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| Hand 1 |
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| J 9 8 7 3 2 K Q 7 4 2 A K Q J 9 |
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| 6 4 9 4 2 A K Q 8 7 6 8 6 5 4 3 |
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| A K Q 5 A J 8 6 5 3 J 9 5 3 7 2 |
| LHO |
| RHO |
| PLR |
| I wrote a card distribution program in EXCEL to deal cards randomly. This was the first hand it produced on the day I decide to write up clumond hands (If you are interested in the spreadsheet, just email me). It is assumed that PLR deals the cards throughout. |
| LHO RHO PLR 0 clubs ----- ----- 1 S4 SA SJ 2 DA D3 D7 3 CJ C6 CA 4 DK D4 D2 5 C9 C4 C5 6 C8 H8 CK |
| Notes 0. (bidding) LHO's long, but weak clubs presents some difficulty. At an ordinary game ( in notrumps), LHO can count on 3-5 diamond tricks, 1-2 hearts and would require a vicious club-ridding campaign when on lead or when discarding (on the short spades). The penalty for excess clubs in hand may be quite high. A club clumond is risky, but offers a better chance of success. enpowering the club suit to take tricks by ruffing and providing the much needed entries to campaign for the successful target play. 1. SA shows 6 or 8 spades, less diamonds than spades and less than or equal to the number of hearts. SJ shows 2 or 4 spades in PLR's hand. 2 D3 switch confirms 6 spades, 5 diamonds. D7 by PLR to show an even holding in diamonds. 3 Declarer (LHO) needs to establish the club suit early because of that suit's weakness. CA from PLR shows an even number, but not much is read from RHO's C6 as RHO is likely to only hold 1-2 clubs, so that signalling in that suit is limited. 4 D2 inferrs holding 2 diamonds (Principle of Immediate Return). Note that the same might be said about leading the spade suit, but this would void declarer giving him / her a strategic advantage for discarding / ruffing on shortness. Besides, an even holding was clearly indicated by the play of SJ in trick 1. 5 The duck (playing C5) has strategic consideration. Keeping the C5 grants declarer the option to either win a club trick or duck a club trick to PLR. Disposing of it now deprives declarer of the choice. Trick 5 usually is the end of the signalling phase by the defense. The nexy few tricks corresponds to the midgame, and involve strategic plays. At the end of trick 6 the following is the position with PLR on lead:- |
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| 7 3 2 K Q 7 2 Q J 9 |
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| --- 9 4 2 K Q 7 6 8 6 5 |
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| Q A J 8 6 5 3 9 5 3 --- |
| LHO |
| RHO |
| PLR |
| LHO RHO PLR 7 C2 S7 CQ 8 S2 SQ S5 9 DQ D5 H8 10 H7 H9 H6 11 HK H4 HA 12 S9 13 concedes clumond |
| 7 Seven tricks remain and PLR lays claim to two of them (CQ and HA). Playing CQ then exiting with a spade puts either declarer or RHO on lead. If RHO, he / she should battle out in diamonds as the contract may hinge on the play of the heart suit and the best chance to defeat declarer is for him / her to open up the suit, playing into PLR's tenace holding controlling both the number of tricks won as well as the number of rounds played in that suit. It should also be obvious to RHO if given the lead that heart play should be avoided. 12 Failure to play on spades by RHO at trick 11 implies that declarer's diamonds are high (and could get home by ruffing the spade, and playing in diamonds to make 7 tricks). Now is the time to rise with HA and play a splade to watch declarer's face in agony. Post Mortem The club clumond attempt by LHO was very risky, but it offerred potentially better outcome than play at a normal game. Also, the claim prevented RHO from his / her opportunity to bid a reasonable clumond in spades. |