Chapter 12
Pesky Partscores
© 2004 - Marty Bergen
Page 125
Pesky Partscores
Looking For Eight Tricks One of the best times to count winners
in a suit contract is when declaring a partscore. Because of
your limited resources, making a modest number of tricks can
often prove to be more difficult than bringing home a game or
slam. Here’s a case in point.
West North East
South
-- Pass
-- 1
Pass
1
Pass 2
All Pass
Question 1: What are your prospects for taking eight tricks?
Question 2: After winning the opening trump lead, what would you
lead at trick two?
© 2004 - Marty Bergen
Page 126
Pesky Partscores
Question 1:
What are your prospects for taking eight tricks?
Answer:
Not great! You don’t
have enough fast entries to your hand to ruff two diamonds as
well as set up your fifth diamond. Therefore, you’ll need to do
something with dummy’s spade honors. And you must work on that
suit immediately.
If you make the
mistake of first playing the
AA
and ruffing a diamond on the board before playing spades,
you’ll be in trouble. When you then lead spades, the defender
will win his
A
and lead a second trump, removing dummy’s last trump. You won’t
be able to get to the board, and will have no chance to win
eight tricks.
Question 2:
After winning the
opening trump lead, what would you lead at trick two?
Answer:
Lead your
2
and hope West has the
A.
If he does, he has no good options. If he wins the
A
and leads another trump, you can win and play the
A
and ruff a diamond with dummy’s last trump. You’ll then be able
to cash both the
K
and the
Q.
If West ducks the
2,
you will win dummy’s
K.
Now, you will be able to crossruff. You’ll lead the
8
to your ace and ruff a diamond with the
7.
You can then ruff a spade to your hand, and ruff another diamond
with dummy’s
10.
© 2004 - Marty Bergen
Page 126
Pesky Partscores
If
East has the
A,
you’re going down. East will capture dummy’s
K
and lead a second trump. You’ll cash the
A,
ruff the
3,
and cash the
Q,
but you’ll still fall one trick short. Your only satisfaction
will be in knowing that you played the hand correctly, giving
yourself the best chance to make the contract. Here is the
entire deal:
Contract: 2
Lead:
3 |
|
North
K
Q 8 6 4
9 8 6 2
8
10 7 5 |
|
|
| |
West
A
9 5
K 7
4
K Q 9 4 2
4 3 |
|
East
J
10 7 3
A Q
10
10 5
9 8 6
2 |
|
| |
|
South
2
J
5 3
A J 7 6 3
A K Q J |
|
|
Worth noting:
West’s
excellent trump lead. When declarer’s 2nd suit becomes trumps,
an opening lead of a trump is often best for the defense. That
theme will prevail on the hands that follow in this chapter. In
fact, it’s fair to say: When you’re on
lead against a partcsore in a suit contract, seriously consider
a trump lead.
© 2004 - Marty Bergen
Chapter 13 :Setting Up Your Long
Suit ......................... 133
|
