September 2007 - 46

&Learn

PLAY BRIDGE

Play

Pat Harrington

eight sometimes,
nine sometimes?
Plan your play in 3NT with the
hands shown below. You are playing
in a team game that is scored by
IMPs. The opening lead is the 5.
642
 J 10 4
AJ8652
9
 J 10 9 3
AK
K74
AK65
West

North

East

Pass
Pass

1
3NT

Pass
All Pass

South
1
2NT

South's rebid shows a balanced
hand too strong for a 1NT opening
and not strong enough to open 2NT.
Using 15-17 1NT openers, the 2NT
rebid shows 18-19 high-card points.
Notice that South skipped over the
spades. I usually advocate showing
your major on the one level but make
an exception with opener's 2NT
rebid.
With a game-going hand, responder
still has room to show a four-card
major. The only time a major suit
will be missed is when responder is
very weak and passes opener's highly
46

invitational 2NT rebid. With that
weak a hand, however, responder will
frequently bid a four-card major the
first time. North carries on to game,
hoping that the long diamond suit
will be a source of tricks in 3NT.
When planning your play in
notrump, count winners. You have
two hearts, two diamonds and two
clubs in top tricks. Three more tricks
must be developed. The diamond suit
offers the chance to build the needed
tricks. The question is how to play the
suit. The Q is missing. Should you
bang down the ace and king, playing
for the queen to drop - or should
you finesse?
The bridge maxim "eight ever, nine
never" may come to mind. You have
nine diamonds between your hand
and dummy, so the saying suggests
playing for the Q to drop. (With
eight or fewer cards in the suit, the
saying advises the finesse.)
Bridge maxims are often good
advice, but they don't replace logical
thinking. What if the Q doesn't
fall under the ace or king? You can
lead a third diamond to drive it out,
but you will find yourself looking
at those diamond tricks you worked
so hard to develop sitting in dummy
with no way to reach them. Entries
are very important when developing
a long suit. Once you recognize that,
you might opt to take the finesse to
assure your contract as long as both
opponents follow to the first trick.
The full deal:

642
J 10 4
A J 8 6 5 2
9
Q8
AK75
 Q 8 6 5 3 WN E  9 7 2
 Q 10 3
9
S
 10 8 3
QJ742
 J 10 9 3
AK
K74
AK65
Cashing the K and finessing the
jack ensures your contract, but on
this occasion, you end up making
an overtrick. Recall that the form of
scoring is IMPs. Overtricks are nice
at any form of scoring, but at IMPs
the reward is small. One undoubled
overtrick will translate into a gain
of 1 IMP at best. While some team
matches are won by a single IMP,
many more are lost when one team
makes a game that went down at the
other table.
It's not so simple when you are
playing in a pairs game. In that
setting, even 10 extra points can
mean several matchpoints - the
difference between an average score
and a top. But is it worth it when you
could go down?
My advice is that when you (the
newcomer or intermediate) play in a
pairs game, look for safe overtricks
but don't risk your contract for
them. When you get better and play
in a field of experts, you might
occasionally risk your contract to go
for an overtrick.
r

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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of September 2007
