The play goes perfectly

Sometimes declarer play feels so easy you wonder why it was ever considered a problem...

	♠ A Q 4 3 2 ♥ K ♦ K 8 5 ♣ 9 7 6 2
♠ T 8 7 5 ♥ 6 5 3 ♦ Q 9 7 6 3 ♣ Q		♠ K 6 ♥ A 9 8 ♦ A T 4 2 ♣ A 8 5 3
	♠ J 9 ♥ Q J T 7 4 2 ♦ J ♣ K J T 4

I'm playing in 1NT. My partner opened 1♠, I bid a semi-forcing NT and nobody touched it. The lead was the ♦6 and on seeing dummy I wished we were in 2♠.

Small off the dummy and my Jack beats the Ten. Well that could have been worse, presumably West has the ♦AQ to 5 or 6. I lead a heart to the table intending to play on spades next trick but East wins the Ace. That seems wrong...

Back comes a medium club, maybe it was the ♣8. Hmmm if West has ♦AQ to 5 or 6 and the ♣A then surely they would have bid 2♦. ♣K dropping the ♣Q! Run the hearts pitching four spades and a club off dummy then throw East in with the ♣A to make 10 tricks. Easy game!


Now for something completely different. Gerber is a dangerous convention and a little while ago got the pleasure of watching this auction from the safety of the North hand:

West	North	East	South
1♠	Pass	3♠	Pass
4♣	Pass	5♠	Pass
?

You can see the accident coming right? I tried not to wince.

West	North	East	South
1♠	Pass	3♠	Pass
4♣	Pass	5♠	Pass
5♣

There it is. Teachers, talk to your students about Gerber before someone else does.