♠ A Q J 10 5
♥ A K J 10 4 2
♦ ---
♣ A K
♠ K 8 6 ♠ 7 2
♥ Q 8 7 3 ♥ ---
♦ Q 8 4 ♦ A K J 10 9 6 3
♣ Q 6 2 ♣ J 9 7 4
♠ 9 4 3
♥ 9 6 5
♦ 7 5 2
♣ 10 8 5 3
After East opened 3♦, North cuebid 4♦. South bid 4♥ and North raised to 6♥. Six hearts to the ♥A K J 10 4 2 and 22 high-card points -- I wish I always had support like this for my partners!
West led a diamond ruffed in dummy. Declarer cashed the ♥A, noticing that East showed out. Looking at all four hands, what would you do?
South showed how to use his pawns -- the two major-suit 9s. At trick three, he led the ♥J -- this gave West a problem. If West won the queen, the ♥9 would be an entry to the closed hand to finesse in spades. Because winning would be hopeless, West ducked.
Now declarer led the ♠Q from dummy, and West had a different problem. If he won, the ♠9 would be an entry to finesse in trumps, so he ducked again. South followed with the ♠J. West had no answer -- he had to win this, or lose his spade trick.
Declarer ruffed the diamond return, crossed to his ♠9 and finessed West's ♥Q 8 to make his contract.
If South had played on spades before leading the ♥J, the contract can be defeated. Do you see how?
Interesting.
ReplyDeleteIf declarer plays SQ before HJ, West can win and continue a D. Declarer has to ruff small, and can now only take one heart finesse because of the trump blockage!
@anonymous: Yes, exactly. This is an excellent bridge deal. Here's why: Most players would get it wrong at the table, yet when you show it to them, they can see why the "right" line works.
ReplyDeleteDumb me! I read too fast and thought we were trying to defeat a 4H bid & just couldn't see how to do that. Duh - then it dawned on me - I bet the bid was 6!
ReplyDeleteIn football, I'm always saying it's all about the turnovers (like that makes me a sports genuis) & in bridge, it's the transportation! Oh, and a handful of points. My mojo has been poor in the point count arena of late.
I'm reading and thinking about my mother who embarrassed our family terribly when I was about 10-11 years old...we went to a baseball game and she pretended she didn't know anything about it and began asking stupid questions in a very loud voice, like "Why's that funny man dusting the tile?" Or, "Why's that guy wearing a mask. Does he think it's Halloween?"
ReplyDeleteWell, you get the picture. She thought it was hilarious.
Thus, I won't comment on this post so as I don't embarrass myself!
@Nina: thx for the comment
ReplyDelete@Jacob: Your mom sounds like a character. I see where you get your sense of humor.