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BRIDGE BITES #22
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COUNTING THE HAND
Brian
Gunnell |
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♠ AJ94
♥
QJ94
♦
Q
♣ Q542 |
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E-W Vulnerable
South West North
East
2♦
Dbl 4♦
4♠ Pass
Pass Pass
West’s 2♦
was a Weak Two, showing less than opening values and a 6-card suit.
East further crowded N-S by jumping to 4♦
and South tried 4♠. The good news for E-W is that they have bounced N-S
into a poor contract, the bad news for them is that you can make your
contract if you do a little counting. |
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Dummy
West East
Declarer |
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♠ T7652
♥
A865
♦
2
♣ KJ3 |
You must lose a Club and a
Diamond. That means that you must play the trump suit for one loser and the
Heart suit for no losers. West leads the
♦A
and shifts to the ♣T. East wins the Ace and returns a Club to your King
(mercifully, West follows suit). How do you play the trump suit?
►
All things being equal (ignoring
clues from the bidding and the play), you have a 76% chance of success if you
finesse twice in trumps, hoping for West to have one or both of the missing
trump honors. An alternative is to cash the ♠A first, that is only a 66%
chance. What is your choice?
►
That’s right, you’ll go with the
66% chance, you cannot afford to finesse in trumps for fear of running into a
Club ruff. So you play ♠A and another Spade. East’s King wins the second
Spade, West following with the Queen, so the trumps have successfully been
negotiated for one loser. Now East returns a Club which you win in Dummy. You
lead the ♥Q
and it wins the trick. What next?
►
You can either play a low Heart
to the Ace, hoping that East has started with doubleton King … or you can lead
the Jack, hoping to squash West’s doubleton Ten and set up the Nine. There’s no
need to guess this one. West has six Diamonds for his 2♦
bid, and has shown up with two Spades and two Clubs. That leaves three Hearts!
So, Declarer plays a low Heart from Dummy and, sure enough, the King pops
out of East’s hand.
►
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♠ AJ94
♥
QJ94
♦
Q
♣ Q542 |
|
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♠ Q8
♥
T72
♦
AKT653
♣ T9 |
Dummy
West East
Declarer |
♠ K3
♥
K3
♦
J9874
♣ A876 |
|
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♠ T7652
♥
A865
♦
2
♣ KJ3 |
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Of course, if East had known that
you would be so unsporting as to count out the distribution, then he would have
covered the Queen with the King and given you a guess for the
♥T!
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