March 2023 - 56

Newer Players
Lessons Learned
Finding the extra tricks
P
otato-wringing was a tough job
in the Berkowitz home. While
other households may wrestle
or play tug-of-war to test strength,
our crucible was getting every last bit
of moisture out of shredded potatoes
to make the crispiest latkes possible.
The potatoes were placed in a clean
dish towel, then the children got first
crack at twisting the towel as water
poured into the sink. Then some of
the burlier men got roped in, causing
a few more streams of moisture to
leave the spuds. Lastly, my grandmother
would open the now-shrunken
towel-wrapped package, shake her
head a little, and squeeze out a few
last drops.
As declarer, we'd love to get every
last drop out of each deal, but as long
as we scoop up the vast majority of
what's available, we'll still make a
pretty decent meal.
There's a reason we count winners
when talking about declarer play at
notrump. If we count our surefire
tricks, we'll be better able to see
where we can get more tricks from.
For example: A-K-x opposite Q-x is
three tricks. Those tricks are already,
Reasoning with Robert
continued from page 54
A Q 3 2
J 10 9 8
7 6 5 4
Then playing the ace first will gain a
trick.
What if you know the king is offside?
A Q 3 2
J 10 9
7 6 5 4
56 | Bridge Bulletin | March 2023
K 8
K
mentally, in our bank. We don't have
to do any work in this suit to get those
tricks. Unless our opponents can
win a lot of tricks in some other suit,
there's no rush to take them.
K-Q-x opposite J-x, on the other
hand, is a suit that needs some work.
We have no quick tricks here. If we
play the suit and the ace is taken,
we'll have two tricks. That's good.
The only problem is that if we play
the suit and take our two tricks, we
may set up tricks for our opponents.
How does this affect a full deal?
We wind up in 3NT with cards below.
 8 7
k K Q 3
l K 10 9 8
' 10 9 8 7
 A 5
k A 8 7
l A J 7 6
' A Q J 3
Let's say you get the lead of the 4.
Annoying that the opponents always
manage to find your weakest suit. You
choose to hold up once and then win.
Sometimes the auction tells you
where the high-card points are located.
If there is bidding that lets you know
that the king must be on your right,
then do not take a finesse that you know
is going to fail. Instead, play the ace and
then play low. If RHO has a doubleton
king (or singleton), you will do better.
Putting it all together
A K 10 2
Q 5 4 3
BY MICHAEL BERKOWITZ
michael@larryco.com
Should you play diamonds or clubs?
Count your sure tricks: one spade,
three hearts, two diamonds, and one
club: seven tricks. You can generate
three extra tricks in clubs if K-x or
K-x-x is onside, whereas you can only
generate two extra tricks in diamonds
because we already counted
two diamond tricks when we began.
This is the process of getting those
extra big drips of tricks rather than
wringing out at the end.
Because both of these finesses are
basically like flipping a coin, you
should take the one that is the same
risk and a higher reward. But is there
an even better way to play it?
Grandma would combine every
chance: start by playing the lA K to
see if the queen shows up. Yes, I know
you've been taught eight ever, nine
never. It's usually right to finesse
when you have eight cards missing the
queen, but here we can't risk losing
that finesse. You will go down one
extra if the queen doesn't show up
and the club finesse fails, but you've
increased the odds of making your
contract from a coin flip to something
in the 60-70 percent range. Not bad!
Here, you play one of the high honors
in the dummy first then lead low
to the queen. If the suit is 3-2, you
easily take four tricks. But if the suit
is 4-1, you can pick up singleton jack
or J-x-x-x on your left with a marked
finesse and you are in the correct
hand for doing so.
Working to make these techniques
a part of your regular card play will
help you take more tricks.
March 2023

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of March 2023
