Extra Chance

I have found a good dummy play problem during Poncol Challenge in Jakarta last Friday.

You open with 1NT (15-17), and after stayman, you find the spade fit. After a 4D splinter, you bid 4H (cue) and you arrive in 6S.

You Partner 1NT 2C

2S 4D(splinter)

4H 4NT

5D 6S

all pass

West start with trump and your first problem is solved, but there is still a problem.

Dealer	South
Vurn	US
	North
	♠ A975
	♥ KJ1076
	♦ 10
	♣ A87
	South
	♠ KJ102
	♥ A42
	♦ AJ92
	♣Q10

On west spade, you play ♠7 from dummy and win. How do you continue? Many declarer fail to land the contract because they missguess the queen heart.

If the spades are 3-2 and you find the Queen after west lead it. Don't just depend your contract on successfull finesse of heart queen. Your chance is only 50% without any clue at all. As a declarer you need to find extra chance.

So, what's is the best plan?

After winning the spade in dummy, you can increase you chance by playing club from dummy. If East plays small, you can insert the ten. It is very difficult for East to play small if he has the King. He doesn't know that you have the ten.

If you have a club trik, then you can discard your heart on the Ace of club, and ruff the heart. You succeed even if heart breaks 4-1 and with four cards in East.

Here is the complete deal.

Dealer	South
Vurn	All
	North
	♠ A975
	♥ KJ1076
	♦ 10
	♣ A87
West		East
♠864		♠ Q3
♥ 53		♥ Q98
♦ Kxxx		♦ Q763
♣K9xx		♣J542
	South
	♠ KJ102
	♥ A42
	♦ AJ92
	♣Q10

Another Safety Play Problem

How do you handle this problem when facing the opponents without signal of distribution.

I found this problem when playing with robot in on line bridge game .

Dealer	South
Vurn	All
	North
	♠10 5
	♥ J976
	♦ AK765
	♣108
	South
	♠AKJ2
	♥ AK42
	♦ Q10
	♣A93

After making an opening bid of 2NT, you finally reach 4♥. West opening lead is ♦3. East plays the Jack when you play small diamond from dummy.

What is your plan to fulfill the contract?

If the heart breaks evenly, you will make lots of trick. All you need to calculate if the heart break 4-1 and the queen does not drop.

So, I play the ♥ AK, unfortunately West discards club on the second round. What next?

As we play again opponent without knowing their distribution, you have to handle this contract very careful.

Finally I cash the ♦ 10, but no information we get, beleive that diamond are 4-2.

What's your next move to land this contract?

In my opinion, with only 5 cards club on both hand compare to 6 cards spade between two hands, there is a bigger chance that spade will divide unevenly than clubs. If spade divides 5-2 and west holds the queen, the contract is in danger if we try to ruff the spade to reach the dummy.

With this plan in mind, finally I make a safety play by playing a small spade to 10. I will make the contract no matter where the ♠Q is, as long as the spade distributes no worse than 4-2.

Here is the complete deal.

Dealer	South
Vurn	All
	North
	♠10 5
	♥ J976
	♦ AK765
	♣108
West		East
♠Q8765		♠93
♥ 5		♥ Q1083
♦ 643		♦ J92
♣KJ76		♣Q542
	South
	♠AKJ2
	♥ AK42
	♦ Q10
	♣A93

Entry Planning

When you play a strong club system, you need to prepare to receive many opposition bid. This happens in this deal. North open 1C (strong), East bid 1S, you double, West raise to 2S. North double, you bid 3D, North 4C and you bid 4H which become the final contract.

West opening lead is ♠Q, how do you plan the play?

Dummy

♠ A 2

♥ K Q J 4

♦ K

♣ A K 7 6 5 2

You

♠ 9 8 7

♥ 10 9 5 3

♦ A 9 8 4

♣ J 3

Many declarers fail to land this contract. They just only get 9 tricks when the club breaks unevenly. Here is the most common plans conducted by declarer.

Win with ♠ A, then

Cash ♦K

Play &the clubs; A and K.

Unfortunately, east ruff the second club and return trump.

Declarer is a trick short when East who ruff originally has only 2 trump. So, West will enjoy the last trump when declarer cross ruff.

There is a better solution to this problem if declarer can plan carefully. We need to think if the club break badly.

An immediate cash of ♣ A and K are the solution by keeping the ♦K as an entry to set up the clubs.

Say, east ruff the second club and cash ♠K and return the trump. West win with the Ace, and play another trump.

Win it in dummy, ruff club.

Diamond to the King, and ruff the club.

You can ruff your ♦A in dummy, to draw the last trump and enjoying the club.

It's very simple if you think it carefully.

Below are the complete deal.

	♠ A 2
	♥ K Q J 4
	♦ K
	♣ A K 7 6 5 2
West		East
♠ Q J x		♠ K 10 x x x
♥ A x x		♥ x x
♦ Q J x		♦ 10 x x x x
♣ Q 9 x x		♣ 10
	Declarer
	♠ 9 8 7
	♥ 10 9 5 3
	♦ A 9 8 4
	♣ J 3

Smother Play

In recent No Weekend Without Bridge Tournament, I found out an interesting deal as below.

RHO opponent open with 2♣ (precision), I overcall with 2NT with ♠J9 ♥Q98 ♦AKQ65 ♣A93, LHO support with 3♣. My partner bid 4♣ as indication to have both majors. So, I bid 4♥. All pass.

West start with ♣J, how do you plan to land the contract?

	♠ 10 8 6 5 4 2
	♥ A 7 6 5 4
	♦ 10 6
	♣ void
	Declarer
	♠ J 9
	♥ Q 8 7
	♦ A K Q 5 4
	♣ A 9 3

At the least we are not in 4♠ without chance at all. With correct defense, event 4♥ is beatable.

I need to assume some key cards in order to land this contract. Heart shall be 3-2 and ♥K doubleton. It will be nice if diamond breaks 3-3.

So, I ruff the opening lead and lead a small heart from dummy. RHO win with ♥K, and thanks he switched to diamond. Winning with the Ace, I play ♠9. RHO won with ♠Q and returned another diamond.

Won with ♦K, I play another spade, RHO win with ♠K.

With no more diamond, RHO returned club, which is too late.

Won with the Ace, I cash ♥Q, both follow. Then ♦Q and diamond ruff.

Ruff a spade and run the diamond winner, smother LHO trump. A great end. However, the contract was solely saved by the defender who returned diamond. If RHO return club anytime he win, the contract shall be failed.

The complete distribution was as below.

	♠ 10 8 6 5 4
	♥ A 7 6 5 4
	♦ 10 6
	♣ void
West		East
♠ A x x		♠ K Q
♥ J x x		♥ K 10
♦ J x x x		♦ x x
♣ J10 3		♣ K Q x x x x x
	Declarer
	♠ J 9
	♥ Q 8 7
	♦ A K Q 5 4
	♣ A 9 3

"Impossible switch"

Defenders frequently face a difficult switch in the middle of the game. As in the diagram below, after South pass, West open the bidding with just 2♠ (week-2), North double for take out, East pass, and South jump to 4♥. After think quite a while, North pass with 19 HCP. West start with ♠A and continue spade after you make a discard. How would you defend this hand.

	♠ Q 10 4 3
	♥ A 9 4
	♦ A Q 4 3
	♣ A K
		East
		♠ void
		♥ Q 10 8 7 2
		♦ 6 5
		♣ 10 x x x x

Firstly, what will you discard? Most defenders will discard diamond on the first trick. Say, you ruff the second trick and see declarer play his ♠K. What will you return to beat the contract? If declarer has the ♦K and 5 cards hearts, nothing you can do. If declarer has ♠Kxx and 5 cards heart, declarer has 10 tricks. So, your hope is declarer has only 2 card spades and no ♦K. With this analysis, have you found the best return? The best return is diamond, and when you get another lead, lead your second diamond. This will break up the squeezed. So, don't ever discard your diamond. If you return other than diamond, West will be squeezed in diamond and spade. After a club return, won in dummy, declarer will cash the ♥A, shocked for a while and then give lead to you by ducking a heart. Win another club in dummy and finesse heart and another heart will squeeze west. Poor west is unable to guard both spade and diamond. The complete distribution as below:

	♠ Q 10 4 3
	♥ A 9 4
	♦ A Q 4 3
	♣ A K
West		East
♠A J x x x x x		♠ void
♥ void		♥ Q 10 8 7 2
♦ K 10 9		♦ 6 5
♣ x x x		♣ 10 x x x x
	Selatan
	♠ K x
	♥ K J x x x
	♦ J x x x
	♣ Q J

Can you see another way to defeat the contract? The easiest way is: don't ruff the second spade. Just discard and you will find declarer will have no way to land the contract. Defensive play is hardest part of the game in bridge.

Fail to Land in the Slam

Competing in match point tournament, you should play consistently good to finish in the big threes. I found this hand in the last round of the session and fail to find the key cards.

	♠ Q 6
	♥ Q 5 4
	♦ A K 10 6
	♣ K 9 3 2
West		East
♠ 5 4		♠ 3 2
♥ A 9 x x		♥ K 10 x x x x
♦ Q x xx		♦ 7 6 5
♣ J 4 3		♣ A x
	Declarer
	♠ A K J 9 7 6 5
	♥ void
	♦ J 5
	♣ Q 10 7 3

We reached a very optimistic contract of 6♠, without opposition bidding. I start with 1S, north respond with 2NT (natural), 3C from south, 3D from north, 3S, 4S,5H, 6C and corrected to 6S.

West started with ♦x, I found my self in early decision whether to finesse diamond or find out the Jack of club. After some thought, I play the ♦ A from dummy and throw the Jack from the hand.

Running 4 round of trump, I play a club to the King, East win with the Ace and return the heart. I have to find the ♣ J to land the contract. As you may see, the ♣ J was offside and I fail to land it.

Actually, as the cards located, I can save the slam. Just run all my trumps including the ♣ Q, West will be squeezed in club and diamond. Then finesse the diamond to land the contract.

Why I didn't see this line? Unfortunately, I have threw the diamond when running my trump. Oh dear, I have said goodbye to my slam with my discard. But, didn't you see, if I didn't throw any diamond when drawing trump the contract always fail if East could find the correct return? Yes, East will return a diamond, giving one trick but that's not enough for contract. So, the correct line is finessing the ♣ J.

Percentage Play (3)

In a recent tournament, I found an interesting board as displayed below. The bidding is simple, 1NT from South and North raises it to 3NT.

		Dummy
		♠ 10 8
		♥ A K
		♦ 9 8 5 4
		♣ A 8 7 6 5
		You
		♠ K Q 5 4
		♥ Q 10
		♦ K J 4 3
		♣ K J 3

Contract 3NT. West started with small heart. What is your plan?

First of all, let's list some requirements to fulfill the contact. Club shall be divided evenly with the queen is on your right. What's else?

If you can count for 5 tricks in club, you have 7 sure tricks. In what suit(s) will you take the other two? One trick easily develop from spade, but it will be only the 8th, how about the ninth?

Let's analyze our chance. Will we bring home the contract if East has the ♠ A? Assume that after winning the 1st trick in dummy, you play spade. Best defense for East is to play, and you win with the ♠ K. Next you play club to ♣ A, and finesse club. Success!!! But you don't have entry to take the ♠ Q.

Another possibility is to immediately finesse the ♠ J by running the ♠ 10. But, alert defender will cover the it. Event if you have the ♠ 9, this line is only a 50% chance of success. (Remember, you don't have the nine).

How about playing the diamond? You need to steal a diamond trick first. Assume at trick 2, you play a diamond, East plays low, you have to rise with the King. When it wins, you can directly establish your 9th trick in spade. If East is an alert defender, he may rise with ♦ A, then switch to heart. You still have chance when East also has the ♦ Q, so you can finesse for the ninth. It's a difficult hand, although your combined strength is 26 HCP with a 5 running tricks, you still have difficulties to bring home the contract. In my opinion, playing the diamond is the best percentage play to land the contract.