Careful, Now
|
 A J 10 5 3 |
|
 A 5 3 2 |
|
 A 10 7 |
|  5 |
| K 9 8 6 |
|
Q 7 |
| 10 |
|
Q J |
|
| Q 9 3 2 |
| 8 6 5 |
| J 8 7 6 | |
K Q 10 9 3 2 |
|
4 2 |
|
|
K 9 8 7 6 4 |
|
|
K J 4 |
Contract: 6 hearts | |
|
A 4 |
Opening lead: 6 of clubs |
How many ways can you make this hand? Well, obviously you can make if you guess the Q of diamonds right. But that's only a mere 50% chance and we'll feel so bad if it goes wrong. How about a double hook in spades? That's a 75% chance, which sounds a little better, and partner will probably be a little more tolerant of that line if it doesn't work. But there's a still better chance if we can live with a 4-2 spade split, isn't there? That comes out to about an 84% chance, and now we're talking.
How many entries do we need on a 4-2 spade split? Well, we get two on leading to the ace and then another. So how many do we need then? And answer has to be three: one for each of West's remaining spades and one to cash, sluffing a diamond to avoid the finesse. And do we have them? And the answer is yes: one on a club ruff, one with the ace of diamonds, and yes, an often overlooked type of entry, one by overtaking the 4 of hearts with the 5. Bingo.
Hence, win the opening lead, cash two rounds of trump, making sure you preserve the 4 (if they split 3-0, nobody's making), go to the A of spades and lose a spade. East will presumably lead a club, which you ruff, ruff a spade, four of hearts to the 5, ruff a spade, and now you have the A of diamonds to cash that last spade, steering clear of the diamond finesse. Please note that you must take two spade leads by way of the ace before cashing any other lead, or you'll lose the ability to get two rounds out of a lead to the ace. The opponents can't wipe out your ace of diamonds entry, exactly, since if they lead the suit, they've solved your problem right there. But they can wipe out a key entry with a club lead if you haven't taken two spade leads.
One declarer appeared to be headed toward the double hook in spades. That would work too, because after losing the first round to the Q, you now get three spade leads out of winning the second round, cashing the ace and ruffing a spade. The problem is that a club return wipes out an entry you'd want later if your shtik is to bang down the ace, first round and contine the suit (after trump are out), looking for a 4-2 split (at worst). So there's no gain, and yet still, what you lose in the club entry is made up in getting three spade leads, which is to say the double hook works if you carry it out: two rounds of trump (preserving the 4), ending in the closed hand, finesse the J of spades into the Q. A club return? What of it. Ruff and return to the K of diamonds, finesse the 10 of spades, cash the ace, ruff a spade. Now you have an entry with the A of diamonds and don't need the heart 4 to the 5.
Unfortunately, this declarer descended into a mish-mash that led to defeat: win opening lead, 4 of hearts to the ace, then back to the K, finesse into the Q of spades, ruff the club return with the 3. He's now in dummy. How many entries does he have if he bangs down the A and ruffs a spade? How many does he need with a 3-3 spade split? With a 4-2? Of course if the spades split 3-3, the spades will have been established at that point, and he still has the A of diamonds. And if they don't split 3-3, he would need two entries where he now has one, having failed to retain the 4 of hearts.
But the second half of the double hook beckoned, no? Well, unfortunately, no. Instead of coming to the closed hand either by way of a trump lead or a diamond to continue the double hook, he cashed the A of spades and now cannot make the slam. He had squandered two entries to dummy, one by letting the opponents wipe out the club-ruff entry before he'd cashed the second round, and one by playing the 4 of hearts to the ace. Actually, he squandered another entry by failing to continue the double hook in spades. If he'd come to the K of diamonds and tried that, he would have had sufficient entries.
This hand could also be entered under the rubric, So Who Wants to Finesse? You see that you can make your contract by looking to a double finesse, where you need only one honor placed right, and can improve still more by looking to establish the 5th card on a 5-2 suit. But you're going to need three entries after two spade leads, which are there if you retain the 4 of hearts. This works on any 4-2 spade holding, whereas the double hook does run the risk of finessing into the K Q on your right.