TRY TO IDENTIFY THE DANGER OPPONENT
One of the toughest topics in declarer-play is the danger hand. As you can guess, that is the theme of today’s deal. South is in three notrump. After West leads his fourth-highest spade, what should declarer do if East either plays the queen, or wins with the ace and returns the spade nine?
South starts with seven top tricks: one spade, one heart, four diamonds and one club. He can generate extra tricks in the rounded suits, but which finesse should he try?
First, let us consider the situation when East plays the spade queen. After South takes the trick with the spade king, who is the danger hand?
Right — East. If he gets in, he will lead a spade through declarer’s jack. So South should cross to the dummy with a diamond and take the heart finesse. Even though the finesse loses, West cannot hurt South. If West switches to a club, declarer wins with
CLOSE TO HOME:
the ace and claims his nine tricks: one spade, three hearts, four diamonds and one club.
What happens when East wins trick one with the spade ace and returns a spade? If South wins with the king and takes a losing rounded-suit finesse, the opponents may be able to cash enough spade tricks to defeat him. Instead, declarer plays the spade jack and takes the third round with his king. Now he must keep West off the lead. South runs the club jack. Yes, that finesse also loses, but when East shifts to a heart, declarer wins with his ace and has 10 tricks: one spade, one heart, four diamonds and four clubs.