STOP AND THINK
By Larry Matheny
One of the most
common mistakes made at the bridge table is the failure to stop and process the
available information. Good habits must
be developed both as a defender and as declarer. Here are some example hands to demonstrate.
Scoring: IMPs
(Teams)
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As West pondered his
opening lead, he reflected on the auction.
It appeared N/S had at least the 26 high card points usually needed for
game. Adding his points to this, it was clear
that East was not going to be of much help.
So while the text book lead from this diamond holding is the queen, West
started with the ace. After seeing
dummy, West continued with a low diamond and this left declarer with no chance
for 9 tricks. Declarer tried the heart
finesse but West won and had 3 more diamonds to cash. At the other table, West led the queen of
diamonds and this declarer soon had his 9 tricks: 3 spades, 3 hearts, 1
diamond, and 2 clubs.
This was a loss of 12
IMPs and the match. It pays to stop and
think…and perhaps do a little math.
The auction provides
very important information but is often forgotten once the play of the hand
begins.
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West began by
leading a low spade to East’s queen.
East shifted to a low club won by declarer’s ten. Declarer now led a low diamond and without
much thought, West played low. Now it
was an easy task for declarer to play the ace of spades followed by three
rounds of clubs pitching dummy’s last diamond.
Now the king of diamonds was led covered by the ace and ruffed in
dummy. Declarer ended with eleven tricks
losing only two spade tricks. This was a
zero for E/W.
Let’s look at the
information available to West. Declarer
held the jack of spades, maybe the queen of hearts, and to justify his bidding,
the KQ of both minors. Therefore it was
imperative that West win the ace of diamonds when the suit was led. This was a simple problem of remembering the
auction and using a little math. Once
again, West did not stop and process the data available to him.
Here is another
hand where the auction should have told guided the declarer.
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West led the top
three spades with East discarding a heart on the third round. Next, West led a low club and with little
thought, declarer ducked losing to the king.
Declarer now had nine tricks and wondered how some declarers had found
an overtrick.
Now it is not a
certainty that West would have bid if he held the king of clubs along with the
AKQ10X of spades, but many would. In
fact, this particular West was known to be an aggressive bidder. Declarer should have at least stopped to give
this possibility some thought. While it
was highly unlikely the king of clubs was singleton, no one wants to take a
finesse that is odds on to lose.
If you are
sometimes frustrated when a strong player takes so much time with a hand, it is
because all of the possibilities are being considered before a decision is
made.
We continue our
theme of using the auction to show us the way.
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The jack of diamonds was led and East won the first three rounds. East then went passive and exited with a trump.
Declarer had no trouble pulling trumps and claiming ten tricks. East’s thought
process should have been "South's jump to game marks him with most if not
all of the missing honors. Therefore, my best hope of defeating the
contract is a fourth round of diamonds in an attempt to promote the jack (or
less likely the queen) of hearts." As you can see declarer could no
longer make the hand. Down one would have been a tie for top. Defense can be difficult but it's easier if
you put in the effort.
While this may seem
difficult, it starts with just taking the time to consider what the available
information is telling you.
When the auction tells
you your partner is broke, it can help you find the right defense.
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Holding such a weak hand, perhaps West should have led a short suit in an
attempt to find his partner's strength, but he finally selected the ten of
hearts. Declarer won and immediately took the diamond finesse. East
won the king and realized if South held the 16-17 points his 3NT promised, West
was broke. But, East saw a way to possibly beat the hand...he led a low
spade. Declarer won the king in dummy and led a low club. East
jumped up with the ace and cashed four more spades to beat the contract by two
tricks. This was a team game and at the other table, after winning the
king of diamonds, East led a low club hoping to find his partner with an
honor. That South easily made his contract with three hearts, four
diamonds, and two clubs.
If declarer held four spades including the jack this defense would not have
worked, but East took the best chance he had. Note that East must win the
first club or declarer would have nine tricks. Defense is sometimes
difficult, but in this hand all East had to do was some simple math.
We all know how
important it is to give the hand sufficient thought before playing to trick
one. However, we often make the mistake
of following declarer’s tempo later in the hand. This hand demonstrates how necessary it is to
stop and think when a red flag appears.
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West led the jack
of hearts won by declarer with the ace.
At trick two, declarer continued with the queen of spades and West
followed with the seven without giving the problem enough thought. West won the next round of spades but it was
too late to defeat the contract. West
should have stopped to consider the hand.
It was clear South must have most if not all of the missing honors to
justify the strong opening bid. So, why did
declarer play the queen of spades and not the king? Since declarer had checked on keycards, it
was clear declarer held the king of spades.
After analyzing all of this data, West might have concluded that the
only way to defeat was if East could ruff a heart. So, he should win the first spade and
continue hearts for down one.
While this may not
seem difficult, the act of following low to the spade queen without giving the
hand sufficient thought is a mistake made far too often.
Sometimes the simplest play can be overlooked. Here is a hand where an
extra overtrick was missed.
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West led a low
heart won by declarer with the ten. Declarer played the ace and queen of
diamonds to make sure that suit behaved and counted 10 tricks: 3 spades, 1
heart, 4 diamonds and 2 club tricks. Without enough thought, declarer
played two more diamonds and then took the losing club finesse. West won
the queen and exited with a club to wait for two more heart tricks.
With the nine of
hearts in dummy, declarer missed an easy play for this eleventh trick. He
should just concede his king and jack of hearts and the nine becomes the second
overtrick. This simple play was missed by over half of the N/S pairs in
one of our local games.
Far too often
bridge players don’t consider the form of scoring when planning their line of
play or defense. In this example, one of
the declarers put a possible overtrick ahead of ensuring the safety of his game
contract.
Scoring: IMPs
(Teams)
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West led a low club
won by declarer with the ace. Declarer
didn’t give this hand much thought because he saw only 3 losers: 1 spade, 1
club, and assuming the hearts behaved, only 1 trump trick. He led a second club and won the diamond
shift with the ace. Next he ruffed his
last club followed by the king of hearts and a low heart to the jack. West won the queen and shifted to the nine of
spades. East won and put a fourth round
of clubs on the table the suddenly West’s nine of hearts had been promoted to a
winner. Declarer struggled but finally
admitted defeat.
At the other table in
this team game, declarer didn’t take any chances. After ruffing the third club in dummy, he led
a heart to the ace followed by another to dummy’s king. He only lost the 3 obvious tricks and made
his game. The +100 and +620 meant a 12
IMP swing.
This hand was very painful for declarer. He and his partner reached the
ideal contract but his card play let him down. Take a look at an accident
that should have been avoided.
Scoring: Matchpoints (Pairs Game)
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North-South reached
a grand slam in hearts and West led a trump.
Declarer saw he did indeed have 13 tricks: 1 spade, 1 spade ruff, 5
hearts, 5 diamonds, and 1 club. He quickly won the ace of spades, ruffed
a spade in dummy, and drew trumps in three rounds. He then led the FOUR
of diamond to dummy blocking the suit. He squirmed a bit but finally had
to concede a club. His partner sighed and made a quick glance at the
partnership desk.
Playing too quickly struck again. After counting his tricks, declarer
should have looked around for possible problems and the potential blocking of
the diamond suit could have been spotted. Obviously, declarer has no
trouble if he plays his ten, nine, and eight of diamonds under dummy's three
honors.
These example hands
provided the following lessons:
1. Don’t play to trick one until you have
considered all of the information available.
2. Play the hand, not the suit.
3. Remember the form of scoring.
4. Consider the auction when declaring or
defending.
5. Count!
Count! Count!
6. Stop and Think!