A Finesse Is Sure To Fail

As you would not expect West to be leading from ♠AQJ, you should place ♠A with East. Once you do that, you should realise that ♥Q will be with West. If East had ♥Q, East would have responded. You play low on the first spade and West continues with ♠J. 

You play low from dummy again and West continues with a third spade. You ruff and turn your attention to the trumps. 

The normal play in hearts with this combination is to lead to ♥K and finesse ♥J next if ♥Q has not yet appeared. Here, you know the heart finesse is sure to fail. Therefore, cash ♥K and ♥A, hoping that West started with ♥Q doubleton. And you are home safely! 

‘Failures are the part of life. 

If you don’t fail, You don’t learn. 

If you don’t learn You’ll never change!’

Blog          : http://www.hemadeora.blogspot.in

Twitter ID  : @HemaDeora

A SIMPLE SQUEEZE

 

Over the weekend was Johnson & Johnson’s 46th edition of their annual bridge championship. The beautiful “mind sport” was held at their Arena Space in Jogeshawari. Archie Sequeira has been a part of all from the year 1971. Kudos to Archie! The above deal is courtesy ‘Apro’ Dara from Washington DC. 

West led  ♣9 to East’s  ♣Q, and East switched to ♦2, South read this as a singleton, so rose with ♦A. She ruffed her club in dummy, and led a trump, discovering the bad news. West’s trump void suggested that she was long in the other suits, so South led ♥J. West correctly covered. This left dummy with one heart winner to discard one diamond loser from hand but, seemingly, no way to avoid losing ♦Q. South had other ideas. She drew all four trumps and then led her fifth and final spade. West, holding ♥987 and ♦Q7, had to discard, if she threw a heart, all dummy’s hearts would be winners; if she let go a diamond, South’s ♦KJ would both be good.

A perfect simple squeeze! 

Blog          : http://www.hemadeora.blogspot.in

Twitter ID  : @HemaDeora

Scissor's Coup

There have been many bridge stalwarts from Matunga Gymkhana, one of them is Ramani, who is an ardent tennis and bridge player. I often wonder if his tennis play has influenced his rapid speed movement on speech as well as well on his bridge!! At one Matunga Gymkhana Bridge tournament, sitting South, Ramani has showed his fast but not furious skill in the above deal.

West led the ♥10 and dummy’s ♥J won the trick. Ramani played a spade from the dummy, East ducked and South won the ♠Q. Now fast came the stroke of Scissor coup, Ramani played a ♥2, disconnecting the opponent’s communication! Poor West had to win with the ♥7. West had a choice of cashing the ♥A and let South have the ♥K as ninth trick or shift something else. He played the ♦3, South won the ♦A,♦K, ♦Q and played  ♣10, East played ♣J and South the  ♣K. He went to dummy with ♠A, and played ♠4, East took the ♠K and played ♠10 to South’s ♠Q. Now Ramani played the  ♣Q to East  ♣A and  ♣9 was his well earned 9th trick.

A bridge player was matched up with another player when he showed up without a partner. All through the match, whenever he made a mistake, his partner would say “No man is perfect”. Later, he found out that his partner’s name was ‘Norman’.

Blog          : http://www.hemadeora.blogspot.in

Twitter ID  : @HemaDeora

Not Always Obvious

Today is the yearly held Ashok Kapur Memorial Bridge Tournament at Jade Ballroom, Nehru Center. Ashok’s loving wife Madhu has sponsored this one-day invitation event in the loving memory of her beloved husband Ashok. 

Some hands offer clearly correct lines of play. Others come with lots to think about but no certainties. This hand falls into the latter category. 

After South wins the  ♠A and draws trumps, South takes the diamond finesse. East wins the ♦K and returns a spade for West to cash out the spade suit. East’s ♣A will be the setting trick latter. 

If South chooses to duck the first spade lead, however, and win the second, East won’t have a spade to return and since West can not get in, South will have time to discard a spade loser on the diamonds. 

While it is not always obvious to do so, holding up on the opening lead can be just as effective in a suit contract as in a no-trump contract. If East is ruffing the second spade, South may go down in a cold contract.  At least South will have readers sympathetic ear, if not his partner’s! 

‘Don’t deny what’s obvious to see’

Blog          : http://www.hemadeora.blogspot.in

Twitter ID  : @HemaDeora

A Free Finesse

Today is the 5th Mohan Advani Memorial Bridge tournament at Bombay Gymkhana under Dr Subbarao’s kind and efficient supervision. We fondly remember Mohan and his quiet and gentle ways towards his bridge partner as well as his opponents. His charming wife Guddi and dapper son, Amit, always sponsor this tournament generously and make sure Mohan ‘amar rahe’. 

In the above deal South took his ♥A and cashed one of dummy’s trumps and ♦A. Then he led a trump to his hand and took a ruffing finesse in diamonds by leading the ♦Q. When West didn’t cover, South discarded dummy’s remaining heart. East won his ♦K and returned a heart, ruffed by dummy. Success now rested with finding the ♣Q. 

Had South held three small diamonds instead of ♦QJ10, he would not have been tempted by the ruffing finesse. To succeed, South must win the ♥A, cash dummy’s ♦A, and ruff his two remaining diamonds, using the trump suit for entries. After the elimination in trump and diamonds, South exits with a heart and the defense is stuck. Regardless of who wins the trick, South enjoys either a ruff and sluff or a free finesse! South can claim his 12 winners. 

Goodbyes are only for those Who love with their eyes, Because for those who love With heart and soul there is no such thing as separation

Blog          : http://www.hemadeora.blogspot.in

Twitter ID  : @HemaDeora

The Right Guess

And finally, in Mumbai there’s nip in the air! But this ‘Senorita’ did care to play her hand well. 

After a swift and simple auction, Senorita sitting in South had to make the right guess when the East led the ♦3. The problem was really not diamonds. It was spades. 

She wanted to decrease the chance of East winning the lead and shifting to a spade through her King. Obviously, if East has the ♦A South cannot keep him off lead, but if he has the ♦Q, South can. For that reason South went up with the ♦K. If the ♦K had lost to the Ace the Senorita would have had to sweat out the spade position. So the Senorita did make the right guess. 

We spend our lives guessing what’s going on inside everybody else, and when we happen to get lucky and guess right, we think we ‘understand’. Such nonsense!

Blog          : http://www.hemadeora.blogspot.in

Twitter ID  : @HemaDeora

The Right Line

Tomorrow onwards Diwali, the festival of lights, will be celebrated across India with joy and happiness. Fireworks, sweets and family gatherings are important parts of this festival. 

West led the ♣2, it’s unlikely to be from a three-card holding. 

The right line that will succeed is when the three card diamond holding lies with West. After drawing trumps, South should cash the ♦A and ♦K, discarding the ♠A. And then, South could ruff the diamonds good, cash ♣K (just in case West has a second club), and lead his remaining spade towards the ♠Q. The club losers in the South hand can then be thrown on the long diamonds. 

When nothing is going right, go left. 

Wishing my readers ‘A Very Happy and Safe Diwali’.

Blog          : http://www.hemadeora.blogspot.in

Twitter ID  : @HemaDeora