June 2018 - 46

Newer Players

Play & Learn
BY PAT HARRINGTON

ppharrr@gmail.com

Hot potatoes
Last month, we saw that having one
or more extra winners in a lopsided
suit where dummy has greater length
than declarer can provide a place for
declarer to discard losers in another
suit. Let's plan the play on two deals
where North-South reach 4♥ by
South in an uncontested auction.
Dlr: South ♠ 7 6 4 2
Vul: N-S ♥ 7 4 2
♦K83
♣AQ4
♠ K 10 8 3
♠AJ9
♥A65
♥3
♦ Q J 10 5
♦642
♣J8
♣ 10 9 7 6 5 2
♠Q5
♥ K Q J 10 9 8
♦A97
♣K3
West leads the ♦Q. We see four losers in South, the long trump hand: two
spades, one heart and one diamond.
One loser must be eliminated. Notice
the lopsided club suit where declarer
will not be able to follow suit when
dummy's third club is cashed. We can
discard a loser on dummy's third club.
Should we draw trump first or discard first? Drawing trump gives East-
West the lead with the ♥A. Can they
take three more tricks at that point or
will we still have a loser left to discard?
When we count our losers, note
which are fast losers that our opponents can take when they have the lead
and which are slow losers that aren't
ready for the defenders to take yet.
Along with the trump ace, both spade

46 Bridge Bulletin June 2018

losers are fast losers. Our diamond loser is slow as long as we don't cash our
second diamond trick. We can draw
trump and then discard the diamond
loser on dummy's third club.
To ensure an entry to dummy's third
club, cash the ♣K, the winner in the
shorter hand first. On this deal, we
would not have succeeded if we had
tried to cash all three winning clubs before drawing trump. West would have
ruffed the third club and East-West
would have defeated 4♥ with that club
ruff, two spades and the ♥A. It's a good
thing we avoided taking any unnecessary chances and drew trump first.
Fast losers are like hot potatoes. You
have to handle them carefully for fear
you will get burned. On this deal, we
gave up the lead to the trump ace, but
didn't get burned because we had time
to dump the slow diamond loser after
drawing trump. When our plan involves discarding a fast loser, we might
have a good reason to delay drawing
trump.
Dlr: North ♠ A 8 4
Vul: None ♥ J 10 9 2
♦AKJ5
♣43
♠ Q J 10 3
♠K92
♥K6
♥53
♦9742
♦ Q 10 8 3
♣875
♣A962
♠765
♥AQ874
♦6
♣ K Q J 10
West leads the ♠Q. South has four

losers: two spades (fast because of the
spade opening lead), one fast club and
possibly the ♥K. Again, one loser must
be avoided. Some declarers might rely
on a finesse to avoid losing the ♥K.
Finesses work 50% of the time, but not
this time. After taking the ♥K, East-
West can quickly cash two spades and
the ♣A to set 4♥. Because finesses
are as likely to lose as they are to win,
we rely on them only when we have no
better line of play.
What about discarding a loser on
dummy's second diamond winner?
The only useful discard on the ♦K is a
hot-potato spade, so the discard must
be taken before losing the lead. Finessing hearts risks losing the lead and
both spade losers, so we have to delay
drawing trump.
While a defender could ruff the second diamond, the chance of that happening is less than the chance of the
heart finesse losing. Even if the second
diamond is ruffed, we can still fall back
on the heart finesse.
When the opponents hold three or
more cards in a suit, the Odd-Even
Rule suggests that an odd number of
missing cards is most likely to split as
evenly as possible, and an even number
of missing cards is most likely to split
one off from exactly even.
With eight diamonds missing, the
most likely split of the defenders'
diamonds is 5-3, so delaying drawing
trump to cash the ♦A K gives us the
best chance of making 4♥. Once the
spade loser is discarded, it's safe to
draw trump.
◾

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of June 2018