Play The Table

You pick up what looks like an uninteresting hand as dealer with none vul. You pass, hoping to get 

onto next hand quickly. And looks like that’s what would happen when LHO open 1♦  and partner passes. But things don’t quite go as imagined. Partner makes a late entry into auction and you find yourself declaring on this auction

LHO leads ♦ A and when you see the dummy, you see that there is a lot for you to do.

You are looking at one diamond, two heart and one club loser for sure. This means you need to play trumps for 2 losers,  find ♠ Q and also find ♣ J

LHO continues with a 2nd diamond to RHO’s Queen. You ruff and play a heart. Jack from LHO, you put up King – which holds.

Lets stop to take stock. We have 17 HCP between two hands. They have 23. On the auction the two most probable divisions are 13-10 and 14-9. Also, the diamonds seem to be 5-5. With 6 RHO might’ve raised straight away. And LHO may bid 2♦ over 1NT with 6 of them.

What about hearts. LHO seems to have either AQJ or AJ stiff. Which. If LHO has AQJ that means he can’t have ♣ A. With that holding he’s open 1NT. So RHO must have ♣ A. You lookup to see who your RHO is – chandu muk. You decide that Chandu will take a more aggressive action than 1N with KQxxx♦  and a side ace. So you decide that LHO must have ♣ A, and RHO both major suit queens. So you run the ♠ J, and you are proven right when it holds. You continue with a spade to Ten.

Last hurdle – ♣ J. Who has it. You decide to cash ♠ A , no harm done if LHO ruffs with Ace. What about clubs?

Very simple, if you are Sumit Mukherjee!! You simply play a club to dummy’s Queen, and return one to RHO’s Jack and your King.

Why this play – we ask..

Simple, I know my LHO has xxx, AJ, Axxxx, Axx or xxx AJ Axxxx AJx. With the 2nd holding Aloke Sadhu will surely open 1N. So he doesn’t have ♣ J – he explains.

But.. Hang on..Can’t you just throw him in with ♥ A, he will have to solve your club problem?

What problem – he retorts – what’s more sure, his hand, or my reading of it.

Are you as speechless as I was.