BRIDGE BITES #5
|
IT
PAYS TO COUNT
Brian Gunnell |
♠ 852
♥
KQ
♦
AKT98
♣ 742 |
Dummy
West East
Declarer |
♠ AQ763
♥
JT3
♦
542
♣ 65 |
Before seeing the auction,
imagine you're South, declaring 2♠. How would you tackle the trump
suit?
►
The percentage play to avoid a
second loser is to cash the Ace (a precaution against West having the singleton
King), then cross to Dummy and lead towards the Queen. That gets the job done
whenever East has the King and it is doubleton or tripleton. Now let’s replay
the hand, this time with an auction to guide us:
None Vulnerable
South West North East
1♦
Pass
1♠ Dbl 2♠ Pass
Pass Pass
West leads the ♣A and East plays
the Queen (denying the King, showing the Jack). Clubs are continued and you ruff the third
round. Next, you cash the ♠A, and lead a Heart which East wins. A Heart comes
back, won on the board, and it’s time to lead a Spade. Do you make the “normal”
play in Spades? Or is there a reason to play a low Spade from hand
(hoping that West started with ♠Kx)?
►
Yes, there is a cast-iron reason
to play low from hand on that second Spade! Declarer needs only to
remember West’s Double of 1♠ and then to do some counting. West has 7
points in Clubs, a maximum of 3 in Diamonds and none in Hearts. That’s not
enough for his bidding! He surely has the ♠K and your only chance is that West started
with King doubleton. Such an easy hand for those who take the trouble to do a
little counting.
►
|
♠ 852
♥
KQ
♦
AKT98
♣ 742 |
|
♠ KT
♥
8642
♦
Q76
♣ AK93 |
Dummy
West East
Declarer |
♠ J94
♥
A975
♦
J3
♣ QJT8 |
|
♠ AQ763
♥
JT3
♦
542
♣ 65 |
|
Yes, sure enough, the
♠K
is offside and doubleton, and our counting Declarer brings home her contract,
losing just one Spade, a Heart, a Diamond and two Clubs.
Back to the auction, which you
will recall was:
None Vulnerable
South West North East
1♦
Pass
1♠ Dbl 2♠ Pass
Pass Pass
What do you think of the E-W
bidding?
►
The suggested answer to that
question is “Not very much!” Playing matchpoints, E-W should be going out of
their way to push their opponents up to the three-level, and here they even have
the safety net of being non-vulnerable. So the next question is “Which of E-W
was remiss in this auction?”
►
Perhaps they both were! Over 2♠,
East could have doubled to offer Partner a choice of Clubs or Hearts … and when
2♠
was passed around to West, he could have doubled one more time, not because he
had any extras but because he didn’t want to sell out to 2♠. If E-W do compete to the 3-level
(in Clubs or Hearts), they will be down one. That’s better than scoring -110,
and there is always the chance that N-S will push on to 3♠
and that E-W will get a plus score.
Back to Index
|