Here is another hand I misplayed recently at the club. Once again I played by seat-of-the-pants rather than using sound fundamentals for declaring NT contract. Here is the hand:
How would you play 1NT after opening lead of five of diamonds?
Start by counting your winners: 3Cs and 1 spade. Opponents have attacked diamonds, giving you a sure winner there. Look at the heirarchy in that heart suit. You should be able to set up two tricks once the ace and king are driven out. That gets you to seven tricks as long as diamonds are not splitting 6-2. You may even take 8 tricks if the spade finesse works.
Stephen Svelmoe
July 29, 2023 at 11:43 am
You don’t say how you misplayed the hand. It seems to me there is a danger of losing 4 diamond, 2 hearts and one spade (if the finesse is off) before you can set up your 2 heart winners. Assuming the Q of diamonds wins the first trick maybe the idea is to then cross to Q of clubs to lead a heart from dummy hoping that East will duck? Even then, you are not safe if West’s diamond lead was top of nothing, and East ducked the first round.