Two local duplicate players score big
With Greenwich residents returning to compete at local club games after the usual mid-winter respite, two of the town’s regular duplicate players placed at the top of the overall rankings in games during the past week at the Bridge Deck in White Plains. They were: Faye Marino, who finished first overall in Strat A on March 3; and Linda Otness, who finished second in Strat A on March 3 and also on March 8. Today's quiz:
Here is a second quiz designed to test your knowledge of the proper way to play common suit combinations. In the following two problems, you (the declarer) are given the dummy’s holding and your own in a particular suit. Assuming free access to either hand and that you have no clue from any opposing bidding, how would you play each suit to give yourself the best chance of making all the tricks without loss?
1. You — AJ9543; Dummy — Q10762.2. You — K1083; Dummy — AJ94. Answers:
1. Cash the ace in the hope of a 1-1 split. Chance of success: 52 percent (slightly better than finessing against your right-hand opponent for the king).
2. With five cards missing and no clue as to who might have the queen, either cash the king first (to guard against a singleton queen) and then take a finesse against your left-hand opponent, or cash dummy’s ace and then finesse against your right-hand opponent. Chance of success: 53 percent. It is to this specific situation that the adage “eight ever, nine never” applies, advising that when holding eight or fewer cards in a suit missing only the queen, it is correct to take a finesse, but with nine or more cards in the suit, the percentages favor playing for the queen to fall under the ace-king.