Play Of The Hand Sound Principles. 2 Construct Plan(S) to accomplish your contract. 3 Finesses are ONLY 50%..THAT should be your last try

Transcription

1 Play Of The Hand Sound Principles 1 Count BOTH winners..and..losers BEFORE 1 st trick play 2 Construct Plan(S) to accomplish your contract 3 Finesses are ONLY 50%..THAT should be your last try 4 Review Bidding to determine Missing Card Placement 5 To Be Or Not To Be..Deceit Is The Question 6 Always Keep The Dangerous Opponent Off Lead 7 Use Probabilities To Your Advantage 8 Strategies Are Even Better(holdup plays; end plays; squeeze plays) 9 Play Your Opponent..eg Life Master? Duffer? Little Ole Lady?

2 Hand Play=#1&#2.Count Both Winners and Losers Q J 10 9 K Q J 10 9 K A 6 2 K Q J K 7 2 Q Lead 1NT P 2 P 2 P 4 P P P We have four(4) losers three aces and a heart. ALWAYS before we play a card in dummy at trick one we need to construct a plan that allows us to make our contract (in this case getting rid of our heart loser). Only playing diamonds to pitch two(2) of dummy s hearts will accomplish our goal Does everybody see that?? Okay then..are you ready to play at trick one...or...is there any other problems that could prevent us from making our contract??

3 6 3 Q J 10 A A 8 4 Hand Play=#1&#2.Count Both Winners and Losers Q J 10 9 K Q J 10 9 K A 6 2 K Q J K 7 2 Q Lead 1NT P 2 P 2 P 4 P P P A Did you automatically play low winning with A? Too bad, can t make your contract now. Diamonds will be set up but you can t get back to your hand.instead, Play K, then 2. Ahh life is good!! General Comment= Also count the number of times a suit has been played. Defenders like to ruff your winners before all trump has been pulled. Counting each defenders high card points is also important. Frequently if you have already counted ten HCPs it will tell you that opponent cannot have the missing King. Otherwise he would have opened the bidding.

4 2 Hand Play=#3.Finesses are ONLY 50%... Q Q J 3 A Q Lead A K J K A K J 1 P 3 P 4NT P 5 P 6 P P P Ahhh there is something appealing about the finesse doing things without brute force.but it should be our last act outa town. However, occasionally we must find our way to making our contract with a finesse or two as in this deal. Unfortunately, we could guess wrong..two(2) finesses for our dining pleasure.. which one should we take class??

5 ? ? 3 Hand Play=#3.Finesses are ONLY 50%... Q Q J 3 A Q Lead A K J K A K J 4 A 9 4? ? P 3 P 4NT P 5 P 6 P P P Well class seeing all four hands STILL doesn t help does it..ha..ha. When faced with a two finesse position like this, you first should cash your top trick winners in the longer suit (in this case AK; then, if the key honor(q) doesn t drop, take the finesse in the other suit. Your chances are now greater than 50%...Actually 69%.Yum..Yum..

6 K Hand Play=#4.Determine Missing Card Placement K K J 6 4 A J 6 2 A Q J 8 3 A K 7 2 K Lead P 6 P P P South surveyed the dummy gloomily, took A, drew trumps, stewed awhile and gave up, conceding two spades. South s excuses were ready I expected you to have a side singleton for that jump to game..why didn t you..!! Should we apologize to partner for our 4 bid??

7 K Q A Q Q 9 5 Hand Play=#4.Determine Missing Card Placement K K J 6 4 A J 6 2 A Q J 8 3 A K 7 2 K Lead P 6 P P P J Well did you apologize? I wouldn t..ha..ha..south did not give it his best in determining the placement of ALL the missing cards. Let s see IF we can do better. We should strip the hand..!! Play a trump to dummy,then ruff the J. Pull the last trump then play AK and ruff a club. Now ruff K. The stage is set now lead your 4 th club. IF West has the 4 th club you will not make your contract BUT..East has it..!! Discard dummy s low spade, and discard another as East is forced to lead a minor suit, giving you a ruff&sluff. Only trump in dummy now, You ve made your contract..ask partner to apologize for giving up.!!

8 A Hand Play=#5.To Be Or Not To Be..Deceit Is The Question... Q J 3 K J A Lead A Q A K A Q P 4 P P P 4 Well we ve counted our winners and losers and know that if East has a singleton spade (sure looks like it ha ha..) our contract will be in jeopardy IF the Club finesse fails. West will play AK, lead a third spade which East will ruff..so class, what card did you play from your hand at trick one??... 10? 7? 2?

9 Hand Play=#5.To Be Or Not To Be..Deceit Is The Question... A K Q J 5 K 10 6 Q J 3 K J A Lead A Q A K A Q P 4 P P P J A good declarer uses deceit to make his contract IF all else could fail (It does, the Club finesse is NG.). We must fool West into not leading spades again. Will playing 10 do it? Definitely not, IF partner had 7,4,2 he d play 2. Would playing 7 meet our needs? Not really. IF partner had 10 and 4 he d play 10, beginning his high-low signal asking for a ruff. Will playing 2 deceive West?..Yes!! He now has a conundrum. Will you ruff..? Certainly could if partner could have and just played 4. You d then throw away a loser on Q. So he demurred His partner now has that tearful look... Boy, you re so deceitful!!

10 10 Hand Play=#6.Keep The Dangerous Opponent Off Lead A K K Lead J 10 6 A K Q J K P 4 P P P P P Did we construct a plan(s) prior to playing to trick one? Let s count our potential losers..one spade and as many as three(3) clubs. Our two(2) plans are: A spade finesse which could allow us to throw a club loser away on the 4 th spade OR simply lead up to K and hope the A is with East Is this the best we can do?and is there a dangerous opponent IF any??

11 A A Hand Play=#6.Keep The Dangerous Opponent Off Lead A K K Lead J 10 6 A K Q J K 5 3 Q Q J Q J 9 3 P 4 P P P P P There sure is a dangerous opponent!! What if spade finesse is a loser and a club honor is led thru our K? Yup, not strutting anymore. So class, how s that dangerous opponent kept off lead? Lead spade to K, play K..toss a low spade IF A is not played by East (if so, there s still plan B&C to fall back on). Success, East plays low! Now spade back to dummy s A and low spade back, throwing a club if Q is not played by East (ruff otherwise). Dummy s last spade is golden. Play trump back to dummy, throw away club..boy you re good..!!

12 Hand Play=#7. Use Probabilities To Your Advantage A 7 A A Lead Q J K Q J A P 1 P 2 P 4 P P P We have four losers: 1 spade, 2 diamonds and 1 club. Two plans: Take the spade finesse (its now or never)..or try to set up clubs. Which is best?? What are the probabilities of success for each plan?? Finesse=50%..IF Clubs divide 3-3 or 4-2 we throw a diamond loser away. What is that probability?..84% much better than 50%.!! So class how do we accomplish our goal??

13 K 8 2 K J Hand Play=#7. Use Probabilities To Your Advantage A 7 A A Lead Q J K Q J A P 1 P 2 P 4 P P P K Q J 10 9 Q Did you play A, then A and a club?? Tsk.tsk you did not take enough time to think this all through. To set up clubs, then return to cash out requires three(3) entrees because Clubs divide (4-2) most often 68%. We ll need three entries to accomplish our goal AND we ll need to make sure clubs aren t ruffed by our opponents. What are the three entries? We also know that we will not make our contract IF trumps are 4-0 (10%) and/or clubs are 5-1 or 6-0 (16%). Ahh you see it A is our 1 st entry!! So win and lead a LOW club, win any return, then lead club to A and a club back ruffing high. NOW play trumps ending in dummy Our fifth club is golden..!!

14 Let s Review Some Probabilities %probability important to know for hidden suit distribution/splitting. #cards distribution...probability % % % % % % % % % 5-0 4% % % % 6-0.% Easy way to remember IF you don t want to memorize this table: Even #of cards does not divide evenly as often as we thought.. Odd #of missing cards divide/behave with a higher probability.

15 2 P 2 P 2 P 3 P 4NT P 5 P 5NT P 6 P 6 P P P Hand Play=#8.Use Strategies..NOT Finesses Q J 3 A J K Lead A K J A K 5 2 A Q Two potential losers (Q & K) both finesses available for our dining pleasure. Always resist this temptation, Formulate other plans prior to falling back on a finesse to make your contract. South relied on probabilities, took A, drew trumps and played AK then led toward J. elevating his chances to over 80%.. Diamonds may divide 3-3 (e.g. 30%) or diamonds 4-2 (on dummy s left=32%) or on right with Q falling=12%) and Finally the club finesse to fall back on. Anything better..or..is it just wishful thinking?

16 2 K Q K P 2 P 2 P 3 P 4NT P 5 P 5NT P 6 P 6 P P P Hand Play=#8.Use Strategies NOT Finesses Q J 3 A J K Lead A K J A K 5 2 A Q Q!0 9 8 J 10 8 South went down because the diamonds were 4-2 in the East hand and the club finesse lost.but.south missed the sure thing. The Strip and End Play..!! Notice the opening lead West must have Q and can be put back in at the appropriate time. Declarer should pull trump, play off the K &A ending in dummy. Now declarer plays his J and throws his last diamond. West wins but must concede the 12 th trick: by either leading a club into the AQ leading another heart for a ruff and sluff or leading a diamond (if he has one). Yup South did have a 100% chance of making his contract.!!