|
Throw In Plays
A throw-in play involves nothing more than losing a trick to a defender, in the hope that he must then surrender a trick whatever he does. See also Elimination Plays.
Related Play Problems Play Problem 13
Related Extracts from Past Wednesday Games
East’s 4♣ was a convention that is generally known as Leaping Michaels.
4♥ turns out to be a reasonable contract, making when Hearts are 3-2. But how about 4♠, played by North? Declarer has a trick to lose in each side-suit, and somewhat surprisingly manages to avoid the loss of a Spade trick. All she has to do is the following: East lead a Diamond to Dummy’s Ace Q♠ is run around, pinning East’s Jack Spade finesse A Club is lost to East A♥ is cashed Heart to Dummy’s King Q♥ is cashed (Declarer pitching a Diamond) Club ruff Cross to the A♦ Another Club ruff Now, Declarer exits with a Diamond, and West is end-played in the trump suit.
Against 3NT, as South, what would be your opening lead? We’d say that a Spade lead stands out here, in fact the distribution of the entire suit can be deduced with virtual certainty: - North does not have 5 Spades, because she appears to have a fairly decent hand but did not overcall. - East does not have 4 Spades, he denied that when he bid 1NT - West denied 4 Spades when he bid 2NT So, North must have 4 Spades, and East and West both have 3. Anyway, South leads a top-of-nothing Spade to North’s Jack and Declarer’s King. Declarer is short of entries to hand, so he might as well use this entry to set up a couple of Club tricks. The K♣ is played at Trick Two, and let’s say that North wins the Ace and returns a Club (nothing else appeals). Now, Declarer cannot cash that second Club winner before the Diamonds are set up, so a good (but dreadfully unlucky!) East might duck a Diamond into the safe North hand. Unlucky, indeed, now North gets an unexpected Diamond trick, and gets out safely with another Club. At this point, there are 9 tricks available and a successful Heart finesse would provide 10. But that finesse is dangerous, North might have a couple of Clubs to cash for down one. So, Declarer cashes the Diamonds, and this is the situation with one Diamond left to play: North ♠ Q96 ♥ KJ ♦ ♣ West East ♠ A3 ♠ T4 ♥ AQ ♥ T ♦ 3 ♦ ♣ ♣ 84 South ♠ 7 ♥ 75 ♦ ♣ T9 When the last Diamond is cashed, North must pitch a Spade, and so should South. Now, Declarer can play A♠ and out a Spade, endplaying North in Hearts, or, if he prefers he can play A♥ and out a Heart, endplaying North in Spades. Either endplay is good for 10 tricks. But if South is careful to hang on to her Clubs, that endplay is not without risk, as the person with the K♥ may also have two Clubs to cash for down one. Nice play by South if she grimly hung on to those seemingly useless Clubs and created doubt in Declarer’s mind.
4♠ is a so-so contract but is likely to make unless East finds an astonishing opening lead. We cannot imagine that East will start out with the disastrous Spade lead, but each of the three side-suit leads result in interesting play.
If East leads a Club, Dummy’s Jack wins the trick. Now, a successful Spade finesse, and, rather than risk crossing to the board on a Club for another Spade finesse, Declarer does better to cash the A♠. When the King does not come down, she cashes the K♣ and exits a Spade, end-playing West. Now, West can do no better than to take his two Aces.
If East leads a Diamond, Dummy plays low and West withholds his Ace to prevent Dummy from getting that vital second entry (for the second Spade finesse). So, Declarer’s J♦ wins the first trick, the K♣ is cashed, then over to the A♣, Spade finesse, and exit a Diamond to West’s Ace, end-playing West.
If East leads a Heart, Declarer plays low from the board and West’s Queen takes the trick. West does best to get out with a Club but Declarer spurns the “free” finesse and wins in hand with the King. Now she exits with a Heart won by West, and another Club comes back won on the board. Now the K♥ is cashed (pitching a Diamond from hand), the Q♠ is finessed, and Declarer exits with a Diamond to West’s Ace. As before, West is end-played.
In all these lines Declarer makes 10 tricks, but Deep Finesse’s double dummy analysis tells us that the defense can hold Declarer to just 9 tricks. What is the “astonishing opening lead” that makes this possible? Don’t try this one without adult supervision, but the winning lead is the Q♦! This forces Dummy’s King to cover, won by West’s Ace. Now West exits with a Diamond and all his end-play worries are over. In the fullness of time West will come to the K♠, A♥, Q♥ and A♦.
Against 3NT, East will no doubt lead a Diamond, which removes the guess in that suit. Assuming a reasonable Club break, Declarer now has 9 top tricks, and it might seem a fairly routine matter to concede a Heart to set up the 10th trick and later to try the Spade finesse for the 11th trick. But suppose that South is not a routine kind of player, but someone who hates to take finesses when there is a more exotic alternative. With such a player at the helm, here’s how the play might go: Diamond lead won by Declarer’s Jack Cash two Clubs (to make sure that they break) Play the K♥ won by East’s Ace Diamond return won in the Dummy (necessary!) Cash the Clubs Here is the position with one Club left to be cashed: Declarer ♠ AQ ♥ QT8 ♦ A ♣ West East ♠ J95 ♠ KT ♥ 964 ♥ J5 ♦ ♦ Q9 ♣ ♣ Dummy ♠ 7632 ♥ ♦ 8 ♣ 8 At this point, East will already have pitched a Diamond, then on the last Club Dummy pitches a Heart and East another Diamond. Now Declarer plays a Diamond to the Ace, cashes the Q♥, and throws East in with a Heart for 11 tricks. Exotically done!
Nobody has anything worth saying after 2♥ so, for once, the auction fizzles out at the two-level. South leads the K♦ won by Dummy’s Ace. The Heart finesse loses, then the Q♦ is cashed, North gets a Diamond ruff, and exits with a Heart, South following. Declarer has now lost 3 tricks, with two more Spade losers to come. So he must avoid the loss of a Club if he is to make his contract. No problem! South, she of the Weak Two opening, has already shown up with the K♦, Q♦ and K♥, so there is hardly any room left in her hand to the A♠, K♠ or K♣. That makes an end-play against North a virtual certainty. Declarer simply exits with the Q♠ and North, who has nothing but black cards left, must concede the contract one way or another: - If she exits a Club, then Declarer’s Queen wins the trick and a ruff in Dummy looks after the third round of Clubs. - If she cashes a second Spade and exits a Spade, then Dummy’s Spades will provide pitches for the Clubs.
© BES, Inc All Rights Reserved | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Home ThisWeeksHands PlayArchives BiddingArchives Conventions | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
