From                  16th May, 2007, Board 5

                                          Theme               Entry Management

                                          Difficulty           * *

                                          Dlr West           E-W Vul                 Hands Rotated

                                                                                                   for Convenience

West leads a low Club.

You can count 10 tricks, with chances for extra tricks in the red suits.  How do you best combine those chances?

One possibility is to take each of the red suit finesses in turn.  If one finesse wins, that will be 11.  And, if the other one loses, that will be 12 anyway, as Declarer has the QJ in both suits.  Is there a way to make 12 tricks when both finesses lose?

SOLUTION

Yes, of course, if you play on Hearts first and the finesse loses, you have the chance to get 3 Hearts if the suit breaks 3-3, in which case you have 12 tricks without the Diamond finesse.  Here’s one line which does not work:

            Win the A♣

            Draw trumps in three rounds

            Cross to the K♣

            Finesse the J♥

This is a great success if the finesse loses!  West wins, gets out with a Club which Declarer ruffs.  Now the A♥ is cashed, and over to the Q♥.  If the Hearts are 3-3, then it’s 12 tricks without the need for a Diamond finesse.  And, if not, then hopefully the K♦ is onside.

That’s great, but what if the finesse wins?  Bummer!  You have just gone down one unless East started with doubleton King.  It was a good plan to try to take advantage of the 3-3 Heart break, but you must use your entries better.

Let’s start again!  Win the A♣, cross to the A♠, then back to the J♠.  There is still an outstanding trump, but now you take the Heart finesse, and can handle matters if the finesse has the misfortune to win!

	♠ J2 ♥ Q843 ♦ J96 ♣ AKT6
♠ 953 ♥ T2 ♦ K7542 ♣ J92	North    West           East            South	♠ 87 ♥ K975 ♦ T83 ♣ Q853
	♠ AKQT64 ♥ AJ6 ♦ AQ ♣ 74

Keys to Success

   - Using Dummy's trump entry to take a Heart finesse

   - Playing on Hearts before Diamonds