Counting

By John Adams

John (kjadams on BBO) is my favorite partner. We play speedballs from time to time. Everyone needs a mentor and he is mine. He is an excellent player who makes no judgments (at least not visible!) when I do something stupid, and he knows exactly what hands to review after playing. He picks our victories and downfalls and I learn so much from both. I am very grateful to him.

- Caitlin

I've recently reconnected with a few players from college with whom I first learned the game. Their careers and families took them away from bridge, and playing with them now is quite an adventure. In a recent Saturday morning game on BBO, this hand came up playing IMP scoring.

I was West playing with a rand (turned out to be decent) vs my buddies. South was dealer with the following hands:

The auction is reasonable, though I might not have risked 2© by North. Since South was a passed hand, 2¨ does not promise a rebid, and North can envision game in hearts or NT opposite 9-11 points with diamonds. But this is a play hand, so we will ignore any debate about 4© or 3NT being a better final contract. A common weakness is to think: "how come I am not in 4©" rather than focusing on 3NT.

West leads the ª6, 4th best, and South passes the first hurdle by winning the first round with the ªQ. I am going to save dummy's pitch on the 3rd spade for the end, as this is an expert level decision. If you think you are an expert, plan your pitch before reading on.

Having won the spade, South cashed three diamonds on which West hoping for the impossible, tossed the ¨J. South, seeing the ¨J, tried a 4th round and had to lose 4 spades and a diamond. This is a common error with new players, and the most important ability in bridge: Count to 13. Many "experts" think they are good because they know all the latest conventions, but counting is what distinguishes good players from ones that are distracted by their dog barking to go outside.

Once South saw diamonds fail to break, he could have reverted to hearts. Those do not break either, but the play of the spade suit looks like East probably started with 3 spades, so giving up a heart with a club entry still in dummy produces a 9th trick.

OK. If you are a new player that wants a simple lesson, best to stop here, because the hand is about to get a lot harder. Most of the time, trying diamonds, and then trying hearts will be sufficient as it was on the above hand.

ª©¨§

But what if East's and West's hearts and diamonds were switched? You tried 3 rounds of diamonds, found out east has the 4th round, but there is no point in setting up the diamond because you have no entry. You therefore revert back to hearts, finding west with the 4th heart, and you can't set up that suit either as west has cashing spades... Dang, what a nightmare!!

The contract is now doomed.

The expert can plan ahead in addition to counting. Figuring out how to make the hand regardless of which way the reds split. The expert starts by counting winners... 1 spade, 3 hearts, 3 diamonds, 1 club... just one more trick is needed. Let's try starting with hearts first instead of Diamonds and see what happens.

If East has 4 hearts, as in the actual hand, it is safe to give up a heart at once without testing diamonds. The play of spades strongly suggest East has no more spades, so giving up a heart actually produces an overtrick (1 S, 5 H, 3 D 1C) when East can't play a 4th spade. The club is the entry to the established hearts.

If West has 4 hearts, you can't afford to give up a heart, so you revert back to diamonds. This time East has 4 diamonds, and you have the same entry problem as before, but in this case you get an extra chance. Here is where we have to go all the way back to trick 3 and answer the "what do you pitch" question. The intermediate player pitches a club on the 3rd round of spades, hoping one of the red suits splits, and that they do not need that lowly club.

Watch what happens. Again, the red suits have been reversed:

So, 3 rounds of spades, you win and pitch a club, 3 hearts getting bad news, 3 diamonds getting bad news, and you are left with...

South still has to go down. South can improve slightly by pitching a diamond on the 3rd heart, to finish with ¨ 7 § JTx, then throw east in to lead from § KQx of clubs, producing an extra club winner. That play does not work when club honors are split however. The ending would be:

You try throwing East in with a diamond as West throws his last spade. You are all smug knowing that if East leads a club it will go §T Q A, and a 2nd club will let you score your Jack, when East produces the diablolical shift to §K! Foiled you are. If you win, west has a club entry to the good heart, and if you duck, a 2nd club will end play dummy!!! Either way, 5 tricks belong to east west. Rats! I wish I had a third club in dummy and one less heart. Then when East shifts the §K, I can duck and east has to give me a 2nd trick.

OK, back to trick 3... I am wishing I had a 3rd club, but where did it go? Ah, pitched it on a spade. Save that 3rd club and pitch a heart instead. My first chance was that hearts were 4-2, but I do not need 2 extra hearts, just one. Pitching a heart does not cost me my primary chance that east started with 4 hearts.

Declarer's ending would be:

Now a diamond pitching a heart leaves East on lead to break clubs and no escape, ensuring a 2nd club for a 9th trick.

If you worked out to pitch a heart at trick 3, and to start hearts first, to pitch a diamond on the 3rd heart, and then to end play East, I bow to you. If you merely counted the diamonds then tried hearts after they did not break, you will still win your share of bridge events.