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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
We don’t see many N-S pairs making 4♠, and an opening Heart lead gives Declarer no chance. But suppose that West leads his singleton Club. Now Declarer can make her contract via this (perhaps double dummy) line of play: Club to Declarer’s King Cash ♠A and ♠K Club to Dummy’s Ace Diamond finesse Cash ♦A Diamond, ruffed and overruffed Now East is end-played. He can cash the ♣J, but Declarer pitches her Diamond loser, leaving East on play to give Declarer her 10th trick.
Declarer can count two Spades, at least three Diamonds, and three Clubs. That’s eight tricks. How about Hearts, can they produce the necessary four tricks? They can if Dummy’s ♥J is run around (it doesn’t matter if West covers or not), and then the Eight is finessed on the next round. But that is not the percentage play and loses when East has 9x. Can 12 tricks be made otherwise? Yes, if Declarer does some fishing around before playing the second round of Hearts. The play goes: Club Five is led, won by Declarer Club to Dummy’s Queen ♥J is run around (West does not cover) Cash ♦A (West pitches a Club) Cross to Dummy’s ♦Q (West pitches another Club) By now Declarer knows that West started with four Clubs and no Diamonds. If he started 4=5=0=4 then the finesse of the Heart Eight brings home 12 tricks. But there is a play which works whether West started with 4=5=0=4 or 5=4=0=4. Here is the end-position: Declarer ♠ 8 ♥ AQT8 ♦ KT ♣ K West East ♠ T965 ♠ QJ7 ♥ K973 ♥ ♦ ♦ J986 ♣ ♣ 3 Dummy ♠ AK432 ♥ 6 ♦ 7 ♣ J Now, the Heart finesse is taken and when East pitches a Diamond on that Declarer has a perfect read on the distribution, West started with 4=5=0=4 distribution. So, she cashes the ♣K and West is squeezed: - If West pitches a Heart then Declarer sets up the 12th trick in Hearts. - If West pitches a Spade, then the remaining Spades are known to be 3-3. She cashes the ♠A and ♠K (pitching a Heart), and exits a Spade. If West plays the highest remaining Spade on this then Declarer pitches a Diamond and West is end-played in Hearts … and if West does not play the highest Spade then Declarer pitches a Heart and East is end-played in Diamonds.
A lovely deal! Declarer did well to cash two Clubs and two Diamonds before taking the second Heart finesse, that clarified the position and set up the end-play.
Looking at all four hands it’s easy enough to see that, in theory at least, 4♥ is a couple too high … if E-W double they can collect +500 on a hand where they cannot even make game. But West does not know that! He’ll bid 3♠ (making 9 tricks) over a 3♥ preempt, and get bounced into 4♠ over a 4♥ preempt (down one!).
We just said that E-W can make 9 tricks in Spades, and so they can. But there is some piquancy along the way. First of all, North cleverly decides to lead a trump, reasoning that, with the high-card strength mostly on her right, a passive lead is called for. Good choice! Declarer draws trumps in three rounds, by which time South is known to have started with just three cards in the minors. The bidding also suggests that South has little in the way of high cards outside Hearts. So, Declarer plays a low Club next, which North takes with her Queen. Now the only exit which gives the defense a chance is a low Club which Declarer wins in hand. Here is the end-position: North ♠ ♥ ♦ AJT842 ♣ K4 Declarer Dummy ♠ J2 ♠ ♥ J8 ♥ T97 ♦ Q6 ♦ K73 ♣ A5 ♣ J8 South ♠ ♥ AKQ653 ♦ 95 ♣ Declarer needs five more tricks … he can count two more trumps, a Diamond and the ♣A … but where is the fifth? The answer is a Club end-play. Declarer cashes his trumps, forcing North to part with two Diamonds (Dummy pitching Hearts), then plays the ♦Q taken by North’s Ace. The ♦Q takes the next trick, and Dummy exits a Diamond. North gets a couple more Diamond tricks, but at Trick 12 she is, indeed, end-played in Clubs. Declarer ends up losing three Diamonds and just one Club (and no Hearts!).
Some Wests may just invite game with that hand and that will work out well for them when 9 tricks turn out to be unlikely. However, suppose that South is a hyper-active DONT addict and cannot resist throwing in a 2♦ bid (showing Diamonds and a major), obligingly letting Declarer know where the Spades and the Diamonds and most of the missing HCP are. Let’s say that South compounds her folly by leading a Diamond. Dummy’s Jack wins the first trick, then the ♣Q is successfully finessed, and the Hearts are rattled off, leaving this position. North ♠ 9 ♥ ♦ 97 ♣ K73 Dummy Declarer ♠ JT2 ♠ K7 ♥ ♥ ♦ 63 ♦ K8 ♣ 8 ♣ A9 South ♠ AQ ♥ ♦ AQ ♣ JT Now Declarer tries to throw in South by ducking a Club, but South still has a safe Club exit. However the reprieve is temporary because Declarer now exits with the ♦K, end-playing South in Spades. Nine tricks!
There’s a good chance that N-S will bid up to 5♦ and will escape undoubled for -100. More interesting than that, though, is the play to 4♠ (which might well be doubled). It’s down on an opening Club lead, the defense scoring two Clubs, then a Diamond, followed by a trump promotion when North leads the third round of Clubs. But suppose, instead, that South chooses to lead a Diamond. North wins and might shift to a trump for want of anything else to do. Good shift, Ms. North, as it happens to complicate Declarer’s entry situation. The play might go this way: win the Spade shift, ruff a Diamond in Dummy (elimination play), cross to hand with a trump, run the Heart Ten, covered by the Jack and Queen. At this point Declarer might seem to be home free, but actually not quite, because if Hearts are 4-1 then South’s mighty Seven is a potential trick for the defense. Here is the end-position: North ♠ ♥ ♦ AKT ♣ AQ963 Dummy Declarer ♠ 6 ♠ 873 ♥ A52 ♥ 983 ♦ ♦ ♣ KT75 ♣ 82 South ♠ ♥ K74 ♦ 854 ♣ J4 Declarer can be pretty sure from the bidding that North holds the ♣A, and knows that he’ll make the contract if Hearts are 3-2. So he will assume that North started with 2=1=5=5 or 2=1=6=4 distribution. If it’s the latter, and if South has the Jack or the Queen, then Declarer is done for. So, he must assume that Clubs are 5-2 in which case his best play now is to exit with the ♣K! North takes the Ace, but now an end-play is in the works: - Either, North plays a Diamond giving up a ruff and sluff (goodbye, Heart loser!) - Or, North cashes the ♣Q (hello, Club Ten!) - Or, North leads a low Club to South’s Jack, and South is now end-played. That was well-read by Declarer but he was lucky that a favorable Club position existed. He could have made life a little tougher for South, by running the Heart Eight as soon as he got in. It might not be obvious to South to cover that, in which case Declarer has the entries to lead a Club towards Dummy, covering whatever Club South plays and ensuring the contract (even if Clubs are 4-3).
There’s a good chance that N-S will bid up to 5♦ and will escape undoubled for -100. More interesting than that, though, is the play to 4♠ (which might well be doubled). It’s down on an opening Club lead, the defense scoring two Clubs, then a Diamond, followed by a trump promotion when North leads the third round of Clubs. But suppose, instead, that South chooses to lead a Diamond. North wins and might shift to a trump for want of anything else to do. Good shift, Ms. North, as it happens to complicate Declarer’s entry situation. The play might go this way: win the Spade shift, ruff a Diamond in Dummy (elimination play), cross to hand with a trump, run the Heart Ten, covered by the Jack and Queen. At this point Declarer might seem to be home free, but actually not quite, because if Hearts are 4-1 then South’s mighty Seven is a potential trick for the defense. Here is the end-position: North ♠ ♥ ♦ AKT ♣ AQ963 Dummy Declarer ♠ 6 ♠ 873 ♥ A52 ♥ 983 ♦ ♦ ♣ KT75 ♣ 82 South ♠ ♥ K74 ♦ 854 ♣ J4 Declarer can be pretty sure from the bidding that North holds the ♣A, and knows that he’ll make the contract if Hearts are 3-2. So he will assume that North started with 2=1=5=5 or 2=1=6=4 distribution. If it’s the latter, and if South has the Jack or the Queen, then Declarer is done for. So, he must assume that Clubs are 5-2 in which case his best play now is to exit with the ♣K! North takes the Ace, but now an end-play is in the works: - Either, North plays a Diamond giving up a ruff and sluff (goodbye, Heart loser!) - Or, North cashes the ♣Q (hello, Club Ten!) - Or, North leads a low Club to South’s Jack, and South is now end-played. That was well-read by Declarer but he was lucky that a favorable Club position existed. He could have made life a little tougher for South, by running the Heart Eight as soon as he got in. It might not be obvious to South to cover that, in which case Declarer has the entries to lead a Club towards Dummy, covering whatever Club South plays and ensuring the contract (even if Clubs are 4-3).
4♥ by South is the obvious contract and the K♠ is the obvious lead. This is an unlucky hand, with both minor suit Kings offside. Furthermore, if trumps had been 2-2 there would have been end-play possibilities against West. But, with normal play, 4♥ is destined to go down one. If normal play doesn’t work, how about some abnormal play? Deep Finesse, whom we trust implicitly, tells us that 4♥ can be made if played on a double dummy basis. It only took us half an hour, but we finally figured out how 4♥ can actually be made: K♠ opening lead is allowed to win Spade continuation won by Dummy’s Ace Spade ruff Cash just one high trump Lead the Q♦ (yes, really!) losing to West’s King Nine, Ten, Jack, Ace of Diamonds Diamond to West’s Eight This bizarre sequence of plays has end-played West! Here is the end-position: North ♠ ♥ T54 ♦ 7 ♣ Q8 West East ♠ 54 ♠ ♥ ♥ J8 ♦ ♦ ♣ KT94 ♣ 7652 South ♠ ♥ KQ6 ♦ ♣ AJ3 West can lead a Club or a Spade, but whichever it is Declarer has the rest of the tricks. Hands up all you Declarer’s who found that line of play!
Because of the unfortunate Diamonds and the ugly 5-0 trump break, 5♣ doubled is down three (and 5♦ would be down two), but that is still a good sacrifice against the E-W Spade game.
The play in 4♠ is fascinating, and good play brings in 11 tricks: A♣ is cashed (South must pitch a Diamond) Diamond to the Queen and Ace Diamond ruff J♠ is run around Club ruff (again South must pitch a Diamond) Diamond ruff Club ruff (now South can afford a Heart, or else she pitches her last Diamond) A♥ and K♥ are cashed Another Club ruff Now, South exits with a Heart which South must ruff (she has nothing but trumps left). At Trick 12, South is end-played in trumps!
N-S did well to play this one in Spades rather than No Trump, and would have done even better if they had reached the very lucky game (in No Trump or in Spades).
Playing in Spades, here is one route to 10 tricks: West leads a Diamond, won by Dummy’s Ace (fearing a singleton lead) Spade finesse Q♣, A♣ and ruff a Club Spade finesse Cash A♠ Cash K♣ Declarer has won the first 8 tricks (with a good trump still to come) and has reached this position: Dummy ♠ ♥ QT5 ♦ 54 ♣ West East ♠ ♠ ♥ AJ76 ♥ K9 ♦ 5 ♦ KJ8 ♣ ♣ Declarer ♠ 2 ♥ 8 ♦ Q97 ♣ The ♥10 is finessed, losing to the King. Now, if East returns a Diamond, the ♦Q is the 10th trick … and if he returns a Heart, Declarer pitches a Diamond and West is end-played after winning the ♥A. +170!
In the play, 5♦ makes 11 tricks when one finesse works and the other one does not. As for 5♠ the defense can take 4 tricks in theory (two Hearts and two Clubs) but one of those tricks might get away if North is caught napping: The defense cashes two rounds of Heart Declarer ruffs the third round of Hearts Club to Dummy’s King (while North is dozing) Spade to the Ace Ruff out the Diamonds and Hearts Dummy now exits with a low Club and the defense if end-played … if South’s Jack wins the trick she must concede a ruff and sluff … and if North overtakes the Jack then Dummy’s Ten sets up. Yes, North walked straight into that one, she had to hop up with the ♣A on the first round.
Against 4♥, West would do well to lead a trump, after which Declarer’s best chance of coming to 10 tricks is to establish the Clubs, as follows: Win the trump lead on the board, low Club to East’s King; win trump return in hand; Club ruff; back to the ♠Q; Club ruff; back to ♠J; draw the last trump and concede a Club and a Diamond. Declarer never does score the ♠A and K♠, instead her tricks are 4 trumps, 2 Club ruffs, 2 Spades, and 2 Clubs.
For you double dummy enthusiasts there is a way to make 11 tricks! Win the opening Heart lead Cash ♠Q and ♠J Cross to Dummy with a Heart Cash the ♠A and ♠K, pitching a Diamond (East cannot ruff the 4th round of Spades!) Club to East’s Ace Here is the end-position: North ♠ ♥ JT ♦ QJ76 ♣ West East ♠ ♠ ♥ 8 ♥ ♦ 9832 ♦ AKT ♣ 4 ♣ AT2 South ♠ ♥ A9 ♦ ♣ QJ97 Now, East cannot play the ♣A (that would be twelve tricks), so does best to try the ♦A. But Declarer pitches a Club on this and now whatever East does presents Declarer with her 11th trick.
West is destined to declare 3NT and even though all the suits are doubly stopped, there is much work to be done. The play might go: Spade to Declarer’s King Diamond to North’s King Spade to Dummy’s Ace Club to the Jack and Queen ♦J to South’s Ace Diamond to the Queen Club to the King and Ace At this point it will be apparent to Declarer that South is out of black cards, so a Diamond exit will force South to lead away from her ♥Q. Nice end-play! 10 tricks!
In 4♥ South might well find the understandable, but most unfortunate, lead of a low Spade, and that hands Declarer his 11th trick, losing just two trumps. A trump lead would be very dangerous from that holding and it gets what it deserves by blowing a trump trick and again allowing Declarer to make 11 tricks. It may appear as if a minor suit opening lead will hold Declarer to 10 tricks, but there is a route to 11 tricks: Diamond lead won by Dummy’s Queen Club to the King Heart to the Queen Cash ♦AK (pitching a Club) Cash ♣AK and ruff a Club Heart to the King and South’s Ace South can now cash her second Heart winner, but has been stripped of all her red cards. With nothing left but Spades she is end-played.
West’s sequence showed 5 Spades and 4 Hearts and was forcing. As South what is your opening lead? There are arguments for either minor suit:
After a Diamond Lead: This knocks out a valuable Dummy entry, so now it’s no longer possible to lose a Spade on the way to 10 tricks (4 Spades, 3 Hearts, 2 Diamonds and a Club). There is a double dummy line for 10 tricks, though: Win the ♦A, duck a Club, win the Club return, cash ♦K, ♠A, ♠Q, ♥A, ♥K, ♥Q, and then throw in South with a Club. South will have another winner to cash but then is end-played in Spades. As we said, it’s double-dummy, expect 9 tricks in real life.
The play goes: Heart to South’s Ace ♦K shift is ducked Diamond continuation won by Declarer’s Ace ♣A and ♣K are unblocked Cross to Declarer’s ♥Q and cash the ♥J Cash ♣Q Exit a Diamond
Declarer’s hope now is that the defense is end-played in Spades. That turns out to be the case when South cashes a couple of Diamonds but is now forced to lead a Spade. Declarer still has to guess the Spades correctly, but having played the hand so well up to this point we must assume that he won’t go wrong now!
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.
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