The nil was made. East and West were still pleased because they set South, until North, an expert, pointed out that the nil could have been beaten. How could East/West accomplish this? Is it a matter of lucky guessing, or is there some technical skill involved? (Assume South plays the cover in a similar fashion. There may be more than one correct answer.) Submit your comments to: You Be the Judge

The Public Responds:

Our judges lost no time in concluding the nil set was thrown away when the first card hit the table.

Mario: This is what I conclude from one look at the hand. At trick 1 East played the 3. (I do this a lot. Unfortunately) If he had played the 5, he would still have the 3 to set North with the 4.

phlexicon: The lead of the 5 will work fine. The key is the lead of 2nd-lowest to begin the attack.

And the comments grow stronger:

Dustin: East made the very costly error of leading his smallest diamond on trick 1. A player should almost never lead their smallest card in a suit on the first round when defending against a nil.

Purple Cow: To open the suit with the 3 was almost criminal (in this particular situation, even the Queen works).

USA_Justice: The most obvious and most common mistake I see on the Internet [against nil bids] is the opening lead. It is very rare to set a nil on the first lead of any suit. If it happens, there was no skill involved. You should NEVER lead your lowest card of any suit when trying to set a nil.

And so, East is unaminously convicted of a heinous crime. But the judges were not yet finished. They hurled a few spears at the other players. Even South took a few licks.

phlexicon: [South's bid:] This hand also points out the importance of being conservative with your bid in 1st or 2nd position with a big hand; your partner is much more likely to nil.

From a long list of criticism we distill this sound advice:

USA_Justice: [South's play at Trick 2] If you have a side-suit doubleton and 3 or less spades, avoid playing your last card in the suit for as long as possible.

And even West's plays attract some attention, although not everyone is in agreement.

phlexicon: As West I would trump [at Trick 4] with the 4 (not the 9) to show my desire to set the cover hand.

USA_Justice: West trumped in with the 9. This is a smart play. At this point in the hand, you're still unsure if you will set the nil or the cover. With five spades, why play the K or 4?

The acid continued to rain on East. Phlexicon stated the nil could have been beaten with the lead of the 7. USA_Justice did not like the way East handled his spades. Finally, Dustin and Purple Cow both showed that East could set the nil later on, in the heart suit, even after his unfortunate 3 lead.

Purple Cow: With East on lead at [Trick 9], he knows that there are three hearts split between the enemy hands, the 3,5,6. If the nil has them all, it's doomed no matter what East leads, and if the nil is now void, then North is safe. Disregarding the cases where East's play is immaterial, there are 2 distributions where only the 7 works, and 1 where only the 2 works. The percentage play is to lead the 7.

Wow! East is in even more hot water! But we're running out of space. Let's quickly pronounce sentence.

USA_Justice: East did everything he could to screw this hand up. With the opening lead of the 3 (which saved the nil) and with this A cut that could have cost them the cover set, he gets the bonehead award on this hand.

And swiftly, East is led off to the gallows...

East/West have just made their team 3-bid, and they now give North/South the rest by playing low clubs. But it was possible for North/South to set East/West. (a) How could this be done? (b) Were there sufficient clues to your suggested plays or would the set be just a matter of lucky guessing? Submit your comments to: You Be the Judge

The Public Responds:

The first exhibit must have worn out our panelists. When the second set of defendants were brought into court, several of our judges had already taken the rest of the day off. First, let's see how North/South could have set.

Phlexicon: Well, the handwriting is on the wall. North's play of the 2,3 shows no 3rd-round control (he's lying--but you don't know that). Since E/W have gotten off with two quick tricks, North realizes he needs to encourage South to trump and find their suit(s). South obliges by trumping the 3rd heart and returning spades. After three rounds of spades they attack hearts. They must play these correctly to allow North to win his A on the 1st or 2nd heart trick. Doesn't look like
luck to me.

Our judges who can see all four hands tend to forget that the players cannot. The set is there, but were there any clearcut clues for this line of play? Why should South push spades so early when Partner's values may be in clubs? Also, neither partner has any idea of the favorable heart position. Give us more details, please.

Purple Cow:Though we all know the sins of trumping 2nd, I believe South was absolutely correct to do it here. West's discards indicate that he may well have the Queen, and even though he didn't, South now knows North bid 4 without the AK, AK, or K. So he should read north for a spade holding of either Qxx or xxxx minimum, probably better (is it really likely that North holds ALL the missing minor honors?). Trump that critter :). Now accordingly, at trick 4, the proper lead is a spade, preferably the Ace (a low spade works just fine also). The K

A fine analysis! And we even have one more panelist who says essentially the same thing.

Dustin: After Trick 3, South should know to lead spades. The first clue is that his side has made a total bid of 8. The second clue is that his partner hasn't shown up with a side-suit winner in diamonds, and thus his 4-bid must be based on at least Qxx or Jxxx. Thus, South's best plan is to lead his top two spades and then start on the heart suit (he can't possibly know yet if three rounds of spades will be useful or disastrous). After putting North in the lead in hearts, North will know that one more round of spades is necessary. After North leads hisQ, he will know to lead his last heart since South had shown heart strength. When South cashes all of his heart winners, North will discard his two club losers. East/West are set.

Yes, North/South could have done better, but we saw no clearcut mistakes on their part. The defendants are sentenced to a week of playing Hearts only, sentence suspended. This is a merciful court.