All News

On such moments, "you need minties"

or something stronger!

Maybe this is not the best board to show you around the happy time of Christmas. It exudes bad news! Yet, at the bridge table, one side’s bad news is just joy for the other!

It does demonstrate that thoughtful technique does not always bring its rightful rewards. South’s approach was reasonable though they must have got out the wrong side of bed that day.

 

The bidding seemed fine. After South’s 2 bid, North was not sure of the best game contract and so bid the unbid 4^TH suit to get some more information from partner. (You do not need to have a hold or a suit to bid the 4^th suit..indeed, as here, you may be looking for a club hold for no-trumps.) When South rebid spades, the very reasonable 6-2 spade fit was found.

Along the way, East took the opportunity to double 3 suggesting a club lead…and that gave West an easy Q lead to 4.

Now, there’s two theories about the play of this board. Firstly, there is a case for ducking Q. You almost certainly have a club loser..so lose it early. It may stop the defenders communicating with each other in that suit. Our South was not too bothered about that..or maybe feared a possible club ruff if they did duck. . They won A at trick 1. (That was not to be significant in what follows.)

“Good for taking a trump finesse” they thought. “But which finesse?” Low to the 10 can lose to J and low to Q can lose to K..and neither play may solve the problem of how to play the next round of trumps. (Low to 10 and if that loses to J, then low to Q next time has a lot going for it.)

A Finesse-Free Plan

Not this day, though. Our declarer hit on a great idea of low to the ace (and watch West’s frustration as they contribute K) and then back to dummy and play low to the…and there’s only a problem if East produces the missing non- honour card. That line saves a lot of worry…and can be a big winner.

Note the word “can”.

So, that’s what South decided to do. At trick 2, a spade to the ace which drew 2 and 5 from the defenders… not a “singleton king” day. Then a heart to dummy and let’s see what to do next when we play a second low trump.

Frustration!

Now, 20 years later, South is still waiting to decide. They never reached dummy!

 

Do we need to go through the gory details? East ruffed with J and cashed K and then played J. South ruffed with 10. At this point, they were certain to be defeated losing a club, two spades (there was no way to dummy)and A and tried a recovery mode of playing their diamond, hoping K would score with the defence unclear they had 4 tricks by taking A.

West did not fall for that one and took their A to play a second round of hearts, ruffed with K. Already 1 down, East played another club and that promoted a trick for West’s 9….down 2… when East had started with KJ2!

Anyone for a finesse…either trump finesse? South would lose no more than a trump, a diamond and a club!

Although it had little relevance to the outcome, South should have ducked the opening lead but they were dreadfully unlucky with the heart break. After that, little seemed to matter though going down two was the icing on the Christmas cake…for the defence!

It was not a happy start to the 2005 year for one South player. Let’s hope their partner was a tiny bit sympathetic.

Richard Solomon

Interestingly, if a heart is led at trick 1, South can still  make their contract  even if East returns a diamond at trick 2. The club loser will disappear on K…and if they do not return a diamond, then a spade to Q will reduce trump losers to one…yes, a real finesse and a successful one too!

Here’s hoping you do not get 6-0 breaks in a side-suit too often in 2025.

Go Back View All News Items