Complimentary Issue of Better Bridge Magazine March / April 2020 | Page 20

THE PLAY’S THE THING
Here are two challenging deals, with the contracts established and the leads given. How would you
play them? Assume you are playing rubber bridge or a team game where the objective is to make the
contract. Have fun with these hands!
♠
♥
♦
♣
LEAD
♠ J
Q 4
8 7 3
A 7 5 3 2
J 6 4
n
w
LEAD
♦ J
e
s
♠
♥
♦
♣
K 4 2
7 5 3
K 8 4
J 7 6 3
♠
♥
♦
♣
1NT
A K 5
A Q 6 2
9 8 4
Q 7 3
n
w
e
s
A Q J 8 6 5
K 10 9
A 6 2
A
♠
♥
♦
♣
West leads the ♠J against your 1NT contract. How do
you plan to take seven tricks?
4♠
West leads the ♦J against your 4♠ contract. How do
you plan to take ten tricks?
Cover the bottom of the page while you plan the play.
♠
♥
♦
♣
♠
♥
♦
♣
Q 4
8 7 3
A 7 5 3 2
J 6 4
J 10 9 6 3
n
K 10
w
e
Q 10
s
K 9 5 2
♠ A K 5
♥ A Q 6 2
♦ 9 8 4
♣ Q 7 3
1NT
♠
♥
♦
♣
8 7 2
J 9 5 4
K J 6
A 10 8
You start with three spade winners, one heart, and one
diamond. Two more tricks are needed. Both might come
from hearts with the help of a finesse if East holds the
♥K and the six missing hearts divide 3-3, but that’s
less than a 20% chance. Playing clubs is more likely to
establish tricks for the opponents than your side. So, the
best chance is to try to establish two extra diamond tricks
through length. That requires the five missing diamonds
to divide 3-2, a nearly 70% chance.
To establish diamonds, two tricks must be given up
to the opponents. You will also need an entry to the
winners once they are established, and the only entry is
the ♦A. Win the first trick and play a low diamond from
both hands. Assuming the defenders continue with spades,
win and again play a low diamond from both hands. On
regaining the lead, play a diamond to dummy’s ♦A and
take the established winners.
18
A udrey G rant ’ s B etter B ridge | M arch -A pril 2020
♠
♥
♦
♣
10
A J 8 4 2
J 10 9 5
Q 9 4
♠
♥
♦
♣
K 4 2
7 5 3
K 8 4
J 7 6 3
n
w
e
s
♠
♥
♦
♣
A Q J 8 6 5
K 10 9
A 6 2
A
4♠
♠
♥
♦
♣
9 7 3
Q 6
Q 7 3
K 10 8 5 2
There are three potential heart losers and a diamond
loser. You can’t do anything about the diamond loser, so
you need to hold the heart losers to two. You could plan
to lead a low heart from dummy to the ♥K, but there’s
only a 50% chance East holds the ♥A. Since you hold
the ♥10 and ♥9, you can improve the odds to 75% by
taking repeated heart finesses.
Win the first trick with the ♦A and draw three rounds of
trumps, ending with the ♠K in dummy. Lead a low heart
and, when East follows with a low heart, finesse the ♥9.
If this loses to the ♥J or ♥Q, on regaining the lead,
enter dummy with the ♦K and lead another low heart,
planning to finesse the ♥10 if East follows with another
low heart. Playing this way, you will avoid a heart loser
if East holds the ♥Q or the ♥J or both the ♥Q and ♥J.
Only if West holds both the ♥Q and ♥J will the repeat
finesse fail. On the actual deal, East’s ♥Q appears on the
second round. If you didn’t draw trumps before playing
hearts, East could get a heart ruff.