BRIDGE BITES #24
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HOLD-UP PLAY
Brian Gunnell |
This is a tale of two errors, see
if you can spot them.
♠ A83
♥
432
♦
QT9
♣ KQ85 |
|
N-S Vulnerable
South West North
East
1♦
Dbl Rdbl 1♠
3♦
Pass 3NT 4♥
Pass Pass 5♦
Pass
Pass Pass
East’s
was presumably sacrificing, figuring that the penalty in 4♥
or 4♠ doubled would be cheaper than conceding a vulnerable game.
This pushed N-S to the perilous contract of 5♦,
which, as you will see, Declarer is about to bungle.
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Dummy
West East
Declarer |
♠ 74
♥
K7
♦
AKJ532
♣ A42 |
Against 5♦
West led the ♠K, won by Dummy’s Ace and trumps were drawn. Declarer could count
10 top tricks, but where was the 11th? Not the
♥K
as West needed the ♥A
to justify his Takeout Double. That meant that a 4th Club trick was
required. Could Clubs have been 3-3?
►
Declarer tried to figure out the
distribution. East bid both majors and was no doubt at least 4-4 in those
suits. He also showed up with 3 Diamonds. That left two Clubs at most. But
would East have bid so much with 4=4=3=2 distribution and virtually no HCP? No,
it seemed more likely that East was 5=4=3=1 and, if so, Declarer had to hope
that East’s Club was the Jack or Ten or Nine. So she cashed the ♣A and, seeing
East’s Ten, then took an impressively deep finesse of the Club Eight on the
second round! Making 11 tricks.
►
|
♠ A83
♥
432
♦
QT9
♣ KQ85 |
|
♠ KQ6
♥
AQ86
♦
4
♣ J9763 |
Dummy
West East
Declarer |
♠ JT952
♥
JT95
♦
876
♣ T |
|
♠ 74
♥
K7
♦
AKJ532
♣ A42 |
|
Where are those two errors that
we were talking about? Let us start with Mr. West. On the second round of
Clubs he had to play the Nine (or the Jack). Now Declarer has no way back to
her hand to repeat the Club finesse. She’ll play a Spade from the board, but
East will take care to win that trick and fire a Heart through Declarer’s King.
Down one.
Does that mean that the contract
cannot be made? Yes, it can, but Declarer needs to do better. Where did she go
wrong?
►
Declarer’s technique was flawless
right up to the point where she called for Dummy’s ♠A at Trick 1. Instead of
grabbing her Ace she should hold up and win the second round. That way, later
in the play, he can get safely back to hand with a Spade ruff and take that
second Club finesse. Yet another contract bites the dust because of hasty play
at Trick 1.
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