Life Lessons

E/W Vul
MPs
Dealer: West
Lead: 3

	Maestro 10 6 4 4 3 Q 8 3 2 K Q 8 3
celery A J 7 Q A K 9 5 4 A 7 5 2		evaofny Q 8 2 K J 9 8 10 6 J 9 6 4
	peterw K 9 5 3 A 10 7 6 5 2 J 7 10

West 1 2NT Pass

North Pass Pass Pass

East 1 3NT Pass

South Pass Pass

Gee is partnering a student in today’s hand, from which we can now all learn, right along with peterw.

Today a reasonable auction leads to a terrible contract, which happens surprisingly often. 2NT, with 18 points and a stiff honor in partner’s suit, is West’s best rebid, and one can hardly blame East for raising to game with seven points and excellent spot cards.

Gee, sitting North, gets the defense off to a good start by leading the C3. Declarer inserts the C9, which seems best, and wins South’s 10 with the ace.

At this point the only faint hope for nine tricks is that both minor suits break. West leads the HQ, which is ducked, and continues with a low diamond to dummy’s 10. South wins the DJ and returns his last diamond. Declarer rises with the DK and plays two more rounds of diamonds, the last won by Gee with the queen. South sluffs two small hearts high-low, signaling an even count and declarer discards a heart and then, under pressure, a club from dummy, setting up three club tricks for our hero.

Three clubs and two diamonds beat 3NT. Or so the inferior player might reason. Even a garden-variety expert might cash the three clubs and allow his partner to discard to give a picture of his hand. Gee, however, shifts to a spade. South does well by inserting the S9, and declarer wins the SJ.

Declarer now cashes his last diamond and exits with a club. It’s still not too late to cash the setting tricks in clubs, lead a heart, and beat the contract two. Gee opts instead to win one club trick and lead a heart, endplaying his partner. This is indeed a lesson of sorts: my mother used to call it a “life-lesson.” Poor South bared his HA on the club — yes, he should have sluffed a spade — and is forced to lead a spade, conceding three spades, two hearts, three diamonds and a club to declarer, for nine tricks.

“One of the things that bugs me,” Gee says after the hand, “is when some specs make statements like it’s cold, it’s not cold, etc. They see all the cards. We, at the table, don’t.”