February 2025 - 56

Intermediate Players
Counting Culture
BY MATTHEW GRANOVETTER
Bridgetoday.com@gmail.com
Bridgetoday.com
S
ome players are too quick to
take a finesse or see if a suit
breaks 3-3 because they want
to get the suspense over with. Perhaps
this comes from anxiety, but it's
wrong thinking. Instead, you should
get in the habit of leaving crucial
plays to later in the hand, if possible.
I've given you the clues to this
month's deal, so let's try to solve it:
Dlr: West North (Dummy)
Vul: E-W s 6 4 3 2
Matchpoints h K J 6
d 10 9 3 2
c 7 3
South (You)
s A K 5
h A 2
d A K Q J
c K Q J 4
West North East
Pass Pass
Pass 2d
Pass
Pass
South
2c
3NT
All Pass
Opening lead: s10. East covers
with the sJ.
How many tricks do you count?
What is your plan?
You count at least 10 tricks: two
spades (perhaps three if they've
led from a tripleton and the suit
is 4-3-3-3), two or three hearts,
depending on the finesse for the
queen, four diamonds and two clubs
after knocking out the cA. It's matchpoints,
so if you count 10, you want to
make at least 11. And it would be terrific
to make 12.
Taking an early heart finesse is certainly
wrong, because if it loses, you
may never see the heart king. And
if the finesse wins, you still cannot
56 | Bridge Bulletin | February 2025
s Q 10 9 8
h Q 10 7
d 7 4
c A 9 8 5
s A K 5
h A 2
d A K Q J
c K Q J 4
If you lead a top club at trick two,
you tell West that you probably have
length in clubs. At one table, for
example, declarer won the spade lead
and led the cK. West played low, and
then declarer led the cQ to the ace.
cash the king without setting up
tricks for them.
Letting them win a spade trick is
possible, because you can later cash
the top spades and see if they split.
But holding up in spades means giving
up on making 12 tricks.
There is a general rule in notrump
to knock out the ace of a suit before
doing anything else. What do you
think of this idea here? The answer is
no, no, no. There is a better strategy
for notrump play that overrides all
else. It's called, " Run your long suit. "
When you can afford to (meaning that
you are not using up any necessary
entries, and you are not setting up
tricks for the opponents), you should
do it. Run the long suit. In this case,
it means playing the dA K Q J next.
You might ask why is that a primary
strategy? The answer is that the opponents
are forced to discard before
they know anything about your hand.
The full deal (from real life) illustrates
this strategy perfectly:
s 6 4 3 2
h K J 6
d 10 9 3 2
c 7 3
s J 7
h 9 8 5 4 3
d 8 6 5
c 10 6 2
West continued spades and on the
run of the diamonds, West discarded
a heart and a spade. Declarer scored
11 tricks.
But at another table, declarer
played four rounds of diamonds at
tricks two through five. West's first
discard was a club! Can you blame
him? Declarer then made 12 tricks.
Tips
1. In notrump, count your sure
winners before you call a card from
dummy.
2. Run your long suit as soon as
possible, as long as it doesn't cause
entry problems for you later. You
never know what good effects it will
have.
3. Don't show your wares to the
defenders. If you have a suit to set up
that is not solid, save it for the middle
of the hand, after you've run your
long suit. 2
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February 2025

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