Test Your Bridge Skills #78

1. How many points does partner have?
At most 1 point, and there it is in full glory: the ♥J. Declarer showed at least 15 points with the 1NT opening, you have 14, and dummy has 10. That adds up to 39, which leaves partner with at most 1 point.

2. What are your chances of beating the contract?
Partner could have 6 Hearts and declarer a doubleton ♥KQ, which would make it possible to take 5 Heart tricks. If not, you will have to think of another tactic.

3. What would declarer’s plan be here?
Declarer will develop the Diamond suit, and use the Spades to reach dummy if there is no Diamond entry left.

4. Will you win the trick or play low, and why?
Win the ♥A and see which card declarer plays. You need to be on lead now to disrupt declarer’s plan.

5. You won with the ♥A and declarer followed with the ♥4. Now what?
There is no chance to develop partner’s Hearts, since declarer is marked with the ♥KQ. So you must try to sabotage declarer’s plan. How? Take away declarer’s entries to dummy.

6. How will you continue?
Play the ♠J at trick 2. Declarer will win with dummy’s ♠Q and start playing Diamonds. Watch partner’s count in this suit: partner plays the ♦7 first and then the ♦3, showing an even number of Diamonds. With 5 in dummy and 3 in your hand, that means declarer has 3. So you must hold up twice to cut declarer off from dummy. Win the ♦A on the third round and play the ♣J. Declarer now has 3 Club tricks, 2 Diamonds, 2 Hearts, and 1 Spade, which is 8 tricks, and no entry to dummy. If declarer tries a Spade to the ♠K, you win with your ♠A, and declarer cannot avoid losing 5 tricks.

Things to remember

1. On defense, always try to count partner’s points. This tells you what to expect from partner. In this hand, many players would take the ♥A and return a Heart, in case partner led from ♥KJ10xx. But by counting points, you realize partner has only the ♥J, so you can place all the missing honors in declarer’s hand.
2. Leads from KJ10 or AJ10: some players use natural leads, where the J can be the top of a sequence, but can also come from J10 with a higher honor (not the Q). Others play that the J always denies a higher honor, and lead the 10 from KJ10 or AJ10 (Journalist leads). Agree with your partner which leads you prefer.
3. Against NT, you usually try to develop your own or partner’s long suit. But if you see that is impossible, as in this hand, work out what declarer is trying to do and disrupt it. Here, declarer’s plan is clear: develop the long Diamond suit, and use a Spade as an entry if needed. So you must remove the Spade entry fast, and then hold up in Diamonds so declarer has no way back to dummy.
4. On defense, count is given in second and fourth seat when declarer is developing a long suit (you can also agree to give count on a king lead). With standard carding, as agreed above, high then low shows an even number of cards in the suit, and low then high shows odd. This helps the defender with the high card know when to take it: on the last card of the opponent with the shorter holding. Here, count told you declarer had 3 Diamonds, so you held up twice and won the ♦A on declarer’s third and last Diamond, to cut communication with dummy.
5. Although your defense was great, declarer could still make the contract by reading the position. After your Club return, declarer could cash the ♥KQ and then all the Clubs, letting you win the fourth Club with your ♣10. You are now end played, with only Spades left, so declarer scores dummy’s ♠K as the ninth trick. Not easy, though, as the cards could have been placed differently (for example, the ♠A in West, or Hearts 4-4).

1. How many losers do you have?
If you’re lucky and trumps break 3-2, you have 1 Heart loser, 3 Diamond losers, and 1 Club loser: 5 losers in total (6 if trumps are 4-1).

2. Where is the ♦A?
With East. East opened the bidding, showing 12 or more points, so West has at most 6 points, including the ♣QJ shown by the ♣Q lead. That leaves no room in West’s hand for the ♦A (unless East opened with 11).

3. Where is the ♥K?
Probably with East too, though there is a little room for West to have it.

4. What are your options to get rid of losers?
You need two finesses, in Diamonds and in Hearts, and hope that both work. You also need to promote the fourth Diamond. That way you lose only 2 Diamonds and 1 Club.

5. How many entries to dummy do you need for your plan?
Two, since you need to lead from dummy toward your hand for each finesse.

6. Do you have these entries?
You are in dummy now, after winning the ♣A, but there is no other entry in sight. However, there is a possible hidden entry: the fourth Diamond! For that, you also need Diamonds to break 3-2.

7. What will you play at trick 2?
A Diamond to the ♦K. If you take the Heart finesse now, you will have no entry left to lead a Diamond toward the ♦K.

8. How will you continue?
If East plays the ♦A at trick 2, follow with the ♦10 from your hand and keep the ♦5. If East plays low, win with your ♦K, draw trumps with the ♠AKQ, and then continue with the ♦10, again keeping your ♦5. The opponents will win the second Diamond and continue with Clubs. Ruff the third Club, and play the ♦9 for the third round of Diamonds, losing it to East. Ruff the fourth Club with your last trump, then reach dummy by playing your ♦5 to dummy’s ♦6, and take the Heart finesse to the ♥Q. The ♥A is your last trick.

Things to remember

1. A 1-level overcall shows 9 to 16 points. With more, double first and bid your suit on the next round. This shows a big double hand (a super overcall: an overcall hand with 17 to 20 points).
2. North’s first bid, 1♦, shows 0 to 8 points in response to a takeout double. With 9 to 11, North would have jumped to 2♦, and with 12 or more, North should have bid 2♣ (a cue bid) or 3NT with a good Club holding.
3. After South’s 1♠ rebid, North’s 2♠ is fine, showing about what North had. With more, North could bid 3♠, and with a maximum (about 8 points), North could have bid 4♠. So South’s 4♠ bid is a “bit” pushy, and needed a lot of luck: good Spade and Diamond splits, plus 2 working finesses.
4. Hidden entry: low cards can often be used as entries. Make sure to keep low cards (like the ♦5 here) so you can use them to reach the other hand.
5. Timing means playing your tricks in the right order. Once you saw you needed 2 finesses, it was important to start with the Diamond finesse straight away, to keep the chance for a Heart finesse later. It doesn’t work the other way around. If you start with the Heart finesse and draw trumps, you will go down: you then need to play Diamonds from your hand, and you will lose 3 Diamond tricks (the opponents will play a Club whenever they win a Diamond trick).