Bidding quiz BRIDGE
1. You are declarer with the West hand at Seven Hearts, and North leads the nine of trump. How would you play the hand?
West East
[S]AK85 [S]74
[H]AKQJ10 [H]42
[D]AK [D]852
[C]83 [C]AKQ765
2. You are declarer with the West hand at Three Notrump. North leads the queen of diamonds, on which South plays the seven. How would you play the hand?
West East
[S]AK [S]QJ3
[H]J874 [H]A65
[D]A962 [D]83
[C]AQJ [C]109875
***
1. You have a choice between drawing all the adverse trumps and hoping that the missing clubs are divided 3-2, or winning
the trump lead and then playing the A-K and another spade, planning to ruff in dummy. The danger in the latter line of play is that if the opposing spades are divided 5-2 or 6-1, either defender may ruff the second or third lead. This is a matter of percentages. There is a 68% chance that the adverse clubs are divided 3-2, but only a 62% chance of the spades dividing 4-3. Because the favorable club division is more likely than the favorable spade division, the best approach is to draw trump and rely on the clubs to break 3-2 rather than try to ruff a spade in dummy.
2. You can count nine potential tricks: four clubs, three spades, a heart and a diamond. The problem is how to collect
them, as both black suits are blocked, and you are short of entries to dummy.
You might not be able to achieve your goal if the North-south cards are
divided unfavorably, but careful play will nevertheless give you an excellent chance. You start by winning the queen of diamonds with the ace, since there is almost no chance that North-south can cash more than three diamond tricks. Furthermore, taking the first trick avoids the possibility that North might shift to a heart and drive out your only entry to dummy’s club and spade tricks.
Next you play the A-K of spades and A-Q of clubs. If the club queen loses to the king, your worries are over, because whenever you get to dummy with a heart, you can
discard your bothersome jack of clubs on dummy’s queen of spades to unblock the club suit. If the club queen holds the trick, you continue with the jack, forcing out the king if the missing clubs are divided 3-2.
Observe that it is vital to cash your A-K of spades early; if you fail to do so, you might find yourself unable to unblock the clubs later on.
Tomorrow: Be thankful for small favors.