August 2010 - 57

Solutions to Test Your Play
1. To say you are in big trouble is an
understatement. You are in desperate
trouble. Your only chance is to play
West for the stiff K and ruff with
the queen, play the A and if the king
falls (it does) arrange a trump coup
against East's four hearts to the 10.
The next step is a heart to the 9,
overtake the Q, cash the K, discarding a diamond, and ruff a club
reducing to East's length. If the Q
has appeared, cross to a high spade
and play the J. In this three-card
ending East has no winning option. If
East ruffs, you overruff, draw East's
last trump, and your remaining diamond is high. If East discards, you
discard the remaining diamond and
take the last two tricks with the J 8.
If the Q does not appear, lead a
spade to the 10 as you need an extra
winner to stay in the dummy to complete your trump coup. Assuming the
10 wins, play a high spade, discarding
your remaining diamond, and take
the last two tricks with the J 8.
Your play caters to these two possible
East-West hands:
Case #1 (no spade finesse needed):
764
K
AK75
A8632

J982
 10 7 6 4
82
Q94

Mike's Advice
➤ continued
I expect to get a lot of letters
pointing out other lines of play. It is
not my intent to say that the line I
showed here is perfect. It is, in fact,
rather odd. But given the facts from
the bidding, it becomes reasonable.
Something to think about.
r

Case #2 (spade finesse needed):
J764
K
AK75
A862

982
 10 7 6 4
82
Q943

2.

AQ63
AQ
 A J 10
AQ63
9742
-
N
 J 10 7 5
984
W E
9842
KQ7
S
2
 K J 10 9 8 5 4
 K J 10 8 5
K632
653
7

You don't have the wherewithal to
avoid two diamond finesses given the
spade position. Taking two diamond
tricks via two diamond finesses has
a 75-plus percent chance of success,
but if you do this right, you can increase that number to almost 100%
even if East has both missing honors.
Cash the A Q, cross to the 10,
ruff a heart low, overtake the Q
and draw West's remaining trump,
discarding a club from the table,
leaving:
-
-
 A J 10
Q6
8
K
653
-
Now play a diamond to the 10
which East wins. What is East to
return? Unless East miraculously
produces a fourth heart (East did
open 3), East is endplayed in either
minor and you have the rest. If East
does come up with a fourth heart,

Problems are on page 55.
take the king (nice play), discard a
club from dummy, and repeat the diamond finesse. Given the bidding and
the lead, East's distribution must be
0=4=2=7. If so, the second diamond
finesse loses only if East started with
K-Q blank. You couldn't be that unlucky.
r

West hands for the
August Bidding Box
Bid these hands with a partner.
The East hands are on page 40. The
North-South players are silent unless otherwise noted. Scores on page
31-33.
Problem 1. North deals. None vul.
A 6 K Q J 4 3 J 8 3 Q 7 4
Problem 2. East deals. N-S vul.
North bids 3 (preemptive) if
possible.
A K 10 4  - K Q 6 5 K J 7 6 2
Problem 3. South deals. E-W vul.
South opens 1. North bids 2 if
possible.
A K Q 7 A A Q J 7 4 10 9 2
Problem 4. West deals. Both vul.
K 8 4 9 3 K 10 9 3 K Q J 8
Problem 5. North deals. None vul.
A 9 7 3 Q 9 8 5 4  - 9 8 6 5
Problem 6. East deals. E-W vul.
K 6 5 4 3 7 K 10 8 7 5 4 2
Problem 7. South deals. N-S vul.
South opens 2, weak.
K Q 5 8 4 A 10 8 2 K J 9 3
Problem 8. West deals. Both vul.
9 6 A Q 3 A 10 9 K Q 10 7 5
August 2010 Bridge Bulletin

57
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of August 2010
