Patience Needed Larry Klimko 805-964-0334 lklimko@ispwest.com The following hand, shuffled and played at the Bridge Center on Friday, 7-9-04, offers an interesting study in tactics, the cat and mouse type of watching and waiting. Here is the hand and the traveller, Board 23, (rotated 180 degrees). Dealer: North A J 9 7 Vul: both 10 Q J 6 2 A J 4 2 5 4 10 6 K 7 5 4 A Q J 9 3 10 9 8 4 3 A K 10 7 Q 6 5 3 K Q 8 3 2 8 6 2 7 5 K 9 8 The traveller: NS ------ 3@4SS +4 620 7 5HW -2 200 5 2SS +4 170 4 3SS +3 140 3 4SS -1 -100 2 2@4SSx -1 -200 - Seven of nine North-South pairs bid to 4S. At one table the East-West pair went on to 5H, down two. Of the six Souths who played 4S, three made it and three went down one. What is happening here? The bidding at my table went W N E S --- --- --- --- 1C 1H 1S P 3S P 4S The play went: Heart four lead to the ace, deuce from declarer. With dummy void in hearts East considered shifting. Diamonds seemed like the only suit to shift to. And cashing the ace and king would provide two tricks for the defense so the play seemed attractive. But that would also set up two tricks for declarer, so East went passive and returned a heart. As long as the lead was fourth best, declarer needed to be holding two more hearts, so there was no danger of a ruff and sluff. Declarer ruffed the return in dummy, drew trumps ending in his hand and led a diamond to the queen. East won with the ace, falsecarding, and exited with another heart, ruffed in dummy. Declarer returned to his hand with the club king and led his last diamond, low from West, jack from dummy, losing to the king. East exited with a heart and waited for his club trick. At that point declarer had no recourse but to finesse in clubs and when the finesse lost, declarer was down one. East did well not to cash his diamond honors early. If he cashes even one, declarer can set up a diamond trick for a club pitch eliminating the need to finesse. East's patience was rewarded. Perhaps the reader is observing that declarer could have made his contract simply by ducking the second diamond. East's king pops out and declarer has his pitch. But that play seems double dummy. Let's look a little closer. Declarer was playing for split honors in diamonds (or for West to hold both honors) and that play has a 75 percent chance of success. (Mathematicians will tell us it is actually 76 percent, but that's not important.) And one could argue that the percentage applies in the absense of any other information. On this hand East overcalled, and so is more likely to hold an honor or two in diamonds. But players overcall at the one level on as little as nine points or so, so the percentage in favor of declarer's play should still be well over 50 percent. But consider. When declarer led the second diamond at trick eight, West played low. Holding the king, wouldn't he be inclined to hop up with it? After all, West can see the diamond jack in dummy. When West plays low, declarer ought to become suspicious and think that West does not hold the king. Then it cannot hurt to duck the diamond. If nothing good happens, declarer is still left with the club finesse. As the cards lie, East's king pops out and declarer has his pitch.