Either Way Works
|
 A K 9 8 |
|
 K 7 3 |
|
 A K 3 2 |
|
 Q 6 |
| Q J 5 2 |
|
10 6 4 |
| 8 6 5 4 |
|
------ |
|
| 8 7 4 | |
Q J 10 9 6 |
| 7 3 | |
K 10 8 5 2 |
|
7 3 |
|
|
A Q J 10 9 2 |
|
|
5 |
| Opening lead: various |
|
A J 9 4 |
| Contract: 7 hearts |
Seven hearts. A gutsy bid. And a makable one. There's only one suit you hafta worry about, which, of course, is clubs (with one qualification about the hearts). Spades are solid. So are hearts. Diamonds offer an extra winner, on which you can throw a club. So what do you do with clubs? Well, you can't avoid the finesse against the K, which I don't believe anyone did. The fourth round goes on a diamond, as mentioned. So the question is, what do you do about the third club? Well, it would seem apparent that there are two different ways of handling that, and each one works. You can finesse against the 10 after finessing against the K, or you can figure on ruffing it. Had only one way worked, I wouldn't be inclined to take up the hand and say why didn't you try the other? But I do find myself wanting to ask, why didn't you try one of those two ways? So how come 6 went down?
Well, the first one I looked at actually didn't involve spurning either of those ways so much as getting a little careless. Opening lead a heart, riding to the 9. This declarer then went to the K of hearts to take the club hook. Now when he went to ruff the third round of clubs, West hopped up with the 8 of hearts and the contract was down. Ain't bridge wonderful. A measly 8 can bring down a mighty grand slam when declarers aren't careful. This declarer had entries in spades and diamonds for the club hook, and warning that West has trump higher than anything but the K. It's not hindsight here but only a precaution that doesn't endanger anything to try a diamond, where he has only five cards in the suit, to reach dummy.
I see that two declarers cashed the K of hearts at trick two! So quickly? At that point, the contract can only be made by finessing the 9 of clubs on the second round of the suit. One got a spade opening lead, the other a diamond, but that left each with two entries after trump were out. But each spurned either of the winning lines. One took the Q finesse at trick 7 while still holding a spade re-entry. But after going back to dummy at trick 8, he ruffed a diamond, cashed his last heart and the J of clubs and tamely gave up that magnificent contract with the 9 of clubs to the 10.
The other finessed the club J on the first round of the suit and now cannot make 7 whatever he does, since East has the K 10 sitting over the queen. (Remember, this is one of those who'd cashed the K of hearts.)
One declarer got a club opening lead, letting it ride to the J, East playing the 10. That should have made for an easy make. Cash the A of clubs and ruff a club, then draw trump and claim. Actually, he started out right by doing just as suggested. A of clubs, ruff a club (West sluffing a diamond) . . . and now it should have been a laydown! But . . . he evidently didn't see that he had all top winners, one club going on a diamond. First, after the club ruff, he cashed the diamond A, one of those plays that didn't hurt him, as such, but didn't augur well. What the Sam Hill is he doing cashing the diamond ace when all he has to do is draw trump and claim? Well, this is what he was doing: ruff a diamond with the 9, ruff a club with the K! ! ! He didn't need the ruff of the fourth club, of course, and worse, he now ruffed a diamond with the 10. He now has -- yikes -- Q J 2 of hearts while West has 8 6 5! This wasn't just carelessness, such as manifested by the first declarer. This was self-immolation. At the point where he ruffed the second diamond, he can't possibly make the contract by ruffing high, which a simple count would have showed him. The deuce of hearts would have least have given him a chance, and indeed would have worked. (I'll hafta check and see if this declarer touts himself as advanced. That's more often than not the self-ranking on errors like this.)
Another got a club lead, this one playing the Q from dummy, drawing the K. He was in much the same position as the one above. Cash the J, ruff a club, draw trump and claim. But he spurned the ruff by immediately playing a heart to the K. Why, why, why, with 5 top hearts in one hand and one in the other, why would you wipe out the top honor where it is alone? Nor was it to change the lead, for he came right back with a heart to the ace! Now it is obvious, of course, that only a finesse of the 9 of clubs will do it. But at trick four, he made sure that avenue was closed off. For with evidence that West had the 8 of hearts while dummy had nothing higher than the 7, he cashed the J of clubs. Oh, 4-3 clubs would have let him come out smelling like a rose, for he could then ruff low. But he wasn't smelling like a rose at the end of this hand.
Another: diamond to the A, K of hearts! Why so quickly? Why wipe out the sole trump in dummy higher than the 8. Nor does it have to be West who's short in clubs. It could be East, you know. With five of the top six trump in the closed hand, why would anyone want to cash out the K of trump when a club might well be ruffed in dummy. Give East the shortage in clubs, and it would only take a much more likely 3-1 trump split to render that K necessary for ruffing. With the top 6 trump! It just makes no sense to spend that king for any other purpose.