid 3 clubs, and then I can either show a weak hand by rebidding my major or bidding 3 diamonds), then 3NT, which shows a hand about this strength, maybe a little better. I got a low heart lead, and looked at:

AJx
J
Qxxx
AKQTx

Qxxx
T98x
AJ
xxx.

The jack won the first trick. So if clubs split, I have 8 tricks, and have to guess which finesse to take for a ninth. I ran the clubs, watching the opponents' discards to see if I could get a clue what to do next. LHO discarded a low diamond, encouraging if they were telling the truth, then two spades including the ten. I was sure that he didn't have the king of spades given these discards, so I planned to finesse diamonds, assuming he was lying to me rather than signalling partner. But since I was in dummy, I decided there was nothing to lose by first cashing the ace of spades. Eureka - LHO dropped the king! So I never had to take a finesse at all. I ended up winning 4 spade tricks, and, amazingly, when I then played a diamond to the ace, his king fell so I ended up making six!

On the run of the clubs, LHO really had a hard time discarding. He didn't know that his partner had ducked a high heart honor (not a good choice), so he thought he was being squeezed in 3 suits!