INTERMEDIATE DECLARER PLAY(continued)
You knew the spade finesse would lose. Your only chance was that West had a doubleton queen.
Of course, counting high cards is only one of the tools you need as declarer. You must also count to work out a defender's shape too. Try your hand at a slam contract next:
Partner's quantitative raise was questionable with such poor shape. Now it's up to you to justify his optimism.
West leads §Q. What is your plan?
When you count your tricks you come to eight on top ¾ three hearts, three diamonds and two clubs. You can also easily develop three more in spades. It looks like you will have to guess the hearts to make your slam. Do you want to guess them now?
No, we thought not. It seems right to win the opening lead in dummy and start on spades. The queen holds, as does the jack. When you play a third spade, East takes his ace and West pitches a club. East exits with a fourth spade and West again releases a club. What do you throw from dummy?
Right ¾ a club seems normal. Are you ready to guess the hearts yet?
No? Good. You should play as many tricks as possible before making the crucial decision. It cannot cost to cash your diamonds now. When you do, West surprisingly discards a club on the third round. So, what do we know about the hand?
East has shown up with four spades. He followed to one club so far. Now it seems he started with five diamonds. That's ten of East's cards accounted for. It looks like West started with the heart length, doesn't it. Do you want to cash the ©AQ and take a finesse if the jack hasn't appeared?
Perhaps you should take one final precaution. How about cashing the §A first.
When you do that, East throws a diamond. You now have a complete count of East's hand ¾ four spades, five diamonds, one club, and therefore three hearts. Just to be sure you haven't miscounted, try counting the West hand. Two spades, two diamonds, six clubs and, therefore, three hearts. That all seems to add up correctly. You could claim now, but it's more fun to let the opponents think you might guess wrong, but you KNOW you're not going to. You cash the ace and queen of hearts and play a third round to dummy's king. As expected, East's jack falls and dummy's ©10 is your twelfth trick.
Now you've got the idea, try your hand at this very similar slam.
You have more high cards this time, and if the spades split 3-3 you won’t even need to guess the hearts.
West leads ¨J. You win and immediately cash the three top spades. West discards a diamond on the third round of spades, so it looks like you will have to guess the hearts after all.
You play off your top diamonds, and East throws a club on the third round. So, West began with two spades and five diamonds and East with four spades and two diamonds. Seven of West's cards are known and only six of East's. When you cash the §AK, both defenders follow suit.
You cash the ©AQ, and both follow but no jack appears. When you lead your third heart towards dummy, West follows with the remaining low card. Do you finesse the ten or play the king?
Count what you know about each defender's hand.
West has two cards left, one of which is known to be a diamond.
East has three cards left, one of which is known to be a spade.
The only cards unaccounted for are two clubs and the ©J. Who do you think is favorite to hold the ©J?
Make your decision and then go back over the play. We have misplayed this hand on your behalf. Can you see how?
Do you remember that earlier we said you should play as many tricks as possible before you make the critical decision? Have you noticed that you are making the decision at trick eleven. In fact, it should have been made at trick twelve.
See how much easier this "guess" becomes if you take one simple precaution. Go back to trick one and win the diamond lead. Now try playing a low club from both hands. You can afford to lose one trick, so why not do so immediately?
You win the diamond return and as before you cash the top spades to see if they split 3-3. West discards a diamond, so you know East began with four spades. Now you cash your other high diamond and West pitches a club (as he did before). So East began with four spades and two diamonds. Once again, you cash your top clubs. However, note the difference. When you cashed §AK last time around it was the first and second round of the suit. Now, you are playing the second and third round. When West discards a diamond on your second club winner, you are almost home. All that remains is to count to 13.
East began with four spades and two diamonds, and now he has shown up with five clubs. That leaves him room for just two hearts. Double check by counting the West hand ¾ two spades, five diamonds, two clubs and, yes, four hearts.
Now you can cash the ace and queen of hearts and confidently finesse the jack on the third round.
Did you get it right the first time around? If you did, you are a VERY good guesser! That's a useful skill to have, but nowhere near as reliable as KNOWING when a finesse will win. HAPPY BRIDGING J
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