Timing

 

On many hands it's just a matter of brute strength, simply draw trumps, set up the side-suit and claim.  Other times, subtlety is required, suits have to be played in the right order and tricks must be lost at the right time.  Here are some hands where a little delicacy is required to bring in the maximum number of tricks.

 

Related Play Problems           Play Problem 33

                                                 Play Problem 41

                                                 Play Problem 43

                                                 Play Problem 57

                                                 Play Problem 67

                                                 Play Problem 90

                                                 Play Problem 175

 

Related Extracts from Past Wednesday Games

 

32	♠ K8532 ♥ 3 ♦ 872 ♣ J653	From 16th May, 2007
♠ 964 ♥ K7654 ♦ AJ9 ♣ 74	North West             East           South	♠ AT7 ♥ AT92 ♦ QT4 ♣ KT9	Dlr     West Vul     E-W
© BES, Inc  All Rights Reserved	♠ QJ ♥ QJ8 ♦ K653 ♣ AQ82	West    North   East     South Pass    Pass    1♣       1NT 2♥        2♠        3♥        Pass Pass    Pass

 

Playing in 3♥, it looks as if West must lose a Heart, two Spades, and two Clubs.  But, South is destined to get end-played.  See what happens if North leads a Spade:

            Opening Spade lead, ducked to South’s Jack

            A Spade to Dummy’s Ace

            A♥ is cashed

            Q♦ covered by the King and Ace

            K♥ cashed

            Two Diamonds are cashed

            A Heart to South’s Queen

Now South can cash a Spade, but now must concede a Club trick or else give Declarer a ruff and discard.  Key points in this line of play were:

-         Ducking the first Spade was correct, but not necessary as it happened because South had two Spade honors and the suit was blocked for the defense

-         Playing the A♥ first, instead of the K♥, was correct because it catered for North having the singleton J♥ or Q♥.  South could hardly be the one with the singleton given the bidding.

-         The Diamonds had to be played after just one round of trumps because of the entry situation

-         Three rounds of Diamonds had to be cashed before exiting with a trump and setting up the end-play.

Nicely played by West, 9 tricks for +140.

 

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