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Where there’s a will….there’s a way!

Well, sometimes there is. What one does not do in such a situation is give up. The situation looks hopeless. Too many losers. Just keep playing. Maybe the opponents will give you a helping hand (they can sometimes be quite generous like that!). Maybe a miracle might happen.

Here are two deals, today and tomorrow, where the situation looks grim. Try this one:

 

So, here you are in 4. After partner’s negative double, you felt one black suit was more worthwhile to bid than the other one! With partner fairly unconfident that their diamond suit would provide a stop in no trumps, the raise to 4 was inevitable. After all, 2 showed at least a 6-card suit, except when it did not!

So, here you are in game with apparently not too many losers. West led 5 and you feel fairly confident. Playing low from dummy, East contributes 8 which you take with Q. However, when you play A, West discards a lowish diamond (low like!). What now?

Your first thought might be how mean West was to lead a singleton trump, often a poor choice but not here! A more constructive thought might be that West does not hold KQ or AK, or AKQ, a much more likely lead. Therefore, one of the top diamonds, almost certainly K, is with East. Does that help? Well, not much, really.

Normally, if West held K, you could develop three club tricks which is fine except that in losing one, as you would have to in the process of establishing 3 tricks, you would be one down: 2 certain trump losers along with a diamond. So, is there a Plan B?

There might be if you can start counting to 10 tricks another way. 3 heart tricks and just 2 club tricks, the most you can get without losing the lead (yes, finesses sometimes work!) leaving you to get 5 trump tricks. Can you? Well, let’s try!

 

 You are going to need some diamond ruffs in the South hand. So, at trick 3, give up a diamond. The defence cannot harm you. Let’s say West switches to a heart. Win in dummy and ruff a diamond. Now take your club finesse and cash A and then two more rounds of hearts, finishing in dummy. All that is necessary then is to ruff a second diamond.

As it happens, East held three diamonds. Had they only two, it would be necessary to cash your heart and club winners first just in case East discarded from a three card heart or two card club suit. Had East been able to ruff the third round of diamonds with 10, discard a club and you will be able to score your remaining small spade a little later. No need today, though.

You have scored two top spades, two diamond ruffs, three heart and two club tricks..and still have K left in your hand. Shortening your own trumps is often not a good idea, except when it scores you valuable tricks which you could not otherwise get.

While no pair tried to make it, you can also make 5  with careful play involving ruffing two diamonds in the South hand. There, the trump break was more friendly.

Tomorrow, we will see how an even less likely game contract than the above one did make.

Richard Solomon

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