Tom Drijver’s 2 July tournament: video replay and deal analysis

Did you play the Ambassador’s tournament hosted by Tom Drijver on 2 July? Whether yes or no, watch a video replay of his tournament and benefit from Tom’s tips to improve your level!

Replay of Tom Drijver’s 2 July tournament

No Guts, No Glory

You are sitting South in a 10-board tournament. MP scoring.

This is the bidding:

Please think for yourself what you would have bid before reading on.

What are my options?

1. Pass
2. Bidding 2 Clubs

According to the system, I should have bid 2 Clubs. However, I chose to pass here. The only risk I take is to miss our spade fit. But the risk of getting too high is much more dangerous in my opinion. Therefore, I decided to pass.

Against 1NT, East led a heart and it was time for me to plan the play.

Let’s count our tricks: one spade and two diamonds make three tricks. Now, let’s see how many heart and club tricks the opponents cash, and then finesse a spade. This sounds like a decent plan.

To my surprise, West played the 9 of Hearts to my 10. I finessed a spade and West discarded the 10, which means he probably has one or two spades.

When playing in NT, is it important not only to count your tricks at the start but also to keep counting them. So, now I expect to make one heart, three spade and two diamond tricks.

After playing the King of Diamonds, I played another diamond.

Please think for yourself which diamond you would have played.

What are my options?

1. The Ace of Diamonds, offering the best chance of making six tricks.
2. The Jack of Diamonds, offering the best chance of making seven tricks but risking going down a lot.

Because I know from the 10 of Spades that West won’t have three spades, I decided that playing the Jack of Diamonds was my best chance of making seven tricks for +90 and a score of 83%. If you had played the Ace of Diamonds, you would have gone down 1 for a score of 45%. No guts, no glory.

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