The careful declarer looks for danger everywhere. Take a look at
a hand
where caution paid off.
Scoring: Matchpoints (Pairs)
Hand #3
Dlr
N
Vul
Both
A98
A73
1093
8532
764
J108542
A
964
32
96
QJ876
KQ107
KQJ105
KQ
K542
AJ
West
North
East
South
Pass
Pass
1
Pass
2
Pass
4
All Pass
BIDDING: This was a
routine auction to game.
PLAY: West led the jack
of hearts to declarer's king. Declarer quickly counted four
diamond losers and one club loser. He could discard one loser on
the
ace of hearts but that still left him with one too many. It
seemed his
only other chance was to find the ace of diamonds on his right.
However, he could only lead diamonds from dummy once so
he looked for anything else to increase his chances for success.
The chances of a singleton ace were small but he decided to lead a low
diamond from his hand. When the ace came down on his left,
he won the club shift, cashed the heart queen, and drew trumps ending
in dummy. He was then able to discard a loser on the ace of
hearts and
had his ten tricks. The odds of the diamonds dividing 5-1 with
the singleton being the ace and on his left were extremely small but it
didn't cost to try.
Several other N-S pairs made ten tricks but it turned out West led the
ace of diamonds and then tried to reach his partner for a ruff.
Not a bad idea perhaps but it didn't work this time. In the long
run, leading aces will cost you tricks.
