Hand of the day #211
The Aces On Bridge by Bobby Wolff This column aims to amuse, as well as to educa...
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.
With your side vulnerable, you open 1♦, West overcalls 1♥, and partner makes a negative double, unlimited, showing four spades. East ups the ante to 4♥, typically showing thirteen cards at this vulnerability. You double to show a strong hand lacking direction. Your double elicits 5♦ from partner, ending the auction. West leads the ♥Q. Plan the play. Diamonds are 1-1.
You are looking at a heart loser along with two possible spade losers. The ♣Q is a mirage. The club finesse doesn’t help even if it works. Nor does it help if West leads a club into your ♣AQ, as a spade discard from dummy does you no good. Concentrate on spades.
The sure way to avoid two spade losers, even if West has the ♠K, is to force West to lead a spade into your ♠AQ. You can do it, but it requires a little work!
Your first important play comes at Trick 1 where you must duck the opening lead to keep East, the danger hand, from getting in to lead a spade. Say West shifts to a safe trump (best) at Trick 2. Win in dummy, play the ♣A and ruff a club and now another big play, the ♥K. Assuming East covers, ruff, then ruff your ♣Q eliminating that suit, and exit dummy with the ♥10, discarding a spade as West surely has the ♥J.
What is West to lead? A spade return goes smack into ‘Jaws’ (the ♠AQ), and any other return allows you to ruff in dummy and discard the ♠Q from your hand.
Would you like to know what you have done on this hand in ‘bridgese’? You have made an avoidance ducking play at Trick 1, then you transferred the heart menace from East to West, and for kickers you made a loser-on-loser throw-in play after stripping the hand. This is an advanced hand, after all, but the key, as ever, is first recognizing the problem and then figuring out how to resolve it.
The West hand: ♠K54 ♥QJ986 ♦3 ♣KJ64
The East hand: ♠J108 ♥A754 ♦2 ♣109875
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.
