A classic hand for accurately assessing the hand came up today: You are South, the Dealer, EW Game. With your partner you bid 1
- 1
- 2
- 4
- All Pass.
North AQJ963
A842
J2
8
South 52
KQ9765
K
KJ107
West leads the 8
. How do you assess the hand? The thing about this hand is that (1) You don't need the
finesse
unless West has led from Kxxxx, and (2) On a normal 2-1
split, the only way you can possibly go
off on this hand is if you take the
finesse at trick 1 and the 8
turns out to be a singleton (K
,
ruff, A
, A
). If the Hearts turn out to be 3-0, then you have to hope that the Spades are, in fact, 3-2 or you can find a favourable Club position.
Either way, you have to be certifiable (as half the field were) to take a 1st-round Spade finesse on this hand, because you can afford to lose a Spade, a Diamond and a Club. What you cannot afford is a Spade ruff if the Spade finesse is losing (and it really does look as if it's losing).
I went up with the Ace at trick one, drew trumps in 2 rounds endig in hand and led a Spade towards the QJ in Dummy. East, holding
K10xx originally, was powerless. I have two entries to Dummy in Club ruffs and in the meantime can set up the Spades. West had a singleton Spade and both Minor suit Aces. If you take the
finesse, you're dead in the water.
Nearly half of the field on this hand were going off in 4
, 2 off in 5
, and one world class pair (Joke) were even going 3 off in 6
. The mental gymnastics required to think a slam is on here are beyond me. I can forgive the 6
pair for going 3 off, though, because on a
lead, you
need the K
to be onside for 6
to have a prayer (so you can discard all of your Clubs). No such criteria apply when you're in game, however.
COUNT COUNT COUNT!!!!. Count your losers and winners before you
touch a card at trick 1. Think about all of the pitfalls that can possibly befall you. At IMP scoring, try and figure out the
safest way to make the number of tricks you're contracted to make.
