BRIDGE TIP FROM JOHN BARBER
LOOK FOR THE THROW-IN!
Whenever you play a hand where you will have extra trumps in both yours and the dummy’s hands after trumps have been drawn, look for a ”throw-in”. You may be able put an opponent on lead and eliminate a guess you really don’t want to have to make. Here is a sample hand where it is helpful:
North
♠ K J 7 5 4
♥ A 8 6
♦ 9 7
West ♣ K J 5 East
♠ Q 6 ♠ 9
♥ J 10 5 3 2 ♥ 9 7
♦ K 10 8 5 ♦ J 6 4 3 2
♣ Q 8 ♣ 9 7 6 3 2
South
♠ A 10 8 3 2
♥ K Q 4
♦ A Q
♣ A 10 4
You and your partner have bid to an excellent 6♠ contract. If either the diamond king is onside or you can find the queen of clubs, your contract is in the bag. So you draw trumps in two rounds and play out the hearts, discovering that West has seven cards in the majors and East has three. Based on the missing cards, the odds are that East has the club queen and maybe the diamond king. Looking good, right?
You can take the diamond finesse and then try another finesse for the club queen. If you like percentages, this works out at 75%. But wait, there is a foolproof way of making your slam! If you play the ace then the queen of diamonds, you don’t care who wins the trick or has the queen of clubs.
In this hand, all you did was “strip” the hands, leaving the North-South hands with spades and clubs only. When you “throw-in” the opponents, they have to lead a club into a club tenace in either hand or lead a red card, enabling you to pitch a club from one hand and trump it in the other hand. Slam made!
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