Hand
of the Fortnight
Theme:
Don’t believe the saying “Never look a gift horse in the
mouth”
when playing bridge!
(Translated to mean:
Don’t always take a trick offered to you.)
You are sitting East. Dealer is South. N/S are playing 4 card Standard American. The bidding has gone:
S
W
N
E
1S
/
2D
/
2H
/
3D
/
3NT
/
/
//
Opening lead is HQ. South immediately captures with the HA. (Remember the “deception” theme? Unless partner underleads, you know HK is in South’s hand but your partner isn’t sure.)
When dummy goes down, you see:
North (dummy)
S: 6
3
H: 8 7
2
D: A K Q J
T
C: Q 7 4
East (you)
S: A 9
8
H: 5
4
D: 9 7 5
2
C: A 9 8
6
On trick 2, South leads CK. On most occasions you’d very quickly see a small Diamond led to the juicy bunch in dummy.
A: Since
South (declarer) did not immediately make use of dummy’s Diamonds, it
seems sure that
Q2: Are there any
OTHER ENTRIES (to dummy’s Diamonds)?
A: Only
1! The CQ.
So DON’T TAKE THE CK
with your CA. Keep it to CAPTURE THE CQ (to prevent entry to
dummy).
Occasionally Declarer might be trying to get a Club trick through to make up the required quota of tricks but usually they are trying to SET UP AN ENTRY TO DUMMY.
Number
10
(continued)
The
Full Deal:
North:
S: 6
3
H: 8 7
2
D: A K Q J
T
West:
East:
S: Q 7 2
S: A 9
8
H: Q J T 9
H: 5
4
D: 8 6 4 3
D: 9 7 5
2
South:
S: K J T 5
4
H: A K 6
3
D:
-
C: K J 5
3
Other
Main Points:
(A) There was nothing wrong with N/S’s bidding.
(B) If you are caught without an entry (as above),
(1) “Offer the bait” (as with CK above) ........... and if that doesn’t work
(2)
Play for the CA to be in the “onside hand” (i.e. the hand IN FRONT of the
entry
– viz CA in West’s hand if CQ is in North’s hand.)
(C) Even a suit
contract may need a similar strategy to get an entry to
Dummy.
* * * * * * * * * *