Hand of the day #163
The Aces On Bridge by Bobby Wolff Opening Lead: ♣5 Playing a 15-17 no-trump an...
This conundrum was written by Eddie Kantar and was originally published in the book Take All Your Chances - you can find out all about it further down the page.
After you open 1♥ in fourth seat, partner’s leap to 4♥ ends the bidding. West leads the ♠2, fourth best, to East’s ♠K and your ♠A.
You are staring at three losers, two spades and the♦A, not to mention possibly the ♥K. Working with diamonds gives you a 50% shot as they will win and cash their spade tricks, reducing you to the heart finesse.
If you take the heart finesse and it loses, down you go. But wait! What about the club finesse? If that works, you can discard a spade from dummy on the ♣A. But wait! What if the club finesse loses and the heart finesse was working all along?
Both finesses are 50-50 propositions, but rather than guess which finesse to take, remember the magic word, ‘combine’! And guess what? There is a two-king combining rule.
If you are dealing with two suits each missing a king and a finesse for either will land you your contract, but you are going down if you take the wrong one, play the ace of the longer suit (in this case, hearts), and if the king doesn’t drop, take a finesse in the shorter suit (here, clubs).
The chance of finding the singleton ♥K (26%) coupled with taking the club finesse if the ♥K doesn’t drop, is your best bet (63%). Also, when you lead a heart to the ♥A, lead the ♥Q. West may be someone who has covered every honor with an honor since birth.
As an aside, the percentage play with ten cards in a suit between your hand and dummy, missing the king, is to finesse rather than play for the drop of the singleton king. The numbers are huge: 50% for the finesse, 24% for the drop. A word to the wise.
Selecting the best line of play in a bridge hand as declarer is not easy. Most novices know something about basic odds and percentages, and can often find a line that offers a reasonable chance of success. However, the expert will skillfully combine options, so as to take advantage of more than chance. Rather than putting all his eggs in one basket, he will 'stay alive', squeezing out every extra chance. In this book of intermediate problems, Kantar shows the reader how to do this — there is always a line of play that will allow you take all your chances, and bring home your contract.
