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An Extra Chance
Good Declarers don't like to commit to a single line of play, they are constantly looking for that second string to their bow, that extra chance to make the contract if the obvious chance does not work out. See also Combining Chances.
Related Play Problems Play Problem 16
Related Extracts from Past Wednesday Games
North’s jump to 4♥ denied any first- or second-round controls, so South had reason to think about slam. Against 4♥, let’s say that the defense cashes two Spades and shifts to a trump. At first glance it might appear that Declarer has an inescapable Club loser, and that the contract is doomed when the Diamond finesse loses. Not so! Declarer has an extra chance. After drawing trumps, Declarer cashes the ♣A and exits with a Club. As luck would have it, West is cursed by the possession of both the ♣K and ♣Q and is end-played! Making 10 tricks.
North doesn’t have a great 2♣ bid and that propels South to a rather poor 3NT contract. West is likely to lead the Heart Seven and East must play low (with the encouraging Eight or Five) to this trick, and not the Queen (which would hand Declarer a second Heart stop). Declarer now has 9 tricks if the Clubs are 3-3, but if she suspects that Hearts are 4-4, or that East has 5 but the suit may block, then she can give herself an extra chance by losing a Diamond before playing on Clubs. Now the defense takes its Heart tricks and Declarer has two chances of 9 tricks … either 3-3 Clubs or 3-3 Diamonds. Nicely played! If Declarer had played on Clubs first the defense would get their 5 tricks before Declarer could get to 9. By the way, when playing Diamonds at Trick 2, Declarer leads the Ten, just in case East started with 97 doubleton, in which case the suit can be picked up for one loser despite the 4-2 break. West covers the Ten with the Jack, Dummy’s Ace wins, and the second round is ducked when East fails to produce the 97 doubleton.
6♥ is the place to be, perhaps by the above auction, but it's an unlucky contract. Did anyone get to 6♣? In theory, it's an inferior contract to 6♥, but on the actual lie of the cards it's the only slam that is likely to make. North will probably lead the J♠, won by the Ace, and now South will shift to the Q♦, for lack of a better alternative. Declarer will win the Ace, play the K♣, dropping South's Queen. At this point, Declarer could just draw trumps and hope for a 3-2 Heart break, but he can do better than that ... he finesses the Club 9, and plays AK♥ ... if Hearts are 3-2, he reverts to drawing trumps and his hand is now good ... but, if Hearts are 4-1, he has given himself the extra chance that the long trumps are in the hand with the long Hearts ... on the actual layout, this extra chance is the only way that Declarer can make his contract. Nice play if you made 6♣, but maybe not such nice bidding (you really belong in 6♥)!
Dummy was no doubt a disappointment to South, it was the worst hand imaginable, it would have been nice if she had had a major suit Jack or another Heart. Nonetheless, 13 tricks roll in when both majors split 3-2 (or there is a singleton major Jack somewhere), working out to no better than about a 50% grand. Actually, it’s better than that, there is a small point in the play which raises the odds … West leads a minor suit, won by Declarer, now the right sequence of plays is K♥, Q♥, A♠, Q♠, and a Heart to the Ace. This line gives Declarer an extra chance, namely if one defender started with one Spade and two Hearts, improving the chances up to about 55% according to our (rough) calculations.
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