Daily Bridge Club

Simple Saturday

“Fifty-two percent of my class was good at math; I was in the other thirty-eight percent.” — graffiti

You don’t need a math degree to play bridge well, but knowing basic percentages — how suits tend to break — is vital.

At five clubs, East takes two hearts and shifts to a spade. South takes the ace and needs to set up dummy’s diamonds for two spade discards. South might play for a 3-3 diamond break: He could draw trumps, take the K-A of diamonds and ruff a diamond. His chances would be about 36 percent.

BEST PLAY

South’s best play for the contract, though it might result in down two, is to draw trumps and lead a diamond from dummy to his jack. South can take the king, lead a trump to dummy, pitch a spade on the ace of diamonds and ruff a diamond. He returns with a trump to discard his last spade on the good fifth diamond.

The finesse will win 50 percent of the time, and diamonds will break 3-3 or 4-2 about 84 percent of the time. So the second play offers about a 42 percent chance.

DAILY QUESTION

You hold: ♠ Q96 ♥ AKQ83 Q 10 9 6 ♣ 4. The dealer, at your ♦ right, opens one club. You overcall one heart, the next player bids two clubs and two passes follow. What do you say?

ANSWER: Your partner has some points; if he had none, the opponents would have bid more. “Balance” with a double. To let them play in their fit at the two level is a losing approach. Your double is for takeout. You ask partner to bid a suit or show belated heart support. North dealer Neither side vulnerable ©2020 Tribune Content Agency, LLC