Page 202 - Learn Bridge Ver2_Neat

Hand 2.
Í K 7 3
Ì K 6
(West has announced 8 points and East has 6). Ë J 8 4
You decide to go game in spades and the lead is the Ì5. Ê A K J 10 3
What is your plan?
Í A Q J 4 2
Ì A 9 7 3
Again we are in trumps and so we keep C. A. L. M. Ë 10 7 5
Ê 4
Count your quick tricks by power. Spades - 5, hearts - 2,
diamonds - 0, clubs 2.
Add your tricks from other sources. We have a slow trick by power in
clubs and a possible trick by length in the same suit.
Loser check. If we draw trumps we have two losers in hearts and 3 losers
in diamonds. Way too many for a game. However,
Manage the hand. If we try to ruff hearts before we touch trumps
assuming that West has led fourth highest we are highly likely to get
overruffed.
If we plan to use the clubs we can draw their trumps first. However,
we will possibly need an entry to table if we lose a club to the Queen. So
we must ignore “honours from the short hand first” and win the first two
trumps in hand and then a trump to the Queen (notice, because of the bad
4-1 break we must leave a trump out for the moment), play ÊA, ÊK and
throw a diamond. We will then lead the ÊJ. If East plays the Queen we
will trump else we will throw a diamond. Using this line we will lose 2
hearts and a diamond at most and
make 5 spades, 2 hearts and 3 clubs. Í K 7 3
Ì K 6
Go game!
Ë J 8 4
The full hands were - Ê A K J 10 3
Í 8 Í 10 9 6 5
Remember, if you lay out the Ì Q 10 8 5 2 Ì J 4
hands and then play them as shown Ë A Q 6 3 2 Ë K 9
Ê 8 5 Ê Q 9 7 6 2
you can see why the line works and it
Í A Q J 4 2
is easier at first than seeing the hand
Ì A 9 7 3
on paper. Ë 10 7 5
Ê 4

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