SESSION 3 - PLAN THE PLAY : DISCUSSION NOTES

Case 1

This might seem too obvious to merit inclusion, yet it is surprising how many players will go down to ‘over-hasty’ play.

You ruff the third spade, but it will be fatal if you start drawing trumps, should they break 4-1. If you do, the defence will win AH immediately and play another Spade to shorten your trumps.

The simple solution is that you must first cash AK Clubs, discarding dummy’s last Spade, before drawing trumps.

Now, when the defence takes AH, a spade continuation won’t harm, as you can ruff accordingly.

Case 2

Here, you expect South to hold the Queen of Hearts. So you win with the Ace and now, you can finesse  through your K9 of Hearts.

Case 3

Here, you have two Spade, two Heart and two Club winners plus sufficient extras in Spades to make your contract. But, where’s the problem?

You have to decide on the best side suit to attack first.

You must on no account touch Spades because if you lose to the Queen, your second Heart stop will be knocked out while the defence still holds the Ace of Diamonds.

So, you play on Diamonds and knock out the Ace, which will guarantee three tricks in the suit.

This may seem obvious, but not everyone spots this!

Case 4

Some will lead their 4^th highest, which will be a mistake. So, lead the safe card of Ace of Spades.

This lets you look at Dummy and get a signal from your partner.

Case 5

Sometimes you are faced with taking a decision, which you think is most unpalatable, but when there is only one line of play – take it and don’t put off the inevitable!!

Here, the action is to take the initial lead with the King of Spades and then play the Diamond finesse (which is OK). Then cash the Ace of Spades, which will be ruffed and whatever is led back will not harm you.

Case 6

Here, the best contract is 4 Hearts.

You do have the tricks, but there are two potential dangers:

- Getting in the wrong hand at the wrong time

- Running out of Trumps.

Your aim is to win ten (eleven) tricks, by establishing one or more Spades, but must first ‘unblock’ the Clubs.

Play the Ace of Clubs and cross to Dummy with a Trump and play KQ of Clubs, discarding two Diamonds

On this hand, when we defended, declarer managed to go to bed with the KQ of Clubs, run out of trumps and go 1 Down by losing an unnecessary Diamond trick!

Case 7

Here, you win the Ace of Spades and play two rounds of Trumps, happy to see they break two-two.

Since you have no loser in Trumps, you can afford two losers in Diamonds.

What is the safety play in that suit to avoid losing three Diamonds against any adverse break?

To improve your chances, first eliminate the black suits.

At trick 4 you exit with a Club.

Let’s say that West wins the second round of Clubs and persists with a third round. You ruff in the South hand and then play Ace of Spades followed by the King.

When you lead a diamond from Dummy, East produces the Nine – what will you do?

If you play the King, west will win and return the jack and you will lose three Diamonds. The safe play, against any distribution is to Duck the first round of diamonds.

If East wins, he will have to give a rough/discard. If, instead, West overtakes, he will have to lead a Diamond allowing you to score the K and Q – or give a ruff discard.

Case 8

East opens the bidding with a pre-empt in Diamonds and you arrive in 6 Spades.

How do you play when West leads his singleton Diamond?

Prospects may not look good, but you can give yourself a good chance if you play cleverly.

You must aim to remove West’s Clubs and end play him in Hearts.

You win the Diamond lead and cash the top two Clubs in your hand..

Draw two rounds of Trumps with Ace and Nine.

After a Club ruff, you draw West’s last Trump.

When you continue with Ace and another Heart, West has to Duck to prevent you from scoring the Q and J of Hearts.

When in Dummy with the Q of Hearts you can take advantage of the entry by ruffing another Club, removing West’s last card in the suit.

West’s last three cards are the K-T-9 of Hearts.

You lead a third round of Hearts towards Dummy and West has no defence.

If he plays low, dummy’s jack of Hearts scores the 12^th trick.

If, instead, West goes up with the King, he will have to lead to Dummy’s jack.

Either way, you will dispose of your Diamond loser and make the Slam.

                                           Martin Buck

April 2010