Which Strain – Bfame Hands -1
First round of Bfame threw up some interesting hands with choice of strains. Here’s the first of those.
Just looking at NS hands, the best contract is 6♦ by south. No lead can hurt it, and so long as ♥ are 3-2 and ♦ 3-1 or 2-2, South can pitch two clubs on hearts and then ruff a club.
However, once South opens 1N – and there doesn’t seem to be an alternative if you play 15-17 NT – 6♦ by north can pretty much be ruled out, since North will always start with a transfer to hearts.
Next best option is 6♦ by South. On a non club lead you have the same situation, and on a club lead you have the choice of playing for club or spade finesse depending on how you read the lead.
6♥ – the next choice – can be beaten on ♦ A ♦ ruff – not easy to find if South hasn’t disclosed ♦ fit and West is on lead. Easy if East is on lead. Even without a ♦ lead you need an extra black suit and need to guess which finesse to take.
In India vs Bangladesh match SS-PS landed in 6♥ by South after South, rightly, chose 3♥ and eventually landed in 6♥ . Luckily the lead was a spade solving all problems.
Does your pdship have methods to solve this conundrum.
If playing a 15 17 NT i can’t see any reason for South to upgrade his hand and open a Diamond. But if South super accepts the Heart transfer then the Diamond suit/match gets buried and NS are in business(in 6H).
1NT 2D 3H 3S
4C 4D 4H 5D………………………..
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