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Zia's
Question and Solution for Week 3
'No
matter how long you have been playing this game, there is a thrill
to picking up a big hand that never diminishes. All the more reason,
then, to go plus when it happens.' - ZIA
South
deals and NS are vulnerable. Zia picks up this strong hand:
The
bidding is as follows:
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West
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North
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East
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South
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2NT
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Pass
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3NT
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Pass
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Pass
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Pass
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The
bidding is simple, and the final contract is 3NT.
West
leads  6 and when Zia
sees dummy, he notes with dismay that West has found the only lead
to threaten his contract:
Zia
follows West's lead of 6
by playing
a hopeful 10 from dummy,
but sadly West has not underled KQJ
and East plays Q. Zia
ducks, of course with 3.
East
continues with 9 and
Zia ducks again with 4.
West overtakes with K
and Zia plays 8 from
dummy. West continues with J,
Zia discards  5 from
dummy, East follows with 2
and Zia wins with A.
Zia may as well cash three rounds of clubs - say  AKJ.
Both opponents follow suit on the first and second rounds. On the
third round, both opponents discard hearts - West the  8
and East the 7.
What
card would Zia play next?
Zia's
Solution
The
full deal is as shown:
Zia's answer is 2.
It
appears from the early play that West started with five spades.
He has been signalling for hearts - perhaps he has the A,
or is he trying to fool Zia? However, Zia need not worry about that
for the moment. With 5 club tricks, A
and AK, Zia has eight
winners, and can safely try the diamond finesse for his ninth. If
that loses to East, Zia will just have to hope that West does not
have A after all - if
he does, then Zia was never destined to make his contract in any
case.
However,
Zia must be careful not to lose the contract when East in fact has
A. Zia would do just
that if he made the mistake of cashing A
before leading 2 to
J for a finesse. In
this case East would win with Q
and clear the diamond suit. East would later regain the lead with
the A and defeat the
contract by cashing his diamonds.
If
Zia finessed J without
first cashing A, then
East cannot hurt him. East will return a diamond, but Zia can win
A and, as Zia's final
throw, lead a heart to dummy's J.
East has A. All is well.
Zia's
2 play ensures success
any time the contract is makeable.
Final
Result: NS win 9 tricks for +600
Back
Conceived
and sponsored by Orbis Investment Management Limited. To learn about
the award winning Orbis Funds, visit www.orbis.bm.
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