Counting the Side Suits

IMPs
E/W Vul
Dealer: East
Lead: A

	tiger A Q 9 3 Q 10 4 J 3 Q 8 7 2
anders1 5 8 7 2 10 9 8 7 5 K J 5 4		Maestro K 8 7 9 5 3 A K Q 6 2 A 6
	botzum J 10 6 4 2 A K J 6 4 10 9 3

West Pass 3 Pass

North 2 Pass Pass

East 1 Pass Pass Pass

South Dbl Pass 3

The opener is Precision, showing 16+, and there are other points in the auction of interest, like the free bid of three diamonds and Gee’s refusal to raise with five to the AKQ. But today we will discuss the play.

An ordinary expert would defeat this part score. But there are ordinary experts, and there is Gerard. He gets the defense off to a good start by leading the club ace; unless they lead clubs early declarer can hold his club losers down to 2 and make. West encourages with the 5, wins the 2nd round and leads a low club for Gee to ruff. Now it’s time to analyze the hand. Three tricks in, two certain defensive tricks coming, playing IMPs…Gee underleads the AKQ of diamonds! Tiger wins the jack in hand, managing not to laugh, plays ace and another trump immediately, and claims. “Too bad my cute play didn’t work,” says Gee to his partner, who is too diplomatic to reply.

Update: Gerard complains that “when I passed a 3 bid after a negative response to a Precision 1 opener, you even find a way to make it look as if it is wrong.” And he has a point. The 3 bid is bad; the pass is arguable.