CONTRACT BRIDGE

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22579, 18 November 1936, Page 18

CONTRACT BRIDGE

TRUMP MANAGEMENT SAFETY FACTORS BY FINF.BBB When confronted with what looks like a tight contract; or in a game bid where everything looks fairly right, but there may be si hidden snag somewhere, it is advisable to pause for a moment and consider not the most favourable, but an unfavourable distribution of the trump suit in the opponents' hands. The safety factor should enter largely into si player's calculations and he should never endanger the making of game or slain, or even a part score, by not providing for a had break. In match-point contests, where every trick is of importance, a slight risk may he taken at times for the prospect of si "top," but in rubber bridge and its equivalent, cumulative scoring matches, safety must be the watchword. The factor of safety often enters into proper trump management, where flu 1 control of the trump suit must he assured before dummy s trumps are extracted. There may be a side suit with little control outside of a shortage in dummy. It is hero that care must be taken, and it may bo wiser to give away a trump trick, perhaps unnecessarily, to ensure the safety of the side suit. A Recent Illustration In the recent Australian Olympic contest hand No. 5 provided such an illustration; only a little forethought was needed to show that once trump control was assured there was nothing to worry about, and nothing that the opponents could do would affect the safety of the game contract unless there was an absolute fresik:—North, dealer. North-South, vul.

The contract was 4 spades by East, ami South was instructed to lead the kinjj; of hearts followed bv a trump (it was par-contract). Now East has H trumps in the two hands, headed by the A K Q. After trumps have been drawn he has four certain diamond tricks and one club. Jf the trumps are distributed •i-2 in the opponents' hands lie will make 6 spades, 4 (or 5) diamonds and at least 1 club: but if tlie.v are not 3-2 and one of the opponents has 4 or more trumps, what will happen when he has to relinquish the lead to the best trump? The heart suit is the danger, and in the case of a 4-1 break of trumps he will have four losing hearts to provide for. Supposing he draws three trumps, hoping for the best, and then runs his diamonds to discard his hearts? No good, if the player with the fourth trump is short of diamonds and can trump the second or third lead and then proceed to make the hearts. So his safest play is just to concede the first trump trick —in case; and after that the opponents can make another heart, but the third heart will ho ruffed in dummy, and thai is the last trick the adversaries will make, for East can enter his own hand with tho king of diamonds, draw the remaining trumps and run his other winners. How Many Losers? Here is another fairly common situation where the play of the great majority of players is quite wrong: North South 743 A Q 6 5 2 The normal play is to lead a small card from dummy and finesse the queen. The correct play is not a finesse, but the play of the ace. With five high cards outstanding South's two honours cannot possibly drop them all so one trick must, in any case, be lost. If by any chance' West has the singleton king, this will kill the queen, and East with .J 10 9 8 will win two more tricks against the declarer. The first play of the ace will guard against a singleton kiny;, and a later lead from dummy toward the queen will offer South every possible advantage of finessing, with the option of ducking if. by card-read-ing. Smith decides that West's original holding may have been king doublcton. Here is another variation of the above holding which is frequently misplayed by good players:—• North South 8642 A Q 10 9 5 If the object is to lose no more than one trick, play the ace. If it is granted that for every two guesses one must be wrong, this play will gain whenever first round finesse would lose to the next higher honour, for then the guess must bo taken again as to whether the two remaining cards are divided in the two hands or are both held by East. If West holds the singleton jack, b.v finessing the queen there are no losing tricks; but, on the other hand, if he hold a singleton king it falls under the ace and a finesse is established for the jack. It is proper for North to lead the first round of the suit, however, and if the jack is played by East the queen should be finessed, since if the jack were a singleton one trick must be lost to the guarded king, and if the king-jack were under the ace-queen no tricks need be lost.

ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS Hamilton. —Please give me the correct bidding on the following hands: South (vulnerable), dealer: AKJtx A K Q J 10 OQxx North: A AQxx Vxxxx OAK 10 Q x Is an opening bid of two no-trumps forcing ? Answer: In my opinion the bidding might go as follows: South North I 2 A 3 A 4 H 6 * Although most people would be inclined to plav this hand in hearts, rather than spades, there is always the great advantage of the five-card suit coining in as a sloughing medium—providing discards for losers, which the four-card suit will not do. There must be a reasonable expectation that the partner of the four-card suit will also hold four cards, and that there will be sound trump control. When South shows more than ordinary support for the spades his partner should not hesitate to hid the small slam. An opening two no-trump is not a forcing bid, but strongly invitational. Partner should raise to threo with about half an honour-trick.