It Pays to Look Again
Kai Eckert and Thomas Rush
(Kai.Eckert@comcast.net or PlayBridgeWithThomas@gmail.com)
The following hand comes from the first session of the 10K Swiss during the 2025 Las Vegas Fall NABC. Kai Eckert was playing with Chris Steele, who declared the hand.
After West opened Two Spades, our declarer arrived at Six Clubs by South on this layout (hands rotated for this article) after an auction best not replicated here:
West led the 10 of trump and declarer won perforce in dummy as East followed with the nine. The Ace and King of Hearts were cashed to pitch the losing diamond, and declarer led a third heart, ruffing low as West overruffed with the lowly four - likely dooming the contract, but fortunately for declarer, the defense later stumbled and allowed the contract to make.
Instead of allowing the overruff, it turns out that South could have ruffed with any middle club (since only the Queen and Four were out) and succeeded by playing out all but one of his trumps, eventually leading the Spade Ten. If West covers, North wins, and a spade return to declarer's Q8 establishes a second spade for South since West has only the K6 left. But this is a bit of a guess (What was East’s original spade - the singleton nine, Queen, or just a small one?).
However, there is a much better line - did you spot it?
There is a nearly iron-clad line if you play for the clubs to be 2-2, which you need for any legitimate line to get to 12 tricks. Why do I suspect that clubs are 2-2? West led the Ten, very unlikely to be from QT doubleton or QTx, and East followed with the 9. I doubt many players would play the 9 from Q94 on their partner's lead of the 10, so the Queen is likely to be Q9 doubleton, and we’ll assume that it is. Experts do this all the time: they imagine a layout that would allow them to make a seemingly impossible contract, they play to that lie of the cards, and they are often successful because of it.
The secret to this hand (and many others) is this: Instead of looking for ways to get rid of the one diamond loser, count your tricks and see how to come to 12! Here, if clubs are 2-2, you have eight club winners, two heart winners, and the spade Ace for eleven total tricks.
Do you see it now? You have 11 top tricks and only need one more. An almost impregnable line (given that you need the Club Queen to drop) is to win the club lead at trick 1 and immediately lead a diamond to your Queen to give up the diamond trick and set up your Diamond King for a 12th winner. It doesn't matter who wins the Ace, you win the return in dummy and can ruff a small diamond back to your hand to draw the last trump. Then cash the Club King and start breathing again when the Queen falls. You now have four winners from dummy (Spade Ace, Heart Ace and King, and Diamond King) to go with your eight club tricks and cover the four non-trumps in your hand (QT8 of Spades and Deuce of Hearts). Twelve tricks, bid and made, and the match won!
The moral of this hand is to take stock at trick 1: How many losers do you have? How many sure tricks do you have? If your contract is not secure, how can you develop enough tricks to make your contract?
Note that on some other hands, your contract is in danger because you do have too many quick (or soon-to-be) losers, and you need to find a way to get rid of those losers before the defense can take their tricks. Declarer was right to be concerned about the diamond loser, but getting rid of it early still left him with two spade losers. Realizing that you have eight club winners to go with the Heart Ace-King and Spade Ace in dummy, with no immediate threats, means that you can afford to give up a diamond to build your 12th winner.
It pays to look again to find the best line, instead of rushing to do the first thing that comes to mind.
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