CONTRACT BRIDGE

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVI, Issue 23302, 22 March 1939, Page 7

CONTRACT BRIDGE

MISTAKES IN PLAY WHEN TO COVER BY 0. L. EASTGATE It is rather surprising how many players of a certain standard will perpetrate errors in play similar to tho one outlined below. The player in West's position did not actually know that his partner had any material stopping power in tho suit, but tho point is that if he had, it was only logical to make a play which would bring it in to the best advantage. Some people have a slight horror of putting up an ace early in the piece, and especially when they have a partner still to play, who may have a high card as well, but the following hand shows very distinctly the right and wrong way to play the suit in question, from tho defenders' point of v'eiw: — South dealer. Both sides vul.

North and South reached .1 contract of four spades with South as the declarer, and West opened the chib jack. East won and returned the suit. Declarer won and cashed the ace and queen of spades, a 11c. then laid down the heart jack. It can be seen that the declarer has to hunt round for his 10th trick. If the heart suit is led to him all is well, but when he has to lead it himself it is slightly different. On the play of the heart jack came the crucial play for the defence. West, on the assumption, perhaps, that his ace would always make, and that he would wait aud see what happened, ducked. This was fatal and it was the only way declarer could make a heart, so necessary for his contract. A Common Error West's error is a bad one, and I am afraid it is all too common in similar situations. His one thought should have been to preserve any heart strength his partner might have, and gone right np with his ace. By passing the jack he made it possible for the declarer to keep the heart queen at the back of the ace where it was certain to win a trick subsequently. Tlio situation is worthy of study. When a low honour is led from the closed hand toward a dummy, which contains another honour, it is almost invariably the correct play for the second hand to jump up with the taking trick; had a low heart been led, West should, of course, have ducked, but the lead of the jack was an entirely different proposition.

LAST WEEK'S HAND

South is in a contract of four hearts, doubled by East, and West opens the spade 2, which is won by dummy's jack. Solution: This is a trump reducing play, with an appreciation of what the opponents must hold. The 9 and 8 of hearts are led from dummy, the first winning and East taking the second with the heart ace. East now leads the club king. When West showed out on the second heart declarer had to plan a "coup" to catch East's queen, if possible. East still holds two hearts and therefore declarer must reduce his trumps to the same number as East, while still having an entry into dummy to lead through the queen. Dummy requires three entries for South to get his two ruffs and for the final lead through East. Dummy still has the spade king and the two minor aces: these fill the requirements, but if declarer wins with the club ace first up, before the ruffing position is established, the entry will not help him, because he will still require three entries to dummy after he is able to ruff. South, therefore, allows the club king to win, and East continues with tne club queen. Bo it noted bere that a diamond shift at this stage fould defeat the contract. Stripping the Hand Now South must strip his hand of plain suits. On the opening lead it appears that West holds four spades, and therefore East only two; he must therefore establish a discard for the third spade so that East cannot ruff it while he, the declarer, still has one. On the club continuation, dummy takes and a club is ruffed in the South hand. Now South leads the diamond 9, and on West ducking allows it to run. East must take, and now returns a spade, won with dummy's king. The fourth club is led and ruffed. The trump reducing is now complete, and it is only necessary to eliminate the spade ace. This South does by leading the diamond 3 and finessing for West's queen. When the diamond jack wins, the ace is led and South's aco of spades discarded. Dummy has the lead and when a spade is led, East's heart queen is trapped. It seems a trifle paradoxical to have to finesse in order to discard an ace, hut trump reducing plays sometimes require this. CURRENT EVENTS Northern C.8.C., teams of four: Mrs. May defeated Hughes; Mrs. Ballantyne defeated Morgan; Mrs. Ac boson defeated Barnes; Colbeck defeated Hamilton; Heighway defeated Mrs. Hume; Lamb defeated Mrs. Nettleton; Mrs. Noakes defeated Mackenzie; Mrs. Weight defeated Miss Coutts; Mrs. Johnston defeated Mrs. Ewart. Highest North-South score: Mrs. Ballantyne and Miss Langley plus 2630; highest East-West: Yock and Wolfers plus 30. Auckland Bridge Club. Mixed pairs cumulative, three nights: Basic scores, Mrs. J). McMillan and Eastgato plus 1510, 1; Mrs. Newell and Warren plus 1300, 2; Mrs. Downs and G. Cox plus 830, 3.

NEXT WEEK'S HAND

South is in a contract of four spades, doubled by West, who leads the heart ace. What is declarer's play for the contract?.