Reading The Cards
Reading The Cards
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Entry Management
Tricks with Trumps
Safety Plays
Eliminations and Throw-Ins
Deceptive Card Play
Planning in Suit Contracts
Planning the Play in Notrump
Defensive Signaling
Squeezes Made Simple
Reading the Cards
Planning in Defense
Tricks with Finesses
I N T R O D U C T I O N
Introduction 5
C H A P T E R • 1
North knows that you are a fine dummy player but, even so, his leap
to the spade game is a marked overbid. West leads ace, king and another
club to his partner’s queen. Back comes the ♠10. How will you play
the hand?
The North and South hands hold 22 points between them, leaving
18 points for the defenders. West’s opening bid promised at least 15
points, leaving at most 3 points for East. Since he has already shown up
with the ♣Q, the only other honor that East can hold is the jack of
diamonds.
A trump finesse is doomed to fail, so you will have to play to drop
West’s queen doubleton. Even if you get lucky in that direction, you
will still be one trick short. How about winning the trump switch with
dummy’s king and finessing the ♥J?
Once again, you know from the bidding that such a finesse is
certain to lose. Can you see any other chance?
West leads the ♣10 to East’s ace. You win the club continuation
with the king and draw trumps in two rounds. The duplication of shape
means that you are in danger of losing four tricks in spite of the 10-card
trump fit and a combined 26 HCP.
Your best chance of avoiding two diamond losers lies in forcing the
defenders to open the suit. Your next move is therefore to play off the
top spades and exit with the third round of the suit. If East wins, you
can claim your contract. However, West’s ♠J takes the trick and he
leads the ♦3.
West chooses just the right time for a trump lead. East wins and
draws a second round, depriving you of your heart ruff. How should
you play when East switches to the ♥Q at Trick 3?
You win the heart switch with the king and draw the last trump
from the West hand. Since East held only two spades, it is no good
hoping to ruff out a doubleton ♣K from his hand. Nor is any squeeze
Detective work
When you have a key decision to make in one suit, it may be best to play
on the other suits first. By discovering how the high cards lie there, you
can improve your chance of guessing correctly in the first suit.
Here is a simple example of the technique:
Neither Vul. ♠ J 10 8 6
Dealer West ♥J83
♦K72
♣K86
♠K N
♠752
♥AKQ64 W E ♥972
♦ 10 6 5 4 S ♦A93
♣J32 ♣ 10 9 7 5
♠AQ943
♥ 10 5
♦QJ8
♣AQ4
West leads the ♥K, East overtaking with the ace and returning a
heart to the jack and queen. When West perseveres with the ♥10, East
throws a club and you ruff in the South hand. How should you
continue?
Key points
1. A player who has advertised length in one or more suits during the
auction is likely to be short in your trump suit when you end up
playing the contract. With four trumps missing to the queen, you
should normally finesse the other defender for the queen.
2. A player who opens the bidding suggests a certain number of high-
card points. Usually he will hold at least twelve points (unless he has
an unusually distributional hand). This knowledge is a great
advantage when you play the contract. The defender who opened is
a strong favorite to hold any missing honor. An opening bid of 1NT
is a particularly accurate guide to the lie of the cards.
3. When a defender has chosen not to open the bidding, or has failed to
respond to partner’s opening bid in a suit, his point count is limited.
As declarer you can take advantage of this knowledge when you plan
the play.
4. When a defender has opened with a preempt, or shown a two-suiter
(by bidding the Unusual Notrump or making a Michaels cuebid), a
lead of the remaining side suit will usually be a singleton. Base your
play on that assumption.
♠ K Q 10 8 7
♥ A2
♦ AJ2
♣ KJ3
♠AK8732
♥ K 10 3
♦4
♣ Q 10 4
♠ A K 10 9 6 4
♥K82
♦ J 10
♣J5
WEST NORTH EAST SOUTH
1♠
2♣ dbl pass 2♠
pass 4♠ all pass
West cashes the ace and king of clubs and continues with the club
queen. East throws a heart on the third round and you ruff in hand.
Both defenders follow to the ace of trumps. What is the most
likely lie of the trump suit? Will you finesse in trumps or play for
the drop?
♠AQ
♥KQJ962
♦853
♣KJ
WEST NORTH EAST SOUTH
1♦ 1♥
pass 2♥ all pass
The defenders take three tricks in diamonds, West throwing a
spade on the third round. East then switches to a low club. Will
you play the king or the jack?
To Answers
Reading the
Opening Lead
You will have heard the saying ‘many a contract is lost at Trick 1’. It’s
true! Some declarers go through their entire bridge life making the
same clear-cut mistakes time and again. Look at this elementary
situation:
♦K842
N
♦ Q J 10 7 W E ♦A95
S
♦63
♠K73
N
♠ Q J 10 5 W E ♠A86
S
♠942
You are in 3NT and West leads the ♠Q. Now, in a notrump
contract, it is possible that he is leading from A-Q-J-10-x. There is no
problem on the first trick — you should play low. When West continues
with the ♠J, you have a guess to make. If East started with ace
doubleton or third, you will do best to play low again. Only if West has
A-Q-J-x(-x) will it cost you to play low on the second round. With five
good spades West would often have entered the auction. With A-Q-J
fourth, West might have chosen to lead a different suit. On balance you
will do best to hold up the king on the second round too.
The opening lead provides considerable information about the
defensive hands. The card led will often reveal the location of missing
high cards in that suit. This information, whilst very useful in itself, is
only the tip of the iceberg. Sometimes, the opening lead will locate
most, or even all, of the missing honors in the other suits. Cover the
East-West hands on the next deal:
North-South Vul. ♠ QJ4
Dealer West ♥ A Q 10 5
♦ J64
♣ J98
♠ 10 9 N
♠ 653
♥ J963 W E ♥ 84
♦ AQ2 S ♦ K875
♣ KQ72 ♣ 10 6 4 3
♠ AK872
♥ K72
♦ 10 9 3
♣ A5
♦ Q 10 6
N
♦ K972 W E ♦ J853
S
♦ A4
You are in a suit slam with an ace missing elsewhere. West’s
opening lead is the ♦2 and you must guess whether to play the queen or
the ten from dummy. What is your reaction?
To some extent the answer depends on the quality of the player
sitting West. Good bridge players will often lead away from a king,
particularly against a suit slam, but hate leading from a jack. If you rate
West as a sound performer, you should therefore play the queen from
dummy.
If West is a weak player, he may well be terrified of leading away
from a king but he may not appreciate the dangers of leading from a
jack. Against such an opponent, you would do better to call for
dummy’s ten. Indeed, if West is someone whom you don’t like, you can
♦ J42
You are playing in 6♥, with all suits solid except for the diamond
suit. West leads the ♦3. Should you play the king from dummy or not?
Almost always you should play low. Defenders very rarely
underlead an ace. They often lead from a queen. Even if the bidding to
the slam has made it likely that the ♦K may be in dummy (when West
might well decide to underlead the ace), it is not right to put up the king.
West would lead low from the queen, too, so it is as least as good to play
low.
When the opening lead proves to have been from a risky holding,
you may conclude that the defender had equally awkward holdings in
the other suits. Suppose West leads a low diamond against your 4♠
contract and it subsequently turns out that he held J-x-x-x or Q-x-x in
the suit. Most defenders would prefer not to lead from holdings such as
these if they have a safer alternative. You can therefore infer that he has
similarly unattractive holdings, such as A-x-x-x, in the other side suits.
Let’s see a full deal where you can use this type of inference:
♠A92
♥J62
♦KJ3
♣ J 10 7 4
♠J83 N
♠Q654
♥A9854 W E ♥Q73
♦Q94 S ♦ 10 8 7 2
♣K3 ♣95
♠ K 10 7
♥ K 10
♦A65
♣AQ862
You reach a rather inelegant five club contract, bypassing the more
likely-looking 3NT. West leads the three of spades and you capture
East's queen with your king. A diamond to the jack wins and you run
the jack of clubs to West's king.
♦AQJ2
N
♦ K 10 8 7 4 W E ♦6
S
♦953
After an auction of 1NT-3NT, West leads the ♦7. Subtracting the
value of the card led from 11 tells declarer that there are four cards
higher than the seven in the other three hands. Since he can see them
all (A, Q, J, 9) in his own hand and the dummy, he knows that East
West leads the ♠2. How would you play the hand?
Perhaps at your local club you are accustomed to playing low from
the dummy. East misdefends by playing the king, rather than the nine,
and you then have a second stopper in the suit. Since West would have
led the 10 from a holding headed by K-10-9 or Q-10-9, you know that
East must hold the ten or the nine. Any reasonable defender will play
this card at Trick 1 if you play low from dummy. So your only genuine
play for a second spade trick is to rise with dummy’s jack, hoping that
the lead is from the K-Q.
♠J83
N
♠ Q 10 6 4 2 W E ♠K95
S
♠A7
West would now lead the ♠4. You would note that the two is
missing, so West might have five spades. Again you try dummy’s jack
to no avail, East covering with the king. Back comes the ♠9, suggesting
that spades are indeed 5-3. You win the second round with the ace and
know now that you will go down if you knock out the ace of clubs. With
spades 5-3, you must play differently, taking the heart finesse. A 50%
chance is better than none!
Sometimes the Rule of Eleven allows declarer to conclude that the
opening lead must be from a short suit:
♠K52
N
♠973 W E ♠ Q J 10 6
S
♠A84
West’s method is to lead the fourth best card from a good suit, the
second best from a poor suit. Here he leads the ♠7 against 3NT and you
win East’s ten with the ace. How does the suit lie?
If West’s seven was a fourth best card from a good suit, he would
hold Q-J-9-7(-x). Most players lead the queen from that holding, so the
lead is probably from shortness.
West leads the ♠7 and East plays the ten. Plan the play.
The first hurdle must be overcome at Trick 1. You should win the
first round of spades, since a diamond switch might be dangerous. Now
it is time to set about amassing nine tricks, and to do so you may need
to knock out both the ♥K and the ♣A.
To succeed when spades are 5-3, you will have to remove the
stopper that lies with the long spades first. As we have already seen, the
Rule of Eleven allows you to place the long spades with East, if anyone.
You should therefore run the ♥Q at Trick 2.
As it happens, the finesse loses. East returns the queen of spades,
confirming your reading of that suit. You duck the second round of
spades, win the third, and then play on clubs. As West has the club ace
and no spade to play, the contract is secure.
Play the hand through again, knocking out the club ace first. You
will go down. West will win and clear the spade suit. No endplay on
East is possible and eight tricks will be the limit.
Neither Vul. ♠ 10 5
Dealer South ♥ A 10 7 6 2
♦K542
♣ 10 9
♠K3 ♠864
♥3 N ♥KJ84
E
♦ J 10 6 3 W
S
♦97
♣AQJ852 ♣K763
♠AQJ972
♥Q95
♦AQ8
♣4
How would you play this game when West leads the ♥3?
West’s clubs have been supported and an opening lead in that suit
is what you might have expected. A heart lead is doubly suspicious
because North’s negative double indicated hearts. Why should West
lead a heart from a holding such as ♥K-8-3 when he knows there are
fair hearts sitting over him? He wouldn’t do it. You can be sure that the
lead is a singleton.
Let’s see what will happen if you carelessly play low from dummy
at Trick 1. East will win with the king of hearts and return the ♥4 —
his lowest card in the suit, to indicate a re-entry in clubs. West will ruff
and underlead his ace of clubs to put East on lead again. In with the
king of clubs, East will deliver another heart ruff. One down.
The first step on the road to ten tricks is to rise with dummy’s ace
of hearts at Trick 1. Suppose you now take a trump finesse. West will
win with the king and, as before, underlead in clubs. East will win with
the club king, cash the king of hearts and give his partner a ruff. You
will still go one down.
♠A7
♥ K Q J 10 6 4
♦J3
♣ A 10 8
WEST NORTH EAST SOUTH
1♥
pass 2♦ 2♠ 4♥
pass 5♥ pass 6♥
all pass
West leads the ♣2. Which card will you play from dummy?
B. ♠85
♥ A 10 9 3
♦AK2
♣J942
N
♠6 led W E
S
♠A94
♥K52
♦Q73
♣ A K 10 8
West leads the ♠6 against your 3NT game. East plays the
queen, which you duck. How would you play if:
i) East returns the ♠2 to West’s jack as you duck again. West
then plays the ♠7 and East the ♠3 on the third round of the suit.
ii) East returns the ♠10, West’s following with the ♠7 as you
duck again. East then plays the ♠3 and West follows with the ♠J
on the third round of the suit.
A. East has overcalled in spades, so you would expect West to lead that
suit. No doubt he has length in the spade suit and does not expect
such a lead to be productive. However, it is surely unthinkable that
he has spurned a lead in partner’s suit, merely to lead from a jack! It
is much more likely that he has led from the club king, hoping to
cash two tricks there or to find his partner with the queen. You
should therefore rise with dummy’s queen of clubs at Trick 1.
B. i) How are the spades divided? Almost certainly, they are 4-4. You
can afford to lose the lead to either defender as they have only one
more spade winner to cash. Cash one high club, cross to a diamond,
and take a club finesse. Even if the finesse loses, you will still make
your contract.
ii) How are the spades divided? You must decide which defender
holds the ♠2. This is not a situation in which East is likely to false-
card at Trick 2. With ♠Q1032 he would surely return his fourth-best
spade to give his partner the count. It is much more likely that West
is hiding the lowest spade in an attempt to persuade you that it is safe
for you to lose the lead to him.
It would be poor play to bank everything on a club finesse into
the longer hand. Instead, play a heart to the ten. If this loses, win
East’s minor-suit return, cash the king of hearts and finesse the heart
nine. Only if both heart finesses lose will you have to fall back on
the club finesse.
Counting the
Defenders’ Shape
Suppose you are in some high contract that depends on a two-way
queen guess in a side suit. How would you decide which defender to
play for the queen? One possibility is to toss a coin. This will work
very well… half the time. A better idea is to seek a count on the
defenders’ hands.
Let’s see how you might obtain such a count.
East-West Vul. ♠A97
Dealer South ♥K864
♦ A 10 3
♣A32
♠ J 10 N
♠86532
♥ 10 7 3 W E ♥2
♦Q98642 S ♦7
♣Q4 ♣J98765
♠KQ4
♥AQJ95
♦KJ5
♣ K 10
♠ Q83
♥ A 10 8 3
♦ KJ2
♣ AJ7
♠5 N ♠ 10 7 4
♥Q72 W E ♥KJ964
♦ 10 9 8 4 3 S ♦75
♣Q963 ♣852
♠ AKJ962
♥ 5
♦ AQ6
♣ K 10 4
North opens a strong 1NT and you drive to a grand slam in spades.
You win the ♦10 lead and draw trumps, noting that East held three cards
in the suit. West has thrown two diamonds, meanwhile. What next?
Your next move should be to play on hearts, hoping to gain a count
of that suit too. After the ace of hearts and a heart ruff, you cross to the
jack of diamonds and ruff another heart. Both defenders follow and,
when you return to dummy with the ♦K, East shows out. Make a
mental note now that East started with three trumps and two diamonds.
When you ruff dummy’s last heart the count is complete. West shows
out, marking East with 3-5-2-3 shape.
So, you have now found out that West holds four clubs to East’s
three. This makes him a favorite to hold the club queen. You cash the
club king and play a low club to dummy’s jack, preparing to bemoan
your misfortune should the finesse lose. No, it wins! Sometimes there
is justice in this world.
We have asked you to play one or two pretty awful contracts in the
first part of this book. The next deal, a 6NT contract, appears to offer no
problem at all. Be careful in such a situation. Perhaps a bad break
somewhere can still defeat you. (Don’t forget to cover the defenders’
cards.)
North-South Vul. ♠ 10 7 6
Dealer South ♥743
♦J732
♣ 10 8 3
♠94 ♠J832
♥ 10 2 N ♥KQJ98
♦A98 W E
♦ 10 6 4
S
♣Q97542 ♣J
♠AKQ5
♥A65
♦KQ5
♣AK6
♠—
♥—
♦J7
♣ 10 8 3
♠— N ♠J
♥— W E ♥98
♦A S ♦ 10
♣Q975 ♣J
♠5
♥—
♦5
♣AK6
The only chance is that East’s singleton club is the queen or jack.
You cash the ace of clubs and see the splendid sight of the jack falling
on your right. When you continue with a diamond, West is end-played.
After winning with the ace, he has to lead away from the ♣Q. You win
with dummy’s 10 and will actually end up with an overtrick!
Neither Vul. ♠ 10 7 6
Dealer West ♥A743
♦KJ5
♣A93
♠AKQ95 ♠832
♥QJ6 N
♥9
W E
♦74 S
♦ Q 10 8 3 2
♣J74 ♣ 10 8 5 2
♠J4
♥ K 10 8 5 2
♦A96
♣KQ6
West, whose opening bid promised a five-card suit, leads three top
spades against your heart game. East follows all the way and you ruff
the third round. When you continue with the ace and king of hearts,
East follows with the nine and then discards a diamond on the second
round. As West has a sure trump trick, you must now avoid a loser in
the diamond suit. Any ideas?
Your first inclination may be that West is likely to hold the queen
because he opened the bidding. Whilst this is true, he has already
shown up with nine points in spades and three in hearts — enough to
justify his opening. Let’s see if there are any other clues.
West’s opening bid told you that the spades are 5-3. He has since
shown up with three hearts, so you know that West has eight cards in the
major suits. To put another piece into the jigsaw, you should play your
three club winners. When West follows all the way, you have
discovered that he can hold at most two diamonds.
The scene is now set for an elimination play. You cash the ace and
king of diamonds to leave this position:
♠KJ64
♥AQ4
♦A84
♣K75
WEST NORTH EAST SOUTH
1NT
pass 4NT pass 6NT
all pass
West leads the ♦3 against your slam. Plan the play.
B. ♠K85
♥A9
♦ Q 10 5 2
♣QJ62
N
W E
♠2 led S
♠A643
♥J2
♦K93
♣AK84
WEST NORTH EAST SOUTH
1NT
pass 3NT all pass
West leads the ♠2 against your notrump game. East plays the
jack. Plan the play.
A. You have eleven top tricks and the most likely source of the twelfth
is the fourth round of hearts. Essentially, you plan to cash the ace-
queen of hearts and lead a third round towards dummy. If the jack
has not appeared, you will have to decide between playing the king
(hoping for a 3-3 break) or finessing the ten.
With no clues to guide you, the odds are very close. On hands such
as this, you must delay your decision until you have seen as many
tricks as possible. Indeed, on a good day, you might be able to get a
complete count of the hand. It is not good enough to simply play off
your winners — a better approach is to win the opening diamond
lead and immediately duck a round of clubs. By doing this, you will
be able to see three rounds of clubs rather than just two. Suppose the
defenders’ spades split 3-3 but that West holds only two clubs. If his
♦3 is a true lead, you can then count him for a 3-4-4-2 shape.
Assuming that the ♥J does not drop, you will be able to take the
finesse with reasonable confidence. If you had not ducked a club,
you would never have discovered the layout of that suit.
B. You capture East’s jack of spades with the ace at Trick 1 since a heart
switch would be a most unwelcome development. Now what?
You have seven top tricks — four clubs, two spades and one heart.
You can easily develop an eighth in diamonds and it looks as though
the ninth trick will have to come from that suit too. Which defender
will you play for the jack of diamonds?
What do you know about the shape of the defenders’ hands? The
spades are clearly 4-2. What about the hearts? It is a fair bet that
East holds at least five hearts, and perhaps even six. West has chosen
to lead a broken 4-card spade suit. You can therefore be virtually
certain that he does not hold five hearts.
Suppose you play two rounds of clubs and West shows out,
discarding a heart, on the second round. Do you now know how the
diamonds are breaking? Almost certainly, they are 4-2, West’s shape
being 4-4-4-1. The odds are therefore 2:1 in favor of West holding
the diamond jack. You should lead the first round of the suit from
dummy, though — just in case East began with ♦A-J doubleton.
If West captures your king with the ace, he must now switch to a
heart to keep the defenders in the ball game. Assuming he does so,
you intend to finesse him for the jack of diamonds on the second
round.
Reading the
Defenders’ Signals
♥Q953
N
♥??? W E ♥???
S
♥76
West leads the king of hearts against your contract of four spades.
If your opponents’ basic signaling method is to show count on their
partner’s lead, you can be virtually certain that East will play a true card
here. Assuming there has been no bidding to suggest that wild distri-
bution exists, you can be fairly sure that the hearts are 4-3 if East
follows with the ♥2 at Trick 1. Alternatively, if he plays an obviously
high spot (the beginning of a high-low signal), you can be equally
certain that the suit is either 5-2 or 3-4.
Such information may prove vital later in the hand, when you are
trying to get a complete count. This is particularly true when the suit
led is one in which you hold relatively few cards (eg. Axx opposite a
singleton), and you can never play enough rounds of the suit for a
defender to show out.
However, good defenders are also very quick to recognize when a
signal is more likely to help declarer than their partner. For example:
♠AKQ6
N
♠??? W E ♠???
S
♠754
Declaring a notrump contract, suppose you play a spade to the ace
and the defenders follow with the three and the two — the lowest of the
missing spades. Would it be reasonable to assume that the spades are
splitting 3-3 because each defender has started a low-high signal?
No, because it is clear to both defenders that knowing how many
spades they hold is unlikely to be of any great advantage to their partner.
As a defender, you must learn to recognize when you need to signal
accurately and when you can simply follow suit or even attempt to
muddy the waters with a false signal. Signal too little, and you
constantly leave your partner guessing what to do. Overdo it, and you
become a patsy for a watchful declarer.
♦ K 10 7 3
N
♦??? W E ♦???
S
♦QJ4
♦ K 10 7 3
N
♦??? W E ♦???
S
♦AQ4
West leads the diamond three. East takes two tricks in the suit and
returns the two of diamonds for his partner to ruff. West then produces
the five of clubs — decision time!
How do you assess the various chances? There are two alternatives.
One is the club finesse, which, after East’s preempt, rates to be better
than a 50-50 shot. The other is to play for a 3-3 spade break.
The odds on a 3-3 spade break are far worse than 50%, particularly
when the diamonds are known to be 6-1. Why, then, should you eschew
the finesse in favor of this much poorer chance?
Think about East’s signal. He had a choice of diamonds to return
at Trick 3, but he chose the two, a clear suit-preference signal for a club.
He could have chosen either the ten to ask for a spade or the four or six
which would have been neutral cards.
What are the chances that East has asked for a club switch to deter
you from taking a winning finesse in the suit?
Almost none — asking for a club when he held nothing in the suit
would be incredibly dangerous. From East’s point of view, his partner
might hold the king-jack, and a club switch around to your unsupported
queen might be the only way to let the contract make. No, the only
explanation for East asking for a club switch is that he holds the king.
You should rise with the ♣A, draw two rounds of trumps, and play
three rounds of spades, ruffing. When the spades split 3-3, you can
cross to the jack of trumps and discard your club losers on the long
spades — contract made!
You don’t admire the bidding? Maybe not, but suppose you are
South and are faced with the task of scoring twelve tricks. West leads
the ♦7 and you take East’s jack with the ace. The only apparent chance
is to squeeze West in the black suits. You draw trumps in three rounds,
throwing a diamond from dummy. When you continue with a fourth
trump, West discards a club and you dispose of dummy’s last diamond.
Now comes a fifth round of trumps; West considers for a while and then
throws a spade. What will you discard from dummy?
West started with nine cards in the black suits and has thrown one
card in each suit. He must therefore have reduced to only three cards in
one of the black suits. If you can guess which one, you can discard from
dummy in the other suit and ruff a long card good in the first suit.
Against all but a very top-class defender you can be confident that
Key points
1. The opening lead and signals given early in the play are usually
honest. You can treat information gleaned from such signals as
reliable.
2. Always try to view a problem from the defender’s angle. You will
often see that he cannot afford to play a deceptive card, as doing so
risks leading his partner astray. In such circumstances, you can treat
a signal from that defender as honest.
3. A defender who holds all of his side’s assets will rarely bother to
signal. After all, his partner, who has virtually nothing, does not
need to know which of his thirteen small cards to keep — they are
all irrelevant. A defender whose hand is known to be very weak will
tend to signal accurately.
4. If you need the defenders to tell you how a suit is breaking, lead the
suit early. If you wait until later in the hand, when the defenders
already know all they need about the layout, they will not bother to
signal. You will therefore gain no useful information from their
carding.
5. Opponents who play attitude signals will often give you a blueprint
to the missing honors. Suit-preference signals can also be used to
similar ends.
A. ♠842
♥ K Q 10 3
♦72
♣8732
N
♠3 led W E
S
♠KQJ
♥A74
♦ A Q J 10
♣QJ5
B. ♠K843
♥AJ742
♦A52
♣6
N
♠2 led W E
S
♠A
♥ K Q 10 9 3
♦ K J 10 3
♣A74
WEST NORTH EAST SOUTH
1♥
pass 4♣ pass 4NT
pass 5♥ pass 7♥
all pass
To Questions
Answers
A. You need four heart tricks to make the contract and the defenders’
spot cards on the first round of this suit may assist you to guess
correctly. Suppose when you lead a heart to the king at Trick 2, West
follows with the ♥2 and East with the ♥8. Remember those spot
cards! When you later cash the ♥A, let’s say West follows with the
♥5 and East with the ♥6. That’s interesting — one defender has
played upwards and the other other has followed high-low. One of
them is lying!
Almost certainly, West holds J-9-5-2 and did not signal his length
because the approaching guess for declarer was apparent. East holds
8-6 and did signal his length, since partner might hold the ace and
would need to know how many times he should hold up. You should
therefore finesse on the third round of hearts.
If instead both defenders followed upwards in hearts, you would
play for a 3-3 break.
B. What do you make of East’s early diamond discard?
The opening lead tells you that spades are likely to be 4-4. That
leaves East with nine cards in the minors. How do you think those
nine cards are distributed? If East held four or fewer diamonds,
wouldn’t he have had plenty of clubs to throw? His ‘easy’ diamond
discard surely marks him with 4-0-5-4 shape.
If East began with five diamonds, that leaves only a singleton for
West. You should play a diamond to the ace and finesse against East
on the way back. If West follows at all to the second round of
diamonds, it will be a surprise.
DAVID BIRD has written more than forty previous books, including the popular ‘St Titus
Abbey’ collections. (Saints and Sinners, 2000, with Tim Bourke is the
seventh in the series). He writes two newspaper columns in the UK,
and his work appears regularly in numerous bridge magazines in the
UK and the US.