 6 5 4
 Q 4
 A K J 4 3
 J 9 8 |
| A Q 10 8 7 2
A 7 6
2
Q 10 7 |
| West | North | East | South |
| 1 |
|||
| Pass | 2 |
Pass | 2 |
| Pass | 3 |
Pass | 4 |
| Pass | Pass | Pass |
2
West leads the 2 and you optimistically play the Q. No luck, East play the K.
Plan the play.
Play commentary:
When things begin to look the bleak, think positively. Assume finesses work, suits break, etc. What fun! Even so, you don’t want to take more finesses than necessary. If you vank everything on the spade finesse, (and give up on the diamond finesse), you must find spades 2-2,Kx with East.
This computes to about a 20% chance, On the other hand, if you assume the diamond finesse works you will ve able to discard two hearts on the diamonds, but even then you must hold your trump losers to one. Clearly it is better to take the diamond finesse than the spade finesse.
But, wait a moment! You can even improve on that line. Cash the A first. If the king drops from West, play two top diamonds, discarding a heart, and lead a spade to the ten. If the K does not drop from West, finesse the diamond. If it works, discard two hearts on winning diamonds and lead spade towards your hand. As long as West didn’t start with KJx, you will lose one spade and two clubs.
BOTTON LINE:
1- When you have nine cards between your hand and dummy (spades), a 3-1 division is more likely than 2-2 division. 2- With A Q 10 x x x facing x x x, lead low to the queen for six tricks, play the ace and the lead low to the queen for five tricks The full deal:| 6 5 4
Q 4
A K J 4 3
J 9 8 |
||
| K 9
J 9 8 2
Q 10 6 5
A 6 5 |
J 3
K 10 5 3
9 8 7
K 4 3 2 |
|
| A Q 10 8 7 2
A 7 6
2
Q 10 7 |
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