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Jan’s Day: Count Your Tricks..and keep on counting!

Sometimes, well always when we are the declarer, the defence seems to be sparkling. A great lead (for them!) and an even better switch. It’s time to show your mettle and overcome the odds and the defence and make your contract. Can you?

 

 

West leads 10 with East winning A at trick 1 and they switch to J. Over to you…

Jan Cormack

“Before playing a card from dummy, count your top tricks. In fact, I was once given some good advice about training partners that as one of dummy’s few duties, make them observe which suit has been led at trick 1 and place the other suits down first, leaving the suit led for last. This forces the declarer to pause before playing to trick 1!

The counting of suits during the play of a hand is not as simple as the initial counting of top tricks, but is just as important.

On the above deal, declarer should start counting once they see dummy. There are 6 top tricks in spades and diamonds and another 2 will come from the club suit. Either dummy’s fourth diamond or the 10 in declarer’s hand might give you your ninth trick.

East wins the first trick with their ace and switches immediately to J. Have you noticed that East failed to open the bidding? Had they A and  AKJ, they would certainly have bid initially. So, we know West has at least one of the high heart honours. There will, therefore, be no joy in putting up Q.

(hands repeated for convenience)

 

The right play is to play low hoping that West has no more than a doubleton heart honour and that the suit will be blocked.

After the J wins, a small heart is continued. Again duck as West wins A …and switches to a second club which you win in hand.

Your contract is still alive and makeable! You play three rounds of diamonds with East having only a doubleton. They discard a heart on the third round of diamonds.

Next comes AK since one opponent might have doubleton J, which would solve all your problems. Both opponents follow but no jack appears.

So, you play your last club to dummy’s king…and East throws another heart!

Have you been counting correctly? If so, you should know the full distribution. West started with four diamonds, five clubs and two cards in each major suit. The spade position is no longer a guess but an open book!

Play the third round of spades from dummy and you can play the 10 confidently knowing that the finesse will work:

 

 

Nine tricks. “Never in doubt” you can tell your partner afterwards!

Like Scrooge McDuck and his money…keep counting!"

 

A Sacrificial Offering? For less experienced players and others

You might want to start counting the undertricks on the following deal which is handy because you are a defender. Do you?

 

You are playing Pairs. 2 is a normal Game Force opening. Over to you?

Richard Solomon

 

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