It’s Fri Day… and this is for you if you are A

         Junior      INTERMEDIATE            NOVICE     PLAYER     

Then have a read.

Not Afraid to Bid but Afraid to Finesse.

Might this apply to you? If so, you are making progress as initially most players are afraid to bid aggressively, at least at the right times. So, take a look at today’s deal and see if you can back up your bidding with some good declarer play.

 

 

With only 2 clubs, North did not have a perfect take-out double of 1 but their double was reasonable. They were rewarded when South chose diamonds but was cautious until South bid for a third time. They guessed South had a reasonable hand and raised them to game. (3, showing 2 suits, would have been preferable to 3but at least South kept bidding.)

West led A and continued with Q. How would you play the contract?

South did well initially by playing low from dummy and winning the trick with a ruff in their own hand. Then, they played J which held the trick and then a second diamond with West playing 6.

Then, the doubts started and they played A from dummy. Although this may not be true when playing against really good players, if a finesse works the first time, then it should work again when you repeat it.

Alas, South now lost their way. They played a third round of diamonds with these being the four hands:

 

West won the K and played a third round of spades. North did well to discard a heart from their hand on the K but then played A and a heart to the king and then, fatefully, a low club away from the ace. K became the third trick for the defence, one down in 5.

What a shame as no-one else in the session had bid and made game.

The morale of the story is that if a finesse works the first time, it will do so again. Had South played Q and not A on the second round of the suit, their contract was safe.

Draw the remaining trump, K, play K discarding the heart from the South hand…. and play a club towards the AQ rather than away from it. Had South done that, they would have made one over rather than one under trick.

Bridge is not an easy game to master and we just have to keep our nerve at times. Whether it was panic or just a lack of memory as to what high trumps were missing, but South should not have played the ace on the second round.

Also, we must remember to lead towards our high honours rather than away from them if we want our finesses to succeed.

Time for a “gin”, perhaps? 

Richard Solomon

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