Count Everything
Ray is fond of this old joke: “There are 3 kinds of people. Those who can count and those who can’t”.
Unfortunately for the latter kind we have to count all sorts of things when playing bridge. Here is a hand where South failed to count everything he needed to.
He held
After three passes West opened with 1♠ and North (who was me) doubled. When East continued with 2♠ it was passed back to me and I doubled again. South bid 3♥ and was finally left in peace.
The opening lead was the ♠ 4. East put up the ♠ J and you won the ♠ K. It appears that West underled the SA because it would be a very strange for East to duck it when his partner was quite likely to hold the SK. This suggests that West didn’t have another more attractive lead.
Let’s count losers. I am going to use the North hand as a base for now. I have a spade loser, a possible heart loser, two diamond losers and up to three club losers. Three too many.
If the CA is onside then one club loser has vanished. Beyond that I may be able to hold my trump losers to none or my diamond losers or club losers to one .
With so few hand entries I better use the ones I have to play up to the clubs. South played a club to dummy and the CQ held the trick. He crossed back to his hand with the HK and West dropped the HQ (good news and bad news).
He continued with his plan leading a club towards dummy and West rises with the CA and returns a diamond. Who has the DK? I think that East is more likely than West to have it. The only missing high cards are the SQJ, DKJ and CJ. I guess East might have bid two spades with three spades to the QJ, the two minor jacks. It is pretty ugly though. If you think that East has the DK then you might duck the diamond to you D10. And as a bonus you still can take the diamond finesse later. I think that is the right play. But our South decided to put in the DQ which lost to the DK. (Back to this later).
East played a spade back and West won the SK and returned a club. Since West could have safely returned a spade we have a pretty complete picture of the deal (assuming the HQ was not a falsecard).
We have taken three tricks and the enemy has taken three tricks. We need six more. It looks like we have a heart losers and a diamond loser for sure. But let’s look at the deal a different way. Sometimes you just have to take your tricks before they take theirs. So let’s count winners. Besides the three tricks taken with can make the DA, the CQ, the top two hearts, a club ruff and a spade ruff. Hey that’s nine tricks!
At the table South played the C10 covered and ruffed. Now all South has to do do is ruff a spade and cash the HA if he wants. In the unlikely circumstances that the suits splits he draws trump and concedes a diamond at the end. And when the suit doesn’t split. He leaves the trump out and cashed his winners and East-West get their diamond trick and trump trick all at once.
At the table South failed to ruff a spade when he was in dummy with the club ruff but led a trump instead. Now nine tricks were no longer possible and South conceded the contract.
South did count his losers, he did make a plan, but he missed the line that led to nine tricks.
Subscribe to our feed
Bridge-related
“After three passes West opened with 1♠”…so who failed to count there: North, to 16 HCP, or you to two passes rather than three?
Woops … count me in as someone who can’t count!
Hello mrs. lee
I am Hamzeh from iran and i studying english translation. severel days i studyed your book to name SELEC READINGS (ELEMENTRY)
this book in iran teaching for university students, and i want to translation this book to persian, and also has guide for students. if you permission to me that translation this book i am so thank you for you. i could not find your e-mail . thanks – Hamzeh