August 2023 - 56

Intermediate Players
Boehm on Bridge
Card School favorites - part 5
O
ne of declarer's most useful
themes is suit establishment,
and the Card School had plenty
of material at its disposal. Try your
hand at 6h versus the lead of the c10.
North (Dummy)
s 6 5 4 3 2
h 10 9 8
d A 7 3
c Q 2
South (You)
s 7
h A K Q J 6 4 2
d K J 8
c A K
Besides the sure spade loser, there
is a possible diamond. A successful
finesse sees you home, but is there
an extra chance? The first sentence
of this article draws your attention
to dummy's spades, but in real life
would you recoil at the suit quality -
good for gin or especially poker, but
not for bridge?
Any five-card suit has potential if
there are sufficient entries. If Will
Rogers had played bridge, he might
have claimed he " never met a fivecard
suit he didn't like. " The magic of
five-card length is that if you play the
suit often enough, you remove all the
defenders' stoppers and eventually
promote the fifth card into a winner.
In most good hand-evaluation
methods, an extra point is added for
a five-card suit because length can
mature into tricks.
How is dummy fixed for entries? Actually,
this dummy is entry-rich: one
in diamonds and three in trumps with
proper management. Win the lead and
lose a spade to start the project. Let's
say the defense plays another club, not
56 | Bridge Bulletin | August 2023
that it matters. Cross to dummy's h8
and trump a spade high, the key play.
The point is to preserve your baby
hearts for transportation. Next, cross
to the h9 and ruff the third spade
high, upon which you'll find out how
spades are divided. Once more, cross
to the h10 and ruff the fourth spade.
At this point, if the spades are indeed
4-3, the percentage split missing
seven, the last spade is a winner and
the dA remains as access. If the spades
break 5-2, you fall back on the diamond
finesse. If you can establish this
five-card suit, any five-card suit may
suffice, which is why the Card School
liked to use this example.
This time you are declaring 4h
holding:
Now start with the cQ, cross to the
North (Dummy)
s 9 5
h K 8 2
d 9 7 3
c A K 6 5 4
South (You)
s 10 7
h A Q J 6 4
d A 8 5 2
c Q 3
West leads the s3 to East's ace who
return a low spade to West's jack.
West shifts to the dJ which you win.
Assuming a reasonable trump break,
anything works if clubs split 3-3, so
plan the play versus 4-2.
As usual with suit establishment,
entries are critical. Three rounds
of trump are too many because you
need to reserve dummy's hK for a late
entry, and one or no rounds are too
few - as you play the third club, you
might suffer an overruff or a trump
promotion. Two rounds are just
s K J 8 3 2
h 10 7 3
d J 10 6
c 10 8
s 10 7
h A Q J 6 4
d A 8 5 2
c Q 3
The general idea, protect a side suit
top from being ruffed when a trump
is outstanding, has widespread
application. This was one of the Card
School's strengths- focus on techniques
with high frequency. 2
cK, and play a low club, a key play,
and ruff high.
Enter dummy with the hK to draw
West's last trump and cash the two
club winners, discarding your losing
diamonds. The full deal:
s 9 5
h K 8 2
d 9 7 3
c A K 6 5 4
s A Q 6 4
h 9 5
d K Q 4
c J 9 7 2
BY AUGUST BOEHM
right. Cash two top hearts from hand.
If trumps are 4-1, you will have to
draw them all and rely on 3-3 clubs.
Assuming the 3-2 split, consult the
diagram of the remaining cards.
s -
h K
d 9 7
c A K 6 5 4
s K 8 2
h 10
d 10 6
c 10 8
s -
h J 6 4
d 8 5 2
c Q 3
s Q 6
h -
d K Q
c J 9 7 2
August 2023

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