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Deal of the Week
by Mitch Snyder
Loser Control
You know you can almost never win all thirteen tricks. You lose some and you win some (except for that rare grand slam). As Kenny Rogers sang, ‘You've got to know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em’, so to speak.
In Bridge, declarer can control when and how to win or lose certain tricks. Sometimes, in fact often, declarer will hold some winners to use for transportation or to not set up tricks for the defense before his own are established.
Here are a couple of hands that illustrate these concepts.
Example 1. (East deals)
AKQ5------------JT3
3-----------------.KQJT87
KQ76------------.32
AJT9------------.54
The contract is 3NT by W. (2H – 3NT)
With no side entry E might have corrected to 4H.
The first trick is clubs: 2-4-K-A.
Looking at the hand you see you have 5 quick tricks; 4 spades and a club. You need 4 more tricks to make the contract. These tricks will obviously come from the heart suit, but with only 1 heart in hand you’ll need a side entry to get to the hearts once they are established. This is a simple hand as long as you lose the ace of hearts asap (when) and hold the spades for later. After you use one to get to dummy and cash the hearts you can return to hand and cash the rest. The spades are just as good late in the hand, as they are at tricks 2-5.
Example 2. (West deals)
A65--------------KQ3
KJ4--------------765
A65--------------K43
AJ65------------KT32
The contract is 3NT by W. (1NT – 3NT)
The first trick is hearts: 3-5-Q-K
You have 8 quick tricks; 3S, 1H(taken), 2D & 2C. The ninth trick will have to come from the club suit.
The opening lead looks like a ’fourth best’ so you should be concerned that N has ATx(x) of hearts remaining.
You can afford to trade (lose) a club to gain a club. The club finesse can be taken through either opponent and you can’t let S win a trick lest he leads a heart through your jack. Hold your non-club winners for later. Enter dummy with the ace of clubs to take a club finesse (how) through S. If it wins, you might make an overtrick and if it loses, you’ll still have established a ninth trick. North can’t hurt you with a heart return and he can’t get to S unless you cashed all the easy winners first possibly creating an entry to the south hand.
Whether the finesse wins or loses you make the contract.
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