Count Your Winners
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|  A K Q J 10 |
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 Q 8 5 4 3 |
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 ------ |
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 K 8 4 |
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| 3 |
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7 4 2 |
| 7 6 |
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A K J 9 2 |
| A Q J 4 3 |
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10 9 7 |
| Q 6 5 3 2 |
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J 10 |
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9 8 6 5 |
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10 |
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K 9 8 5 2 |
Contract: 4 spades |
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A 9 7 |
7 of hearts |
I played this on OKBridge one Saturday afternoon, and wished I could have picked it up on a tournament. This is the type of hand where a certain type of player says, let's see, no spade losers, one heart, no diamond, and one club. That's an overtrick in 4 spades, no? Well, not exactly. You've got to find positive winners and I dare say there'd be a lot of down two's on this hand in a big tournament as some declarers get out the trump and then ask what they should do. That way, you get two club winners, five spades in dummy and one heart ruff.
Opening lead was a heart, won by the jack, East then switching to a trump. I confess my mind wasn't on the number of my winners. I saw the hand as only a matter of establishing the heart suit (if I could) for a fifth-round winner (I could but didn't, as I will explain in a minute). In any event, I unwittingly brought my winners up to 10 by getting three heart ruffs in the short hand, giving me 8 spade winners and two clubs.
The heart spots are worth noting (which I didn't do closely enough during the play). On the opening lead, East goes in with the jack and shoots back a trump, as noted. On the next heart lead from dummy, East went up with the ace. I was a little startled by such a high card. I guess I was expecting him to read my mind and know I was going to ruff. But I didn't take advantage of this gift. I now ruffed East's ace (still thinking solely of a 4-3 split, which was silly, since East had bid hearts), returned to dummy with a diamond ruff and led the five of hearts, East at last going low with the two. I could have sluffed a club with near impunity. Even if West ruffs, that's a club I'm always going to lose anyway. And West could neither ruff nor beat the five!
East has to trust that his partner will beat the 4 of hearts of that second round heart from dummy. There's just one heart he can't see, the 6. Well, I guess it's easier to see afterwards. Anyway, East offered me an opportunity for an overtrick, and I sent it right back. What I should have done, even if I hadn't been watching the spots, was to start from the top of the hearts. Whatever isn't covered is mine. East covers the Q third round, and I ruff, get back, lead the 8 of hearts, East covers with 9 . . . and do you see what he has left? I lose the first round of hearts, ruff three hearts, and at the end, I have the 5 over his 2 for an 11th trick!
Can I do better and not rely on East's nervousness at trick 3? Yes indeed. Here again, the trick is to start at the top. This smothers the 6, and there's nothing for East to trust. He goes up with the ace, this is ruffed, back with a diamond ruff, play the 8, covered by the king (or 9), ruffed, back with the king of clubs, and lead the 5, covered by the 9 (or K) and ruffed. Ruff a diamond and draw trump. My 4 of hearts is now high. Losing a heart and a club.
For awhile, I didn't think I could make the hand on a trump lead, presuming a trump continuation after I lose a heart on a lead toward the 10. That would cut me down to two heart ruffs, for 7 spade winners and two clubs. But the heart spots now tell me that even if I don't get a 4-3 split, I can garner a heart winner. It's the deuce in East's hand that determines this. I must neutralize West's 7 6. If I do that, then whatever trick East plays the deuce of hearts on is mine. I shoulda seen it, but got lazy.
At the end of the hand, (with persistence in hearts), I would have the high heart and high trump. Oh them spots! How do I get back often enough to ruff hearts 3 times? Well, lemme see. East's trump lead at trick two puts me in dummy, for one. The K of clubs will do for a re-entry for the second heart ruff, a diamond ruff for a third ruff and a diamond ruff for access. I would then have two trump and and the high heart. Could a shrewd East, foreseeing this result, fake me out by playing the deuce under the 8? That would be on the third round of hearts, before I knew the distribution and before I knew that West had no more trump. Well, I dunno. But if he did, I'd lose an overtrick. And if he didn't, I'd have 11 tricks.