LEAD : ♥K
♠ ♥ ♦ ♣
Dummy A Q 10 6 9 6 3 A 10 5 K 9 2
W
N
S
Declarer ( Us )
♠ K J 8 5
♥ A 7 5
♦ K J 4
♣ A 6 4
We have two heart losers , one diamond loser , and one club loser . We can ’ t do anything about the heart losers and the club loser , but we can make the contract if we can decide which opponent holds the ♦Q . If we think it ’ s East , we can take the ♦A and then finesse the ♦J . If we think it ’ s West , we can take the ♦K and then finesse dummy ’ s ♦10 .
But why think at all ? Let ’ s get the opponents to do the work for us . We win the ♥A and then draw the defenders ' trumps , which takes three rounds when they are divided 3-2 . We now have a sure thing . We can first put the defenders on lead with their two heart winners . If they still don ’ t want to help us out by leading a diamond , we take our two club winners and put them back on lead once more .
These will be the remaining cards after we have lost two heart tricks and one club trick :
Dummy
♠ 10
4♠
♥ —
♦ A 10 5
♣ —
♠ —
♠ —
N
♥ 4
♥ —
W E
♦ ? 7 3
S ♦ ? 8 6
♣ —
♣ J
Declarer ( Us )
♠ J
♥ —
♦ K J 4
♣ —
We don ’ t care which opponent ended up on lead . Unless they
E
4♠ want to give us a helpful ruff and a sluff , they have to lead a diamond . Problem solved . A 50 % guess has been turned into a 100 % certainty .
On this next deal , we reach 4♥ . West leads the ♦10 . East wins with the ♦A and returns a diamond .
Dummy
♠ K 6 3
♥ K Q 9 5 4♥
♦ Q J 7
♣ J 7 3
LEAD : ♦10
W
N
S
Declarer ( Us )
♠ Q 5 2
♥ A 10 8 4
♦ K 5 2
♣ A K 6
We have two potential spade losers to go with the diamond trick we have already lost and a possible club loser . In clubs , we can hope one of the defenders started with a singleton or doubleton ♣Q . If that doesn ’ t happen , we are left to deal with that nasty spade suit . That ' s not good news . Unless we can find a defender with a singleton or doubleton ♠A , we are in trouble if they defend correctly .
By now , however , we ' ve seen how we can sometimes get the opponents to help us out , even though they may not want to .
We ' ll have to start by drawing the defenders ' trumps so they can ' t safely escape by leading that suit . Hopefully , that can be done in three rounds if the five missing hearts divide , as expected , 3-2 . On the actual deal , they do .
Next , we need to eliminate our remaining diamond winner . We don ’ t want to leave them with the option of putting us back on lead with a diamond .
Finally , we take our ♣A and ♣K , but no ♣Q appears . So , we lead a third round of clubs , giving up a trick to whichever defender holds the ♣Q . These cards remain :
E
♦ A
Dummy
♠ K 6 3 4♥
♥ 9
♦ —
♣ —
♠ J 9 8
♠ A 10 7
N
♥ —
♥ —
W E
♦ 9
S ♦ —
♣ —
♣ 10
Declarer ( Us )
♠ Q 5 2
♥ 10
♦ —
♣ —
If East is the defender who wins the ♣Q , East has no winning defense . Unless East wants to help us by leading a club and giving us a ruff and a sluff , East has to break open the spade suit for us . Whatever spade East leads , we are now guaranteed two spade tricks .
What if West was the one who wins the ♣Q ? West has to lead a spade and , if the defenders are careful , we ’ ll lose two spade tricks . Too bad . We gave it our best try . This time the opponents didn ’ t manage to help us out .
Conclusion The opponents don ’ t want to help us out , but sometimes they have no choice if we spot the opportunity and use it to our advantage . When making our plan , we look for :
• A suit better led by the opponents than by our side .
• A way to eliminate the opponents ’ opportunities to avoid leading the suit we want .
• A way to put the opponents on lead when they have no choice but to lead the suit we would like them to lead .
This is often easiest to bring about in a trump contract since we can often draw the missing trumps and eliminate one or more side suits so the opponents can ’ t lead them without giving us a ruff and a sluff . However , we can also bring about such positions in a notrump contract . We ’ ll leave that for another article !
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