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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
Related Extracts from Past Wednesday Games
Some Norths will find themselves declaring 2♠, and that plays rather well. Nine tricks are possible, check it out: ♣A is cashed Declarer ruffs the Club continuation ♥K and ♥A are cashed Club ruff ♦K and ♦A are cashed Diamond ruff Now another Club is led and West might try ruffing with the Queen. Nice try, mister, but Declarer still gets 9 tricks provided that she declines to overruff. Note the importance of cashing the top Hearts early in the play … if Declarer neglects to do this then West will pitch a Heart on the third round of Clubs and hold Declarer to 8 tricks.
East doesn’t have much of a two-level vulnerable overcall but that lovely Club suit is hard to pass by. We see the auction fizzling out in 3♦ and that’s a contract that makes with careful timing by Declarer. Check this out: ♣K opening lead won by Dummy’s Ace Cross to the ♠A Club ruff Cross to the ♠K Spade ruff Cash ♥K and then ♥A This is the end-position: North ♠ ♥ 85 ♦ QJ87 ♣ West East ♠ ♠ ♥ Q97 ♥ ♦ A92 ♦ KT6 ♣ ♣ QJT South ♠ 76 ♥ ♦ 3 ♣ 987 At this point Declarer has 7 tricks, and it might seem that she must now lose three Diamonds and two Hearts, for down one. But look what happens! North leads a Heart and East must ruff that with the Six. But now East is end-played. If he plays a Diamond Declarer scores two Diamond tricks … similarly if he leads a Club. The key to making this contract is to take two ruffs in Declarer’s hand early in the play (before leading the third round of Hearts).
After a little bit of Roman Key Card, E-W settle in the obvious 6♠ contract. On the lie of the cards there is nothing to the play, 13 easy tricks. The friendly Spade situation makes things altogether too easy for Declarer, but picture, if you will, South holding ♠Qxxx and just two Clubs. South leads a Heart which you win, you cash the ♠A and finesse the ♠J, North showing out. You draw one more round of trumps, now what? Don’t be in a rush to get that Heart ruff! You must play Clubs first, letting South ruff with his good Spade if he wishes. If you do ruff a Heart before playing Clubs then you will be down, as South will ruff the third Club, stranding your 12th trick in Dummy.
East’s lovely 14-count is full value for the jump raise to 3♠ and West was not quite good enough to make a slam try. Do you see how Declarer makes 11 tricks, losing just two trump tricks? Let’s assume that North avoids the helpful Club lead and makes life more difficult for Declarer by leading a Heart: Heart to Declarer’s Ace Cross to the ♦A Diamond ruff Spade to the King and Ace Club return to the Jack, Queen and Ace Diamond ruff Cash the ♠Q Heart ruff After this well-timed play, Dummy’s Diamonds are led, and if South ruffs in, Dummy still has a Heart ruff as an entry to the other winning Diamond. The key play was to ruff a Diamond early, ensuring that Dummy’s Heart ruff entries could be put to good use in the setting up of the Diamonds.
This is one of those hands where there is likely to be a different auction at every table. In the auction above, East was no doubt licking his chops after North’s 1♥ overcall, eagerly awaiting a reopening Double from West and a juicy penalty. But it never came to that, and we suppose that the final contract is likely to be 3♦ by West or 3♣ by North.
Against 3♦, the best defense is to lead the ♣K and, when Declarer holds up, to continue the suit. Now making 3♦ is most difficult, but Declarer can prevail with this sparkling (and maybe double dummy) line of play: ♣K wins the first trick Dummy’s ♣A wins the continuation ♥A is cashed ♥K is led and ruffed (Declarer is hoping the ruff is with a natural trump trick) Now, South shifts to a Spade at which point Declarer’s only hope is that North’s presumed singleton is the King or Queen. So the play continues: Spade shift won by Declarer’s Ace ♦A is cashed Diamond won by South Now South has one Spade to come, but that’s all. 9 tricks for Declarer.
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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