Score N/S: 205 E/W: 174 Dlr: South 76 AKQ J975 AQ43 AKJ93 1093 A82 96 84 8542 1064 KJ108 Q1052 J76 KQ3 752 West North East South 5      3       1     3

Exhibit #14a. Technique The Play: 1. West leads 9. 3, K, 2. East wins. 2. East leads 8. 5, 6, Q. North wins. 3, 4, and 5. North wins A, K, and Q. 6. North leads 5. 10, Q, A. West wins. 7. West leads 2. 7, 4, 3. North wins. 8. North leads 9. 6, K, 8. South wins. 9. South leads 7, 3, 4, 10. West wins. 10. West leads A. 6, 4, 2. West wins. 11. West leads K. 7, 8, 5. West wins. 12. West leads 9. 9, 8, 10. South wins. 13. South wins the Q. After going set, West was about to accuse his partner of bidding too much until he realized East bid only 1. "Couldn't you bid nil?" he introduced as a diversion. Was the East/West set due to bad bidding, bad play, bad luck, or an unfortunate guess? Submit your e-mail comments to: You Be the Judge

The Public Responds:

Our panelists made short work of these two cases. Clearly everyone had weekend plans and wanted to be released early. What do we make of the first case? The panel sees an easy make for East/West, but it was carelessly thrown away.

Ruffkid: Good bidding by everyone at the table... Bad opening lead but it struck paydirt. Why are we leading a short suit when holding five spades? Oh... and why are we jumping up with the K on Pard's good nine? The correct play is the 8, not the King. Now for the Grand Screwup... After trumping with the 3 why are we cashing the Ace and King? Why not lead the 9 and endplay the person that must have the Queen of spades based on the bidding and make our bid?

Did you folks get all that? Let's hear the same message told in different words.

Brandon: At Play 10, West makes a fundamental error of laying down his powerful spades from top to bottom. This allows South to win two spades at the end. (I believe the term is end-played). Instead he should have passed the lead by playing the J or 9. (too easy Steve!)

Not for the West player at the table, it wasn't. We see this sort of hasty play all the time. After all, what could be stronger than slapping down the Ace and King of trump? And we also encounter players who are quick to accuse their own partners whenever matters don't go well. West tried this stunt...

Purple Cow: Oh good god! Oftentimes the guilty party will attempt to allay suspicion by immediately accusing poor Pard of wrongdoing. This is a simple case of West's failure to handle the spade suit properly. At Trick 10, West wins the A. Now at Trick 11, the correct lead is a low spade. It matters not who wins this trick. West will now finesse against the Q and take the last two.

Just for the record, how does West know to play the spades suit this way?

Purple Cow: He is able to confidently place the Q from the bidding. Now with that said and done, I can take a more philosophical jibe at West. His 5-bid advertises that he expects to pick up the spade suit with one loser. With the only unexpected trick thus far having gone to N/S, he'd better make good on it.

Alas, he could not handle the cards right. The 5-bid is not the problem, rather the bid combined with the poor carding was his downfall. The 5-bid is the correct call, but must be supported by proper play. Until this West learns these concepts, he should consider not bidding his cards to the teeth. Of course, this is only a temporary solution. It's NOT okay to bid this conservatively, sacrificing points because you lack the skill or confidence to bring home your tricks. West should do some studying. I'd recommend he start with Rate Your Game #3 on the Master Spades website. If he learns nothing, at least it has some catchy music. Yabba Dabba Doo!

Our panelist remembers hands well. This case is adapted from Rate Your Game #3, Bedrock. All the more reason to tell West he has rocks in his head in believing he is a decent Spades player. Now for our second case.

Exhibit #14b. Strategy The Play: 1. North leads 3. 2, 8, 10. West wins 2. West leads 4. 5, 8, 10. South wins. 3. South leads A. 6, K, J. South wins. 4. South leads Q. 3, 9, 4. East wins. 5. East leads 5. 6, 7, A. West wins. 6. West leads 2. 3, 6, K. South wins. 7. South leads 7. 7, 5, 8. East wins. 8. East leads 2. A, K, J. South wins. 9-13 West wins the rest with high spades. Result: Everyone made their bid, the two bags split between N/S and E/W. Could E/W have done better? Could they have set someone or taken one less bag? Submit your e-mail comments to: You Be the Judge

Score N/S: xx E/W: xx Dlr: xx J3 AQJ953 K952 3 KQ10976 742 63 107 842 86 J AKQJ542 A5 K10 AQ10874 986 North East South West nil      3       3     5

The Public Responds:

Once again another nil rides home triumphantly. All other bids were made. Is this as it should be? Apparently so, says our first panelist, who states most emphatically that both the North and South bids were unbeatable.

Ruffkid: Nil is a rock. South's bid is a rock 3... Best E/W can do is give both bags away to N/S. I disagree with the dime trump [by East at Trick 4, presumably, to avoid a bag]. I'd pitch a top heart instead on that trick!

Shades of Bedrock! More geology. That statement, cast in stone, apparently settles the matter. Now can we all go home? "Not so fast," say our other panelists. "This rock's gonna crumble." Wow, it's starting to get interesting.

Purple Cow: The nil should have been set. West to blame.

There are a couple of concepts at work here. One is saving a low card to set the nil. The other is not being caught with only spades left in your hand as a defender. So let's cut to it.

West picked the right suit to attack at Trick 2. The heart suit will be North's downfall for sure -- as long as West saves the deuce. So let's turn to Trick 6.

West chose not to save the deuce, and the nil waltzed home. The lead of the 7 here is far superior. Now for those at the table who can't see all 52 cards, what does the immediate lead of the 2 accomplish that the 7 does not?

South would not play the 10 from an original 103 or 106 at Trick 2. It is quite safe to assume that he did not start with the 10x doubleton. The 2 cannot set this round. Thus the lead of the 7 is fine for our purposes (driving out South's heart coverage).

When the K takes the 7, it's obvious that this is South's last heart, and the road to the set is clear. West will gain the lead via trumping, and lead spades to pull South's ruffing coverage, and then lead the well-preserved deuce. One nil set.

That would be my recommended line of play, but as the play unfolded, West had even a second chance. North misplayed to the 2 lead by inserting the 3. I'd recommend the Q, or any other high heart. Again, South would not have played the 10 on the first round from 10x, thus from North's point of view, either South has the K, or is trumping this trick. Any possible ambiguity is eliminated since North holds both the J and 9, and in fact all the other high hearts. After South wins the K, North still has the 3 to duck the lead of the last outstanding heart, and the nil cannot be set in the heart suit.

Back to West. After North inserts the 3 on his deuce, what is the low outstanding heart? The 7 of course. Yet one round later, West pitches this on a diamond, leaving him holding only spades. Bah! He should simply trump in and lead spades until South's ruffing coverage is gone, and then lead the, ummm, "well-preserved" 7!

That seems right to us. Does anyone else agree?

Brandon: E/W blew the set, although N/S made some bad plays too. The key is West's heart holding: the 7,4, and especially the 2. Plus his long spades. Also South has two spades which is usually a problem when covering a nil. But since Pard bid first he must be confident.

The key was Round 7. West threw away the setting heart. Instead he should have trumped and led spades until South was empty, then led the 7.

We agree that with better E/W defense the nil bid should have foundered on the rocks. Sometimes the primrose path is but a rocky road.

It has not been a good day for Wests. Apparently, a long spade suit can be too much of a good thing. The court declares the current West to be yet another boulderbrain, and sentences him to a week of playing Spades in which he shall not be dealt more than three trumps per deal. Who knows? This sentence may actually be a blessing in disguise.