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“Gotcha”

It may not seem so when you see dummy but it is nice to know you are going to make your contract by following a few basic guidelines, by watching and with just a modicum of good fortune.

 

You arrive in a rather tenuous 3NT contract with dummy’s Q scoring the first trick after West led J. You can count to 8 tricks. What is your plan for trick number 9? (n.b. West has only one club.)

Jan Cormack

Jan’s Day: Learn to read your cards with expertise

“The art of card reading is something you should train yourself to do with every deal, regardless of whether or not you consider it necessary.

Admittedly, it requires a lot of patience and work but it really is not as hard as some players make it out to be.

One of Europe’s past leading bridge authorities, Victor Mollo, put it this way:

“Learning to count a hand is like plunging into a cold bath, difficult and a little frightening until you get into the habit. Then it comes quite easily and leaves you with a pleasant tingling sensation when it is all over.”

This deal illustrates the profits which can be reaped from accurate counting.

 

West’s 2 showed a six-card suit with a maximum 8 hcp. North’s 3 asked for a spade hold and South provided one. Although 5 would have been much easier to make, it was difficult for North-South to judge that.

After K won the first trick, South took stock. She was fairly confident that East held the A as with 5 hcp in spades, A would have given West too many points for their weak jump.

Therefore, South played five rounds of clubs which squeezed West in an unusual way. West had to retain all three diamonds and yet had to find four discards. If West threw two cards in each major suit, South could afford to lose a trick to the A (the defence could only win three spades and A).

So, West discarded three hearts and just one spade. South once more should pause to take stock.

South knew West had started with at least 6 spades, with one club and with three hearts. This left three cards unknown. If West still had one heart and two diamonds, then the contract was always doomed (heart entry to the East hand) unless West’s doubleton was specifically QJ.

Therefore, covering that possibility, South played AK and a third diamond. West was beautifully end-played and had to present declarer with their ninth trick in the form of the Q.

At the other table (it was Teams), the auction was similar and the opening lead again J. South tried to catch East napping by leading a heart from dummy. However, East was alert to that, won the A and returned a spade for the defence to beat the contract by two tricks with A and five spade tricks.”

The basic guideline was in running one’s long suit first. The watching was in literally seeing which cards West threw and then in counting out their hand. The good fortune was that West did hold three diamonds, thus being end-played. That piece of good fortune was well earned.

It hurts initially but it’s worth the effort!

A Common Mistake

 

The bidding was competitive but North-South reached a reasonable game contract. West led 6. Plan the play.

Richard Solomon

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