Todays hand is from a matchpoint duplicate session at Fred Eberlin's "Let's Play Bridge" duplicate game on Thursday evenings at the Solon Recreation Center, 35000 Portz Parkway, Solon.
North's three diamond bid is a "Jacoby Transfer" which asks partner to bid hearts. North's next bid, three no trump, indicates that there are enough points for game and that partner should choose between hearts and no trump. With three hearts, South selects the heart game.
West leads the ten of diamonds to get things started. Before South plays to the first trick he should do an analysis of the situation. First, is he in a normal contract? It would appear so. Second, does he have enough winners? If he can find the queen of hearts he will be able to score five heart tricks and five diamond tricks before he has to make any decision about the black suits.
Once declarer has determined that he is in a normal contract that he should have a good play for, he must ask himself if there is any chance for extra tricks. Here, it appears that he could score eleven tricks, losing tricks only to the two black aces.
He must also consider what the opening lead might be. It could be a singleton or a doubleton, but not much else. The answer to this question could help declarer decide how to play hearts.
Once this work is done, declarer should have the basis for a plan to bring home the most tricks possible. He calls for the four of diamonds from the dummy and plays the ace from his hand. The three of hearts brings the queen from West and immediately solves one of declarers problems.
He calls for the ace of hearts and then leads back the two of hearts to the king. The jack of hearts wins the third round of trumps. The two of diamonds goes to the jack and provides the entry to draw the last outstanding trump.
A diamond back to the closed hand allows declarer to cash his long diamond tricks, however, he must decide what to discard from the dummy. The defense has yet to win a trick and there may be a chance for an additional overtrick. With that in mind, declarer discards two spades from the dummy leaving this four card end position:
South leads the king of spades, covered by West and trumped in the dummy. A small club is returned. It doesn't matter what East does, South is going to take two of the last three tricks.
Making six when the defenders hold two aces that could have been cashed is always a great result. Careful play and a good plan will help you find these opportunities.
The "Let's Play Bridge" duplicate game starts at 6:45 p.m.
and is usually finished before 10:30 p.m. For any other
information, call (440) 461-4963.
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Bernstein is
a free-lance writer in Solon.