Hand of the day #307
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This conundrum was written by Mark Horton and was originally published in the book, Misplay These Hands With Me - you can find out all about it further down the page.
West leads the king of hearts and dummy is a veritable treasure trove:
I ruff the king of hearts and play a spade to the king, everyone following. I take a second round of trumps, but East shows out, completing a high-low in hearts. When I play the jack of diamonds, West plays the five and I overtake with the queen. East considers this for a moment but then plays the six.
Taking my remaining chance, I play a club to the jack. West wins with the queen, cashes the queen of spades and exits with a heart. I ruff and play a diamond, hoping to endplay East, but he wins and produces a heart. I ruff, but when the king of clubs fails to fall under the ace, I am one down.
This was the layout:
Post-mortem
After I ruff the opening lead, it was a mistake to use a precious entry to dummy so soon. I should cash the ace of spades at Trick 2 and then play on diamonds right away.
If East takes the ace of diamonds on the third round of the suit and plays a fourth diamond, I simply discard a club. All I lose is a trump, a diamond and a club. If East takes the ace of diamonds on the first or second round of the suit and continues hearts, the simplest line is to ruff, cross to dummy’s king of trumps, ruff a heart and continue with a third round of trumps. There is at least one diamond left in hand to reach dummy’s winners. It would not help East to switch to a low club after taking his ace of diamonds on the first or second round. I can then duck, forcing West to win the trick, after which I am in complete control.
Horton leads the reader through a plausibly logical line of play on each instructive deal, but one that ends in failure. In each post-mortem, the 'expert' realizes how he could have improved on his play, and (usually) have made his contract. The deals are all from top-class events, which prove to be a remarkably fertile source of such material. A book filled with subtle humor and great bridge. Reviews Misplay with Me is the best written bridge book since Reese. I thoroughly enjoyed it. - Charles Lipman
