Hand of the Week #13




This Hand of the Week was dealt out randomly at this week's Monday night lesson session, and I couldn't have set it up better if I had tried. It's a declarer play problem. Find your best chance to make 4H:

S Q 5
H Q J 8 7 5
D T 8 2
C 8 6 5
   
S A 7 4 2
H K 9 6 4 2
D A Q 7
C A

With the opponents silent, South opens 1H; North, with no distribution, conservatively makes a simple raise of hearts rather than leaping to game; but South with 5-loser hand is happy to jump to 4H. The opening lead is a small spade.

The first card you play is the first key play of the hand. Calling for the SQ is your only chance to win two spade tricks. If you play small, East should play the jack or ten from KJxx or KTxx. And if East has neither the SJ nor the ST -- the opening lead would have been the 3J, not a small spade. But no such luck today. East covers the 3Q with the king. Now what?

The obvious line of play is to plan to pull trump, ruff two spades in dummy, and take a diamond finesse. You will lose one spade, the (A, and either one or two diamonds depending on whether the finesse works. But you can do better -- almost guarantee the contract -- with an endplay. You need to eliminate all the black cards from both hands, keep a trump in each hand, and then put West in the lead, forcing him to either lead a diamond for you or give you a ruff-and-sluff.

You do have to be careful you have enough entries to accomplish this. If you win the first spade and immediately start on pulling trumps, East will win the (A and lead a second and third round of spades, and leave you an entry short to be able to ruff all your clubs. Make sure you cash the #A to prepare to crossruff the black suits, before you let your opponents back into the lead with the (A or the second spade.

The complete deal was set up beautifully for a lesson hand, with the 3K and $K both offside so the "two finesses" line of play fails and the endplay is necessary to make the contract. (And why was West's opening lead a spade and not the #Q? I don't know. But it's really what happened, and makes the declarer play problem much more interesting.)

S Q 5
H Q J 8 7 5
D T 8 2
C 8 6 5
S 6 3
H T 3
D K 9 5
C Q J T 9 5 4
[table marker] S K J T 9 8
H A
D J 6 4 3
C K 7 2
S A 7 4 2
H K 9 6 4 2
D A Q 7
C A



Back to HOTW index
Back to Articles index
Back to TaigaBridge home

This page last updated 16.06.08
©2008 Gordon Bower