By Joel Hoersch Editor, District 22 Forum
Í 632
Ì
KQ102
Ë
AK432
Ê
4
Í Q87
Ì 86
Ë 108763
Ê K63
Í AK10
Ì AJ7
Ë QJ
Ê A9872
IMP scoring: Do you choose to play or defend a contract of 6NT with the North - South cards?
This month’s hand has been a source of frustration for me for almost 15 years. It occurred in a Swiss Teams event, and this hand knocked us down from first place to third place when our side played in 6Ë, which had to fail because of the ugly 5-1 trump break. The opponents played in a pusillanimous 3NT, taking the obvious 11 tricks.
The reason the hand frustrated me was because at the time I was pretty sure that it was possible to make 6NT, and spent some time in working out the answer. Nowadays with programs like Dealmaster and Deep Finesse, the double-dummy analysis work is a lot easier, so I gave the problem to La Jolla unit president David Oakley as a challenge: first work it out without resorting to Deep Finesse, then check your answer against the program to find out if there are any surprises lurking in wait for you. I’ll admit I had to give him high marks on his response.
So here’s your chance to get into the act: Answer the basic question: Should you play or defend? Remember that the answer is predicated on best play by both sides, so check everything you can think of before you Click Here to see how your answer measures up. Good luck!