Wednesday, November 16, 2011

Count your tricks

You are in 3NT (scoring is match-points).  North over-called 2D in the second round but leads the 2 of spades.  South can not beat the 9 of spades that you play from dummy. How do you play?


I got mesmerized by dummy's heart suit, and ducked a heart when north went up with the 10 of hearts on the first round.  Hearts didn't break 3-3 and then I lost track of the hand. I can still make if I guess the clubs right. But there was a simpler line, obvious in retrospect if I'd inferred north's hand.  He has 4 spades (lead) and 5 diamonds (bid).  He has 10 points (Ace spades, A-Q diamonds). He probably has 2-2 in hearts and clubs and should not have any other honors.

Now, it is easy to count my tricks and keep south off lead.  I have three spade tricks, two hearts and three clubs.  The club suit (not the hearts) is the best place to get the  ninth trick.  I should lead a club to dummy and finesse on the way back.  Even if it happens to lose, the contract is now cold. The complete hand.  North had only 4 diamonds, but the line would have still worked.

1 comment:

  1. I think it could still get tricky if the club finesse loses and a heart comes back. If you cash AK now, you're setting up winner(s) for them, and if you don't, there could be transportation problems later.

    Another line: test clubs (AKQ) and work on diamonds if not 3-3. Seems they can't take more than 1 spade, 1 club, 2 diamonds. Transportation is still an issue.

    Anyway, I thought this was a pretty interesting hand (declarer play) when we played it yesterday.

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