Hand of the Week #31

This week's featured hand is a declarer play problem that came up at the Tuesday 25 November game. Your RHO passes, you open a weak 2, and your partner raises you to four. The opening lead is a top diamond, and this is what you see:

	A Q J 5 2 K 7 8 A J 9 8 6
	7 6 Q J T 9 8 6 7 Q T 5 4

Seeing the singleton diamond in dummy, LHO switches to a small trump. RHO wins the ace and leads another heart to run dummy out of trumps.

You have lost both red aces, and you have an opportunity to finesse against both black kings. At first glance, you'll take 9, 10, or 11 tricks according to whether neither, one, or both finesses work. Does it matter which finesse you take first?

First -- did you remember to play the K on the first round of hearts? If not, you'll be embarrassed to be stuck in the dummy to lead away from one of your ace-queens at trick four.

If you planned carefully, you will be in your hand to pull the last trump and then take the club finesse (leading the queen or ten, so you can repeat the finesse if it works.) You are never going to take a spade finesse at all; you are going to throw one of your small spades away on dummy's fifth club. You don't even care much if the club finesse works. You will win 10 tricks even if it fails.

Leading a spade from your hand is what is disparagingly called a "practice finesse": it costs you a trick when it's wrong, but gains you nothing when it works. Even if the spade finesse works, you'll have to cash the ace of spades, ruff a spade to your hand, and then try the club finesse too.

The full deal (board 20, rotated to put declarer as South - the weak two bidder was sitting North originally):

Dealer East Both vul	A Q J 5 2 K 7 8 A J 9 8 6
T 9 5 4 A K J T 4 2 K 3 2		K 8 4 3 A 3 2 Q 9 6 5 3 7
	7 6 Q J T 9 8 6 7 Q T 5 4

Yes, East-West should compete in diamonds: Pass - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - Pass - Pass - Double would be a sensible auction, going down only one for a good sacrifice. Looking at all four hands, we can see that West would be better off switching to the T at trick two, but if East hasn't had a chance to raise diamonds, West will expect South to have one or two more diamonds and want to lead trumps to prevent diamond ruffs.

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