New quiz series begins
There were no players from Greenwich who placed in the overall rankings in duplicate games at either the Harte’s Club or the Bridge Deck during the past week. It is expected that by mid-March, attendance by local players at these two White Plains clubs, which has been very low for the past few weeks, will return to normal.
Today’s quiz: This week we begin a new series of quizzes on the proper play of common suit combinations. In both of the following problems, you are given your own and the dummy’s holding in a particular suit. Assuming free access to either hand, and that you have no clues from the bidding,
Answers:
how would you play each combination to give yourself the best chance to make all the tricks without loss?
1. You: A72; Dummy: KQ104
2. You: Q653; Dummy: AJ72
1. Cash the king and ace and, assuming the jack has not fallen, next play dummy’s queen. Chance of making all four tricks: 61 percent. This is slightly better than finessing against your left-hand opponent by playing the 10 on the third round, which will yield four tricks only 59 percent of the time.
2. The only legitimate way to play this combination for no losers is to lead low toward the dummy and finesse the jack, then cash the ace and hope your left-hand opponent started with the doubleton king. Chance of making all four tricks: 14 percent. Take no credit if you led the queen from your hand initially, as this could never bring in all four tricks in the suit without loss unless the opponents misdefended.
(If your left-hand opponent has the king, he will cover the queen with the king, creating a sure winner for the opponents on the thirdround of the suit.)