Acol at BBO
|
Acol at BBO
|
|
|
|
| Before we look at a couple of hands here’s a little test paper. |
| In each of the three questions you’re defending a no-trump contract and have to find a discard from the holdings shown. To make it a little harder, you’re given no clues about the contract, bidding, dummy or the play so far. |
| You have ten seconds to complete the test. |
| Here we go… ten seconds, no more … What do you discard in each of the three cases below? |
| a) |
 A52 Q63 |
b) | Q52 764 |
c) | J1052 J10763 |
| Time to check your answers. |
| Of course, given the paucity of clues, it’s possible to make a case for any of the cards. Which means none of your answers can be called right or wrong! So mark yourself ten out of ten. |
| Generally speaking though, players discard the card that is least likely to concede a trick. |
| a) |
A52 Q63 |
Here most will discard a spade to protect the heart queen. |
| b) | Q52 764 |
Most will throw a small heart. |
| c) | J1052 J10763 |
As a rule it’s better to discard from your longest suits. So here a heart will be discarded. |
| Since we instinctively play this way, what’s the point
of the test, I hear you ask? |
| Well, let’s switch with the declarer and take the driver’s seat. |
| The best bridge tip I've ever come across was in an article by the late and great Rixi Marcus. In it she said (though I suspect she put it better), “If a defender’s first discard is made with little thought, it will usually be from a five card or longer holding.” |
| Time to watch Salome play a couple of hands and see how she makes use of these clues. |
Nerdy
Neville
K 8 6 5 J 5 2 7 5 Q
J 8 4 |
||||
| Whacky
Wilma --- --- --- --- |
Esoteric
Eliza --- --- --- ---
|
|||
| Salome
the Seer
4 2 K 6 4 A K J 6 A K 5 2
|
| The contract is two no-trump after a 1D, 1S, 2NT
bidding sequence. |
| Wilma leads a club which Salome won in dummy. At trick two she led a diamond to the jack which held. |
| Next she led a club to dummy and east “readily” discarded a diamond. On the third club Eliza threw a second diamond. |
| But on the fourth she thought for a second before throwing a spade. |
| Salome asked herself this question, “would east discard diamonds from a four card suit to the queen after I’d opened the bidding with one diamond?”- Obviously not. So when she led a diamond to the king, she wasn’t surprised to see Wilma discard a spade. |
| This is the position with declarer needing two more tricks. |
| Nerdy
Neville
K 8 6 5 J 5 2 --- ---
|
||||
| Whacky
Wilma --- --- --- --- |
Esoteric
Eliza --- --- --- ---
|
|||
| Salome
the Seer
4 2 K 6 4 A 6 ---
|
| Let’s step into the mind of Salome and see how she
played. |
| What do I know? Well, Eliza started with a singleton club and six diamonds, and she has two diamonds left. Also, I recall, when she had to find a discard on the last club, she chose a spade. I wonder if Eliza’s reluctance to discard a heart suggests she is trying to protect the queen. |
| If I’m correct, she had to find a discard from a holding such as this … |
| A - - Q - - |
| In bridge, as in life, there’re no guarantees, but the most promising line looks to be to cash the last diamond, then throw east in with the six. |
| A spade from Eliza will ensure the king takes a trick, and a heart from her “presumed” queen will promote a trick in the suit. Making it a case of heads we will, tails they lose. |
| Here’s the full hand. |
| Nerdy
Neville
K 8 6 5 J 5 2 7 5 Q
J 8 4 |
||||
| Whacky
Wilma
Q J 7 3 A 9 8 7 9 10 9 7 3 |
Esoteric
Eliza
A 10 9 Q 10 3 Q 10 8 4 3 2 6
|
|||
| Salome
the Seer
4 2 K 6 4 A K J 6 A K 5 2
|
| A second example – North opens 1D, South bids 1NT which is passed out. |
| Nerdy
Neville
A K J 2 4 2 K 9 5 3 2 J 2 |
||||
| Whacky
Wilma --- --- --- --- |
Esoteric
Eliza --- --- --- ---
|
|||
| Salome
the Seer
6 5 4 10 9 5 8 7 A K 10 6 3
|
| Wilma cashed the KQJ of hearts and leds a fourth to
Eliza’s ace. |
| Eliza returned a club which Wilma won with the queen and continued the suit. South overtook the jack of clubs and East/West followed to a third round of the suit leaving these cards to be played. |
| Nerdy
Neville
A K J --- K 9 5 --- |
||||
| Whacky
Wilma --- --- --- --- |
Esoteric
Eliza --- --- --- ---
|
|||
| Salome
the Seer
5 4 --- 8 7 10 6
|
| Salome has won two tricks, she has two club winners to
come and two
spade winners in dummy. The seventh can come from one of four lines … |
| 1. | A successful spade finesse. |
| 2. | Dropping the spade queen offside if Eliza started with Qx. |
| 3. | Lead a diamond towards the king – making if Wilma has the ace. |
| 4. | Lastly, if Eliza holds both the spade queen and diamond ace, she can be subjected to a “strip squeeze”. Dummy comes down to three spades and the diamond king. East must keep three spades and the ace. When declarer plays a diamond and east wins she’ll be forced to lead a spade away from her queen. |
| On the ten of clubs, west, dummy and east discarded
diamonds. As
neither opponent had thrown a spade – Salome decided playing for the Qx
offside offered a slim chance and so rejected that line. |
| On the final club west discarded a spade and declarer had reached the Rubicon. Should she throw a diamond and try the spade finesse or endplay, or discard a spade and lead towards the diamond king? |
| Again, let’s follow Salome’s reasoning. |
| “Would an average player throw a spade from Qxx while looking at the AKJ in dummy?” It’s possible, but I think, more often than not, they would want to keep two spades with the queen. |
| This means I have to play for the funny squeeze or lead towards the diamond king. |
| If the squeeze is working Wilma will discard a
diamond on the first club from one of these holdings. |
| xxx - Qxx - |
or | xxx - Jxx - |
| With these cards the average player will prefer to discard a spade in order to retain the diamonds. So the squeeze is probably failing and I should discard a spade and lead a diamond towards king. |
| Naturally Salome’s analysis correct and she made her contract. |
| Here’s the full hand… |
| Nerdy
Neville
A K J 2 4 2 K
9 5 3 2 J
2-
|
||||
| Whacky
Wilma 10 8 3 K Q J 3 A 10 6 Q 9 7 |
Esoteric
Eliza Q 9 7 A 8 7 6 Q J 4 8 5 4
|
|||
| Salome
the Seer
6 5 4 10 9 5 8 7 A K 10 6 3
|
| In conclusion:– |
| Practice this technique and, like Salome,
you’ll be able to “see” your
opponents’ cards by noting when they struggle to find a discard. And
after they’ve thrown a card, picture the holdings that might have
influenced their choice. |
| Ask yourself if they would have made that discard holding a particular honour card, and don’t forget - players will generally throw cards from their longest suits first. |