HOW WOULD YOU RULE?
A series for duplicate players. Problems welcome!

John Makes a Wrong Announcement

by Mike Swanson

'I think I've got the hang of these new announcements now,' said John confidently.

'Well, let's hope so. The Tournament Director is playing at our table next, so you will be under maximum scrutiny,' replied Julie sceptically.

Dealer: East. Game All.     K 5   Q 10 8 6 2   K 10   J 6 4 2     8 6 4   K 5 3   9 8 7 5 4   10 9   J 10 9 7 2   A 9   A J 2   Q 8 3     A Q 3   J 7 4   Q 6 3   A K 7 5

West	North	East	South
	Julie		John
		1	1NT
Pass	2	Pass	2
Pass	3NT	Pass	4
End

John was a bit surprised when Julie didn't announce the strength of his 1NT overcall, but he was ready when she made her 2 transfer bid.

'Hearts,' John announced proudly.

The Tournament Director decided to intervene: 'Well, John that's very informative of you. Unfortunately announcements only apply after a 1NT opening bid, not after an overcall. If Julie's bid is a transfer, you should alert instead.'

'Oh, I'm sorry, I hadn't realised. It just seemed logical that announcements would apply over all natural 1NT bids.'

'I couldn't agree more, but those are the regulations. Still there's no harm done, let's just get on with the rest of the auction.'

Not wishing to lose the post-mortem, West led his partner's suit to the final contract of 4. John took the first trick in hand and led a trump, taken by East who played another spade to dummy's king.

At this stage John suddenly realised that this was the last time he would be in the dummy for a while, so maybe he shouldn't just do the normal thing of playing another round of trumps. He started counting points and realised that it was almost certain that East held the A, otherwise he would have opened 1 vulnerable on 11 points and a jack-high five-card suit (John knew East only held five spades as West had played 'middle-up' on the first two rounds).

All this thinking led John to the master play of leading the 10 from the table. East was now in a fix: if he ducked, John could win in hand with the queen and throw dummy's K on his last spade, and if he rose with his ace, John would be able to throw dummy's two losing clubs away on his winning spade and his Q.

East did his best by taking his A and returning the 8. However, John was able to rise with the ace (just in case West held the queen) and get rid of dummy's two losing clubs in good time.

When the traveller revealed that those in 3NT had only made nine tricks, Julie leant across the table and held John's hand. 'Not only did you choose the right contract but you played it like a master. If the table weren't in the way, I'd give you a kiss!'

'Later perhaps?' John hopefully replied.