The bidding is of some interest. Partner opens 1♦ in third seat. My RHO overcalls 1♠. I find myself stuck for a bid as we play 1N here would show at least a partial spade stopper like Qx or Jxx, so I pass. The auction is passed back to my partner, who goes ahead and shows her hand with 2♥, a reverse showing about 17 or more HCP and at least 5 diamonds and 4 hearts.
I am still stuck for a bid but I settle on 3♥. I choose not to pass since partner could still be 19 or 20 points. My 7 HCP hand, including an ace and two 10’s, will be helpful and game is not yet out of the question.
My partner did an excellent job of reading my 3♥ bid. I am unlikely to hold 4 hearts since I did not make a Negative Double over 1♠. But I must have something or I would have passed 2♥. Meanwhile, she didn’t have that strong version of a reverse and passed.
Turning to the play of the hand, 4-3 fits are not hard to manage—they are easier than squeezes for those of you who think squeezes are the castor oil of bridge—but they do need to be treated with care.
This deal illustrates a key principle in declaring 4-3 fits: if at all possible, go out of your way to avoid ruffing in the hand holding 4 trumps. Your goal is to keep control of the trump suit even if they break 4-2. Since 4-2 is the most likely break, occurring a little more than 48% of the time, it is best to assume that is the break you are getting (though if the hand cannot be made if trumps break 4-2, then hope you are you are getting a 3-3 break, and play as though you are). The 3-3 occurs a little less than 36% of the time. Together these two breaks occur almost 84% of the time. The 5-1 break is particularly challenging to handle, occurring almost 15%. And the 6-0 break is a disaster for 4-3 fits but only occurs 1.5% of the time.
Back to the play of the hand, W led his ♠K, which Declarer ducked. So he continued with his ♠Q. (It would have been better to continue with a low spade so that the spade suit doesn’t block.) Declarer won perforce with her ♠A.
Once in, Declarer started hearts with a low heart up to Dummy’s 10. This is ill-advised. Declarer needs to save the ♥10 in Dummy for possibly ruffing spades, as we will see. [Things get a bit complicated here because if declarer has to use the ♥10 to ruff a spade, she will need a 3-3 break to avoid 2 heart losers, since her ♥2 is lower than whatever hearts the hand holding four hearts has.] Suppose Declarer plays a high heart from her hand and East takes the ♥A and leads his SJ.
To maintain control in case trumps are 4-2, Declarer should not ruff in her hand! She should slough a diamond instead. RHO cannot continue spades so let’s say he exits a diamond. Declarer should win in Dummy and lead a low club in order to drive out their club entry before she finishes drawing trump, and while she can still ruff spades with in Dummy that all-important ♥10. The low club from dummy comes around to her ♣K and LHO’s ♣A.
She has now lost 4 tricks: 2 spades, 1 heart and 1 club. No matter what LHO exits, she wins, draws trump and makes 9 tricks.
Declarer got a 3-3 break which was helpful. If one opponent had ♥A9xx, she probably would have been set. On the other hand, a good partner would have shown up with the ♥1095 rather than the ♥1075.
The next time you happen to find yourself in a 4-3 trump fit, do not despair – and do not panic. Just be careful not to ruff in the hand with 4 trumps, if at all possible. Discard losers from that hand instead—a loser-on-loser play—until the hand with only 3 trumps can do the ruffing.
While doing so, remember Alphonso! You may find 4-3 Moysian fits hard to handle, but at least you do not have to write 14 bridge columns a week for 20 years.
