Hand of the day #393
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This conundrum was written by Danny Roth and was originally published in the book Better Declarer Play - Placing the Cards - you can find out all about it further down the page.
Question 1
West leads the ♥2. How do you continue?
You have eight top tricks and a 3-3 club split will give you a ninth. You have been lucky to avoid a spade attack but if the clubs do not break evenly, the diamonds will have to come in. Before committing to the finesse or the drop, it is best to try to get a count on the hand. Cash the three top clubs. If West shows out, he can be counted for four hearts (on the lead) and two clubs. Thus, if he only has two diamonds, he would have five spades: surely a preferable lead. The implication is that he has three diamonds and therefore that the finesse is the percentage approach.
Possible deal:
If West shows length in clubs, the diamond drop is probably more likely.
Score 10 if you found the line as above. Reduce to 6 if you played on diamonds early
Question 2
West starts by cashing the two top diamonds, East discarding the ♠3 on the second round and ruffing the third. East shifts to the ♥10. How do you play?
Would it make any difference if East had shifted to a low spade?
Three tricks have already been lost and there will be at least one more in hearts, so the ♣Q has to be found. The clues lie in the bidding. The diamonds are known to be 5-1 and the heart bid and raise show that East has four and West three. Neither defender bid spades, so it is a virtual certainty that they are 4-4.
That marks East with 4=4=1=4, so a club should be played to the king with a finesse on the way back. Later, a heart loser will be discarded on the ♦Q. Therefore, if East plays a spade at Trick 4, you must win it in hand to preserve an entry to dummy.
Possible deal:
Score 10 if you found the line as above. Reduce to 5 if you played for the drop in clubs and to 2 if you won the spade shift in dummy but still got the club right.
The second book in Danny Roth’s intermediate-level series on declarer play, this book covers topics that, once mastered, will bring any intermediate player an immediate improvement in their scores. Topics include: placing the cards missing one honor, missing two honors, missing three honors, inferences from the defense and second-degree assumption. This book is designed to help you to get a more accurate picture of the unseen hands and thus avoid ‘wild guessing’; or, at least, improve your chances of avoiding unnecessary mistakes.
As always, the author’s clear exposition of his points is followed by a collection of quiz problems where the reader can test their understanding of this new-found knowledge.
East should have been given the DJ singleton or the D9 singleton.
East should have been given the DJ singleton or the D9 singleton.
In Question 2, what happens if West leads DJ on the third trick? If dummy covers, then East ruffs. If dummy ducks, then East discards a major, and the fourth diamond is led by West and ruffed by East. In either case, no play allows 3C to be made.
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