Do Not Say 1NT

Pages: Page 4 of 4

Dealer: North
Vuln: Game All
Scoring: Pairs
  1. spadeQ 9 6 5
  2. heart—
  3. diamond—
  4. clubA K Q 9 8 7 6 4 3
  1. spade10 8 3
  2. heartQ J 7 5 4 2
  3. diamondJ 7 4
  4. club5
club diamond heart spade NT
N 7 5 3 6 5
S 7 5 3 6 5
E - - - - -
W - - - - -
Green square in centre
  1. spadeJ 7 4 2
  2. heart9 8 3
  3. diamond8 3 2
  4. clubJ 10 2

Contract: 6diamond
Declarer: South
Lead: heartQ
  1. spadeA K
  2. heartA K 10 6
  3. diamondA K Q 10 9 6 5
  4. club—
Double dummy analyser: makeable contracts
West North East South
5club Pass 6diamond
Pass Pass Pass
Simon says put dummy down - so North did, but nearly killed Simon with shock in the process. After recovering his composure and winning trick one with heartA, declarer drew trumps in three rounds (hallelujah), cashed four more rounds to remove lurkers and then spadeAK. Quoting Simon "East kindly threw heart8 and so was end-played!" when declarer exited with a small heart. The only defence after that lead is for East to unblock heart9 or heart8 at trick one and throw the other if declarer cashes heartK later. To discard a heart at any time or fail to unblock gives South the slam. Declarer simply exits with heart6 or heartK6 respectively. Very difficult for East!As for North's original bid - any suggestions? And don't say 1NT.


16/03/2026 This deal reminds me of a similar 9-4-0-0 distribution at BBO online, reported here on 15/10/2000. I wonder if BBO random generator algorithm has a sense of humour?


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