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Scrambling Tricks
The term "scrambling tricks" usually refers to the situation where the trump fit is tenuous and Declarer cannot draw trumps. Instead he grabs as many fast tricks as possible by cashing winners and ruffing before the enemy can get in and take control of the rest of the hand.
Related Play Problems Play Problem 15
North’s 4-card overcall gets her to 2♥ on the 4-3 fit. Will her play justify her bidding? Against 2♥, East leads the Q♣, and Declarer’s first job is to get that Club ruff on the board. So, she calls for Dummy’s Ace and leads a second round of Clubs. West shifts to the K♠, ducked by Declarer. Now another Spade, won by Declarer’s Ace, followed by a Club ruff on the board. Next comes a Spade, Declarer ruffing with the Nine. When that wins, all that is needed is to set up a Diamond for 8 tricks. Nice scrambling by North!
Playing in 2♥, the defense is likely to start out with Clubs, allowing Declarer to scramble 8 tricks as follows: ♣A and ♣K are cashed Club ruffed in Dummy Heart to the King Successful Spade finesse ♥A is cashed ♠A is cashed Spade is ruffed and overruffed Low Diamond to South’s King Now all that is left is for Declarer to concede one more trick to the ♦A.
Not only is this a difficult hand to bid, it’s also a tough hand to play. The two most likely contracts are 2♣ and 2♥, and 2♥ is likely to fare better, perhaps as follows: J♠ lead is won by Dummy’s Ace The T♦ is finessed, forcing West’s Ace A Heart is returned, won by Declarer’s Queen Two Diamonds are cashed (Dummy pitches a Club) A Diamond is ruffed by West, Dummy pitching a Club K♥ is returned, won by Declarer A♣ is cashed, then a Club ruff in Dummy Now Declarer ruffs a Spade with her last trump and has managed to scramble 8 tricks. It doesn’t help the defense to lead trumps at every opportunity, they still won’t be able to stop Dummy getting a ruff.
A Club part-score seems likely and although Deep Finesse tells us that 11 tricks are theoretically possible, even making 10 would seem to be a reasonable achievement, perhaps with this line of play: Spade lead won by Declarer’s Ace Spade ruff A♥ and K♥ are cashed (Spade is pitched from hand) Heart ruff Spade ruff J♣ won by North’s Ace Spade ruff Diamond to the Ace (the finesse achieves nothing at this point) Heart ruff Declarer has scrambled 9 tricks and still has the K♣ to come.
Against 3NT, South does not have an attractive lead and might well try a Club. North wins the King and returns the suit, won in Dummy. There have been several hands this week with problematical card combinations, and here is another. The question here is twofold. What is the percentage play in each of the red suits in order to win 4 tricks? And which of those plays is the most likely to succeed? - Hearts: The percentage play is to finesse the Nine on the first round, and to finesse again on the second round. This one is good for 4 tricks just 33% of the time. - Diamonds: Here, it’s best to lay down the Ace and lead towards the QJ, which picks up 4 tricks when the suit is 3-3 or when the King doubleton is with North. The success rate here is 44%.
Knowledge turns out to be a liability on this hand. After winning the second round of Clubs, Declarer cashes the A♦, leads another Diamond to the Queen and King, wins the Club return, crosses to the K♠, cashes the J♦, and discovers that the Diamonds don’t break. Now, Declarer is forced by the entry situation to overtake the Q♠ with the Ace, and when that suit breaks 5-1, and with the K♥ offside, he is suddenly reduced to a mere 9 tricks. Or is he? On the 3rd round of Diamonds, South will have been forced to part with her remaining Club in order to guard the major suits, so her last three cards will be known to be a Spade winner and two Hearts. So, West exits with a Spade and endplays South into giving him two Hearts at the end. Nicely done for 10 tricks!
Against 4♥, North does best to start out with the Q♣, knocking out Dummy’s entry before the Diamonds are established. Dummy’s A♣ wins the trick and the Spade successfully finessed. Next comes a Diamond to Dummy’s Jack, at which point the defense can go one of three ways (none of them successful): - If South ducks the Diamond, Declarer scrambles 10 tricks with: Club ruff, A♠, Spade ruff, Club ruff, Spade ruffed and overruffed, A♦, Diamond ruff. Now Declarer wins the last three tricks with his trumps. - If South wins the Diamond and shifts to a trump, Declarer draws trumps and enjoys Dummy’s Diamonds for a total of 11 tricks. - If South wins the Diamond and continues Clubs, then Declarer is back to scrambling mode: ruff the Club return, cross to the K♦, ruff a Club, cash A♠, ruff a Spade, ruff a Club, etc.
Playing in 3♠, the best that Declarer can do is to scramble 8 tricks, perhaps as follows on an opening Club lead: Three rounds of Clubs, pitching a Diamond Diamond ruff Over to the A♥ Diamond ruff Exit a Heart Defense cashes another Heart and takes a Heart ruff Diamond from West, ruffed by Declarer’s Eight, overruffed with the Queen Now, the ♠KJT will be worth two more tricks for Declarer, for a total of 8.
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