82 Both Vulnerable ♠ S W N E 73 1♠ P 1NT P ♥ Q982 4♠ P P P ♦ A6432 ♣ Against 4♠, West the and, when Dummy appears, you ♥Q can count 9 tricks. A Heart ruff in Dummy could be the 10th trick, (at least it could be if the defense is fast asleep). AKQJT3 ♠ But no, the defenders will see the need to stop a Heart ruff. 542 ♥ So, in case it is necessary to lead trumps through Declarer (West A ♦ have from East’s point of view), East overtakes the ♠Kx KJ7 ♣ opening lead with his and fires back a trump. Now What? ♥K You are clearly not going to get your 10th trick via a Heart ruff: defenders are NOT asleep. So what’s your plan now? Clubs must come to the rescue, and one obvious line of play is simply to draw trumps, cross to the and Finesse* the There is a 50% chance that East will have the ♣A ♣J. in which case you’ll make your contract on a successful Club Finesse*. Can you find a line ♣Q, that is odds-on favorite to succeed, not 50%? YES! It’s 68% odds that the missing Clubs will split 3-2. So you should lose the first round of Clubs. Play a Duck* and later play the then ♣K, the hoping that the suit behaves, i.e., splits 3 - 2. But there’s a slight snag, isn’t there? ♣A, It won’t work to win the trump shift at Trick 2, draw the remaining trumps, and then lose a Club. In that case, defenders will take 2 more Heart tricks: you DO have 3 Hearts losers in hand. Better timing is required. Key: The first Club must be lost drawing any more trumps: that before way there will still be a trump in Dummy to handle the 3rd round of Hearts. The whole hand: 82 ♠ 73 ♥ Q982 ♦ A6432 ♣ 97 654 ♠ ♠ QJT98 AK6 ♥ ♥ J63 KT754 ♦ ♦ QT8 95 ♣ ♣ AKQJT3 ♠ 542 ♥ A ♦ KJ7 ♣ Odds Distribution continued. –
♠ 82 ♥ 73 ♦ Q982 ♣ A6432 S W N E Both Vulnerable 1♠ P 1NT P 4♠ P P P Against 4♠, West the ♥Q and, when Dummy appears, you can count 9 tricks. A Heart ruff in Dummy could be the 10th trick, (at least it could be if the defense is fast asleep). But no, the defenders will see the need to stop a Heart ruff. So, in case it is necessary to lead trumps through Declarer (West have ♠Kx from East’s point of view), East overtakes the opening lead with his ♥K and fires back a trump. Now What? ♠ AKQJT3 ♥ 542 ♦ A ♣ KJ7 You are clearly not going to get your 10th trick via a Heart ruff: defenders are NOT asleep. So what’s your plan now? Clubs must come to the rescue, and one obvious line of play is simply to draw trumps, cross to the ♣A and Finesse* the ♣J. There is a 50% chance that East will have the ♣Q, in which case you’ll make your contract on a successful Club Finesse*. Can you find a line that is odds-on favorite to succeed, not 50%? YES! It’s 68% odds that the missing Clubs will split 3-2. So you should lose the first round of Clubs. Play a Duck* and later play the ♣K, then the ♣A, hoping that the suit behaves, i.e., splits 3 - 2. But there’s a slight snag, isn’t there? It won’t work to win the trump shift at Trick 2, draw the remaining trumps, and then lose a Club. In that case, defenders will take 2 more Heart tricks: you DO have 3 Hearts losers in hand. Better timing is required. Key: The first Club must be lost before drawing any more trumps: that way there will still be a trump in Dummy to handle the 3rd round of Hearts. The whole hand: ♠ 82 ♥ 73 ♦ Q982 ♣ A6432 ♠ 97 ♥ QJT98 ♦ J63 ♣ QT8 ♠ 654 ♥ AK6 ♦ KT754 ♣ 95 ♠ AKQJT3 ♥ 542 ♦ A ♣ KJ7 Odds Distribution – continued.
DeclarerTechniques%20Final%20I.docx