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For Junior, Intermediate and Novice players…and others. It’s Fri Day.

It’s Friday not Doomsday!

It is though a day when the opposition attack your weakest suit. Why do they always seem to find the right lead when you are declarer and your partner never seems to produce a helpful card when you are on lead? Come on, we know that is not true….but!

 

Your 2NT showed a balanced 15-17 hcp and your partner raised to game with high hopes of plenty of club tricks. All good so far but West puts the Q on the table at trick 1. How are you feeling? Yes, you had wished you had not bid 2NT…but you did and it was the correct bid! Which card do you play from dummy at trick 1?

You know the only diamond card  between yours and dummy’s holdings which could possibly win a trick is K. Chances are that East has the A. So, no point in playing K. Play low and when West wins the trick, they continue with J. What now? Assuming East still has the A, again play low. If West has been clever and held initially AQJT3, well, say “great lead” to them. Yet, mostly, that will not be the situation.

Don’t cover…and you will see below the reason why:

 

You might have noticed that East played 8 on the first round but you surely should see A on the second round! Suddenly, you have a diamond trick! Life’s not so bad!

At trick 3, East switches to a spade. Find out who has the K. Play low from hand and West wins with K. They then play a third round of diamonds.

Now, you do not want to let West get the lead because you know they have two winning diamonds to cash. So, play a club to your king and a second club to the J, taking a finesse. It loses! No worries, as East cannot harm you. You have only lost 4 tricks (2 diamonds, K and Q). Let’s assume East now plays a heart. No finesse this time as you can take the remaining tricks without that risk.

You win A and cross to the Q in dummy and run your 4 remaining club winners before playing a second heart to your K. You can even discard A for show as you have 9 tricks without it….5 club tricks, AK, K and Q. Contract made with no worries….well, just a little worry at the start! 

Remember, only cover an honour with an honour if in doing so, it could benefit your side. Had you played K at trick 1, you would have lost the first 5 tricks, all diamonds and then been gloomy. 

Richard Solomon

Ps. For more advanced players.  It would be very hard for South to succeed in 3NT if they played low in dummy at trick 1 but East played their ace and returned a second diamond. To have any chance of success, declarer must win the diamond return, play a heart to the ace and play 5 (not K) and finesse. Assuming East wins their Q, declarer can win the spade return with A and overtake K with A to run club winners. If South takes the more normal route of K and then a second club, the contract will fail (no entry to dummy). If East ducks Q, declarer can get 4 heart winners without letting West get the lead.

The above does not affect declarer’s play at trick 1 and they should not play K.

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