Chapter 2
Two For the Price of One
© 2006 - Marty Bergen
Page 25
Two For the Price of One
Trumping Low (and High)
Contract: 4
Lead:
 7 |
|
North
 9
5
A
2
Q 4 2
Q 9 7 6 5 4
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
| |
|
South
A
K 3 2
Q
J 10 9 8 3
A
8 3 |
|
|
You
will lose 2 clubs and the
K,
so you must win all 4 of your spades. You win the
A,
cash the
A
K, lead the
2,
and West follows. If you ruff with the
A
now and later ruff a spade with the
2,
a defender can ruff with a higher trump. Therefore, you must
ruff with the
2
now and hope that spades divide 4-3. If the
2
wins the trick, you’ll lead the
4
and ruff. You can then ruff the
3
with the
A
and claim.
Now,
let’s suppose that dummy’s hearts are the
A7.
When you lead the
2
at trick 4, there’s still no reason to think that East is out of
spades. However, because of the power of dummy’s
7,
you no longer need to risk East over-ruffing with a small trump.
Instead, you are ready to guarantee the contract by
ruffing the
2
with the
A.
You’ll then ruff the
4
in your hand, and ruff the
3
with that oh-so-lovely
7.
© 2006 - Marty Bergen
Page 26
Two For the Price of One
Taking
the Obvious Five Club Tricks
Contract: 3NT
Lead:
Q
|
|
North
J
3
7
4
7 6 4 2
A K Q 4 3
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
| |
|
South
A
7 4 2
A
10 3
A K
9 8 6 2 |
|
|
West North
East South
--
-- --
1NT
Pass
3NT All Pass
After
a routine auction, you get the
Q
lead in 3NT. Nice clubs, partner. You have seven sure
winners: one spade, one heart, two diamonds, and three clubs.
The
extra two tricks will have to come from dummy’s club suit. Not
only is that the obvious suit to work on, but none of the other
three suits offer any prospects for an extra trick.
You
win the opening lead with the
K
and naturally turn your attention to clubs.
Question: What card do you lead at trick 2?
Please
answer before reading on.
© 2006- Marty Bergen
Page 27
Two For the Price of One
Answer: Lead any club except the two! Why is that?
Winning the
A
K Q
is easy –
but to win 5 club tricks you’ll need to win 2 tricks with
dummy’s
4
3.
If you waste your precious
3, and the E-W clubs split
3-1, you’ll be forced to win the fourth club in your
hand, and dummy’s fifth club will wither on the vine.
Trick
2: Lead the
6
to dummy’s queen.
Tricks 3-4: Cash
the
A
K and
unblock
your
8
9.
Trick 5: Cash dummy’s
3
and follow with your
2.
Trick 6: Triumphantly cash dummy’s
4.
“When
setting up a suit, use up the honors from the short side first”
is very important, but do not forget the corollary: “Don’t
get stuck in the short hand.”
Here
is the entire deal:
Contract: 3NT
Lead:
Q
|
|
North
J
3
7
4
7 6 4 2
A K Q 4 3
|
|
| |
West
10 8 6 5
Q
9 8
Q J 10 8 5
J
|
|
East
K
Q 9
K
J 6 5 2
9 3
10 7 5
|
| |
|
South
A
7 4 2
A
10 3
A K
9 8 6 2 |
|
© 2006- Marty Bergen
Chapter 3:
Suit Combinations For Fun & Profit .................. 33
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