Deals 17 - 20 : Bidding and Play

(Lesson 8)
(Down - Deal 16)


Dummy (N *)
S - A 2
H - 7 6 5
D - A Q 8 3
C - A K 8 4 		East
S - J 10
H - A Q J 9 2
D - 10 7 6
C - 5 3 2
West
S - Q 7 4
H - K 4
D - K J 2
C - Q J 10 7 6 		Declarer (S)
S - K 9 8 6 5 3
H - 10 8 3
D - 9 5 4
C - 9

Deal 17 - Dealer is North     (Trick by trick)

Bidding : 1NT (N) - 2S (S) - Pass (N)

Opening Lead : Queen of Clubs (W) = top of a solid sequence

Declarer (S) counts 6 possible losers in the combined hands : at least one in the trump suit, three in Hearts and two losers in Diamonds.

Declarer Play
Discarding a loser before drawing trumps   -   The Indirect Finesse against the King
The first trick is won in Dummy with the Ace of Clubs. Dummy then leads the Club King on which Declarer discards a small Heart loser from his own hand.

Declarer continues by playing two rounds of trumps (tricks 3 and 4) removing all but one (Spade Queen) of opponents trumps and ending up in Declarer's hand. (The Spade Queen is going to make a trick for the opponents anyway, no point in wasting one of your trumps on it now.)
In trick 5 Declarer leads a small Diamond, for an indirect finesse against the King.
  1. if West plays a low Diamond the Queen will be played in Dummy's hand.

  2. If, on the other hand, West plays the Diamond King, Dummy will capture it with the Ace (providing a winner with the Diamond Queen for the next trick).

  3. However if East holds the Diamond King instead Dummy's Queen will lose the trick.

The Finesse is successful. West plays low and Declarer's Queen wins the trick.
This results in one extra trick (and one loser less) and secures 9 tricks in total. The final losers being four in total : Queen of trumps, one Diamond and two Hearts.

Score = 3 x 30 trick pts + 50 bonus pts = 140 pts total


(Down - Up)


North
S - A 9 5
H - 8 6 5
D - 8 3
C - J 7 6 5 4 		Dummy (E *)
S - K J 6 2
H - J 10 9 3
D - A 9 5 2
C - 9
Declarer (W)
S - Q 10 7 4
H - A Q 2
D - 7 6 4
C - A K Q 		South
S - 8 3
H - K 7 4
D - K Q J 10
C - 10 8 3 2

Deal 18 - Dealer is East     (Trick by trick)

Bidding : 1NT (W) - 2C (E : Stayman) - 2S (W) - 4S (E) - Pass (W)

Opening Lead : Diamond 8 (N) = top of a doubleton

Declarer (W) counts 4 possible losers : one in Spades, one in Hearts and two in Diamonds. Two small Diamonds in Declaer's hand can be discarded on two winning Clubs from Dummy.

Declarer Play
Discarding losers before drawing trumps   -   Direct finesse against the King
After being forced to play the Diamond Ace at trick 1 the Diamond losers are exposed and Declarer can not afford to draw the opponents' trumps first, as the opponents would win the first trump trick with the Ace and immediately cash two Diamond tricks.

Therefore, before drawing trumps, the Ace, King and Queen of Clubs are played from Dummy (at tricks 2, 3 and 4), and two small Diamonds are discarded from Declarer's hand. Once this has been done it is safe to play Spades and remove opponents' trumps (tricks 5, 6 and 7) ending up in Declarer's hand.

At trick 8 Declarer leads the Jack of Hearts for a direct finesse against the King.
When South plays low Dummy too plays a low Heart, and Declarer wins the trick with the Jack. (If South plays the King instead, Declarer will capture it with his Ace.)
This is a typical direct finesse, where a high card from one hand (E) is lead up to a still higher card in the other (W).
At trick 9 Declarer leads now leads a small Heart, South plays low again and Dummy wins with the Queen (an indirect finesse this time).
On the next round South's King of Hearts drops under Dummy's Ace.

Declarer makes 11 tricks in all, losing only the trump Ace and one Diamond trick.

Score = 5 x 30 trick pts + 300 bonus pts = 450 pts total


(Down - Up)


Declarer (N)
S - K Q 10 4 3
H - 7
D - K J 10 3
C - 7 6 5 		East
S - 8 7
H - 10 9 5 4
D - A 8 2
C - Q J 10 2
West
S - A 6 5
H - J 8 6 2
D - 7 6 4
C - K 8 4 		Dummy (S *)
S - J 9 2
H - A K Q 3
D - Q 9 5
C - A 9 3

Deal 19 - Dealer is South     (Trick by trick)

Bidding : 1NT (S) - 3S (N) - 4S (S) - Pass (N)

Opening Lead : Queen of Clubs (E) = top of a solid sequence

Declarer (N) counts 4 possible losers : Ace of Spades, Ace of Diamonds and two Club losers.

Declarer Play
Discarding losers before drawing trumps   -   Forcing out opponents Ace to establish winners
Once again Declarer should not draw trumps first, otherwise opponets will gain the lead with the trump Ace and immediately win the next two tricks with Club winners.

Therefore, after winning the first trick with the Club Ace, the Ace, King and Queen of Hearts are played from Dummy (tricks 2, 3 and 4) on which Declarer discards two losing Clubs.

Opponents' trumps can now be drawn and the Diamond Ace removed. This provides 11 winning tricks in all (only losing tricks to the Spade and Diamond Aces).

Score = 5 x 30 trick pts + 300 bonus pts = 450 pts total

Note that the Defenders in this and previous deals follow the same technique in establishing winners as the Declarer : forcing out the other side's Ace in a suit in which they hold lower ranking Honours.


(Top - Up)


North
S - A 7 2
H - Q 7 6 3
D - K 10 5
C - 10 7 4 		Declarer (E)
S - 9 6 4
H - A K J 10 9 8
D - 9
C - J 6 5
Dummy (W *)
S - K 8 5
H - 5 4 2
D - A Q 4 3
C - A K Q 		South
S - Q J 10 3
H -
D - J 8 7 6 2
C - 9 8 3 2

Deal 20 - Dealer is West     (Trick by trick)

Bidding : 1NT (W) - 4H (E) - Pass (W)

Opening Lead : Queen of Spades (S) = top of a solid sequence

Declarer (E) counts 4 possible losers : three Spade tricks and the trump Queen.

Declarer Play
Direct finesse by the Defence - Repeated Indirect finesse against the Q
The opening lead does not look promising. Declarer plays twice low in Dummy, in the faint hope that North may hold a doubleton in Spades (including the Ace), but it is not to be and the first three tricks in Spades are lost (tricks 1, 2 and 3). This is in fact a direct finesse play by the defence.

At trick 4 North exits with a small Club (avoiding to lead away from his high cards in trumps and Diamonds!). Dummy wins the trick with the Club Queen, and at trick 5 leads a small trump to Declarer's Ace. South proves to have no trumps at all which is a worry. Fortunately it is North who holds all the trumps (including the Queen).

  • at trick 6 - the lead is returned to Dummy with the Diamond Ace
  • at trick 7 - Dummy leads again a small trump, when North plays low, Declarer wins the trick with the 8.
  • at trick 8 - the lead is returned once more to Dummy with the King of Clubs.
  • at trick 9 - Dummy leads yet again a small trump. North plays low again and Declarer wins the trick with the 9.
  • at trick 10 - Declarer leads the trump King, as North now has to play his last remaining trump : the Queen.

The above procedure was an indirect finesse, repeated twice to finally capture all opponent's trumps without the loss of a trick.

The contract makes, with 10 trick in total.

Score = 4 x 30 trick pts + 300 bonus pts = 420 pts total


(Lesson 8 - Deal 21)

Copyright © 2001 - 2006 Michael Furstner (Jazclass).