BRIDGE BITES #90
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RISK AND REWARD
Brian Gunnell |
♠ A
♥
Q63
♦
AQJ96
♣ K863 |
Both Vulnerable
South West North
East
1♦
Pass
1♥
Pass 2♣ Pass
2NT
Pass 3NT Pass
Pass Pass
In a team
game or a money game, making the contract is
all-important, and overtricks are merely a secondary
consideration. But, in duplicate bridge, the method of
scoring
rewards overtricks and, as we’ll see, that can
influence the play of the hand. |
Dummy
West East
Declarer |
♠ K654
♥
A542
♦
832
♣ A5 |
First, try this 3NT in a team
game, and focus entirely on making the contract. West leads ♠J, won in Dummy.
What’s the simple route to 9 tricks?
►
You can see that four Diamond
tricks will suffice to make the contract and, as a safety play against East
having the singleton King, you might cash the
♦A
first. That doesn’t produce the King so you now lead the
♦Q
from Dummy, and when the dust clears, you have 9 tricks. Routine stuff!
However, playing the same
contract in a duplicate game, you are more likely to try for an overtrick or two
and, under the right circumstances, might even risk his contract in the
process. As before, West leads the ♠J, won in Dummy. Do you plunk down the
♦A, as
before?
►
No, you don’t! In your quest for
overtricks you say “Phooey!” to that safety play, and will try for five Diamond
tricks. So, you cross to the ♣A and finesse the
♦Q,
East playing the Ten on that trick. Now, you can see 10 easy tricks in
your future. You cross to the
♥A, cash the ♠K (otherwise
it will be stranded), and run the
♦8,
allowing you to pick up West’s ♦K754.
Here is the full deal:
►
|
♠ A
♥
Q63
♦
AQJ96
♣ K863 |
|
♠ JT982
♥
K98
♦
54
♣ QT4 |
Dummy
West East
Declarer |
♠ Q73
♥
JT7
♦
KT7
♣ J972 |
|
♠ K654
♥
A542
♦
832
♣ A5 |
|
But it turns out that East is a
very slippery fellow! Your finesse loses to East’s King, the defense runs the
Spades, and it’s down one in a cold contract!
Your play was disastrous but, at
duplicate scoring, quite reasonable. If you’d made your overtrick you would
have been rewarded with a good score. Too bad for you that the
♦K
was offside, and East was tricky enough to duck the first Diamond, and
Spades broke 5-3. It took three pieces of bad luck to bring about your
downfall, so the risk/reward ratio was definitely in your favor. And, if a
similar hand comes up in the future, we hope that you’ll play it the same way.
In the long run you will come out ahead!
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