mn|SKY Club & Larry Cohen|tu||
cr|1255|cb|164|cg|1255|
cr|264|cb|2255|cg|2255|
cr|364|cb|364|cg|3255|
cr|4255|cb|464|cg|464|
cr|590|cb|5180|cg|5130|
cr|6255|cb|6255|cg|6255|
cr|7120|cb|7255|cg|80|
fh|170|ff|1Times New Roman|fi|1y|fb|1y|fu||
fh|250|ff|2Times New Roman|fi|2y|fb|2y|fu||
fh|379|ff|3Arial|fi||fb||fu||
fh|410|ff|4Arial|fi||fb|4y|fu||
fm|1|
fm|2|
fm|3|
fm|4|
bt||bg|1|nt||fp|1|
cs|4|3d|3|at|


^-{ SKY CLUB & Larry Cohen }
^-
|cs|4|fp|2|3d|3|at|^-{ Deal of the week
Series II - Deal IV }
|fp|4|ht|w|at|

|at|}
^-

|fp|4|ht|y|at|^- The analyses are kindly made and shared for you by Larry Cohen.
^*Hwww.larryco.com^*N
|at
pg||bg|6|nt|
|cs|2|ht|b|fp|2|at|^-{INTRODUCTION}
^-
|fp||at|Welcome to the fourth deal of these series.  |pg||

nt||cs|2|ht|b|fp|2|at|^-{INTRODUCTION}
^-
|fp||at|This is the fourth  week  in a series of four deals, all relating to negative doubles. This is a must-play convention, and you should play it on all levels (not just through the 2- or 3-level) 

To read more about this, please see: ^*Hwww.larryco.com/BridgeArticles/ArticleDetails.aspx?articleID=27^*N



|pg||
bg|6|st||qx|Board1|3d||ah|SKY&&Larry|ah|S II - D IV|
pn|South,Partner,North,You,South,West,North,East|md|2S2HT876DKQ862CQ54,S3HKQJ95DAJ9CAJ92,SKQT876HA32D73C76|sv|b|sk|e|nt||ht|c|at|With both sides vulnerable,  |pg||mb|1h|at|your partner deals and opens 1@H. |pg||nt||ht|c|at|You are about to respond 1@S, |pg||mb|2s|at|but RHO surprises you by bidding 2@S himself! |pg||nt||ht|c|at|What should you do?|pg||nt||ht|c|at|The first thing to do is remain calm. |pg||at|Don't make faces. Don't ask questions. Don't look surprised. |pg||at|Even if you are playing on-line, try to keep a poker face.|pg||nt||ht|c|at|The one thing you cannot say is "double." |pg||at|You play negative doubles-for better or for worse. If you double, your partner will not know to pass. |pg||nt||ht|c|at|When playing negative doubles, you can have your cake and eat it, too. |pg||
mb|pp|at|As long as you manage to pass without giving away the show, |pg||
mb|dp|at|your partner is likely to reopen the bidding with a takeout double. |pg||nt||ht|c|at|Any time he has shortness in their suit (even with a minimum), he should double to cater to your having a penalty pass. |pg||at|If you don't have spades, you'll take out the double and hopefully survive. |pg||
mb|p|an|Penalty|nt||ht|c|at|Here, you are delighted to convert the double for penalties |pg||
mb|pp|at|and 2@SX is the final contract.|pg||
nt||ht|c|at|What should you lead? |pg||nt||cq|3|lb|*CWhat do you play now? ^^h4^s4h4c3d4|nt||ht|c|at|This one is easy. |pg||nt||ht|c|at|Two rules both point to the same conclusion.  |pg||at|One: Against a trump contract, when in doubt, lead a singleton in a side suit. |pg||at|Two: Lead partner's suit. |pg||pc|h|nt||ht|c|at|So, you lead a heart and see:|pg||hc|h6|nt||ht|c|at|On the first trick dummy plays low, |pg||
lc|h6|pc|h|at|partner the nine |pg||
pc|h9|at|and declarer wins the ace. |pg||
pc|ha|pg||pc|d|nt||ht|c|at|Next comes a diamond. |pg||hs|ed|at|Which one do you play? |pg||ls|ed|nt||ht|c|at|This is a situation for count, and in "standard count," low shows an odd number in the suit. |pg||
hc|d4|at|Since you have three of them (an odd number), you play a low diamond. |pg||lc|d4|pc|d4dq|at|Most of you probably got that right just by playing closest to your mouse. |pg||pc|da|nt||ht|c|at|Partner captures dummy's queen with the ace |pg||pc|hj|at|and plays the @HJ next. |pg||pc|h|at|Declarer follows low.|pg||nt||ht|c|at|What is the heart situation and what is partner trying to tell you? |pg||at|You know that partner has the KQJ9 in hearts (since the 9 forced the ace at the first trick). |pg||at|Why is he playing back his lowest from KQJ? |pg||nt||ht|c|at|He is giving you a suit preference signal to tell you he has a high club. |pg||nt||ht|c|at|If he didn't have the @CA he would play the @HK (of course, you have to trust he knows what he is doing). |pg||at|What will you do? |pg||
hs|ed|nt||ht|c|at|You might as well throw a diamond |pg||
ls|ed|pc|dh|pg||
at|- and hope to throw a diamond on another heart. |pg||pc|hqh|nt||ht|c|at|Sure enough, another heart comes (the queen) |pg||pc|dh|at|and you throw another diamond. |pg||pc|dd|at|Now, partner gives you a diamond ruff. |pg||
pc|sd|pg||nt||ht|c|at|After you ruff, what next? |pg||at|Partner has signaled you for clubs, he must have the ace. |pg||
hc|ck|at|You could lay down the king first, |pg||
lc|ck|pc|ck|pg||
at|but it isn't like to make a difference. |pg||
up|1|at|Let's say you lead a low club to partner's ace. |pg||
pc|cccac|pg||pc|hk|nt||ht|c|at| Now comes another high heart |pg||pc|c|at|on which declarer throws a club. |pg||
hc|c8|at|You also throw a club. |pg||
lc|c8|pc|ch|pg||
nt||ht|c|at|Isn't this fun? |pg||pc|s|at|Partner now plays a spade |pg||pc|sksas|at|to declarer's king and your ace. |pg||nt||ht|c|at|If you are counting, you know declarer is down to all trumps. |pg||hs|ec|at|It can't hurt to exit in clubs. |pg||ls|ec|pc|ckcc|pg||pc|s|nt||ht|c|at|Declarer ruffs |pg||pc|s8|at|and advances the @S8. |pg||hc|s9|at|You take your 9 |pg||
lc|s9|pc|s9dh|pg||
hc|ct|at|and exit safely in clubs, |pg||lc|ct|pc|ctcc|pg||pc|s|at|forcing declarer to ruff. |pg||sk|y|nt||ht|c|at|You still get another trump trick for down 4, +1100. |pg||up|44|nt||ht|c|at|That will teach North to get frisky against you! |pg||nt||ht|c|at|Next week we move to a brand new theme.|pg||pf|y|nt||ht|c|at|You can now experiment with how the play of this deal could go by selecting the cards that you want to play for all 4 players. Click on the cards that you want to play. 

The  ^$6  button on the toolbar below can be used at any point to take back the last card that you played. |