The Bridge Corner
By Gary Mitchell





The bidding explained: Many players are terrified to open the South hand 1 Heart. “What if my partner passes?” they ask. Well, if your partner passes, she has fewer than six points, which makes game unlikely, so quit worrying about it. 

The play: East wins the Ace and returns a Diamond. You play the 10, losing to the Jack. Back comes a Heart. You pull trump and try another Diamond finesse. It loses and back comes a Diamond. You now trump a Spade in dummy and try the Club finesse. Oh dear me, my word, gosh, down one! Oh, how I hate this game. I am so unlucky. Three finesses were available and they all lost. (The odds are 7-1 against losing three finesses.) That is really unlucky. 

When your first Diamond finesse loses to the Jack and a Heart is returned, after pulling trump, the correct line is to try the Club finesse next. The reason is simple. There is a lie of the cards that allows for two Club tricks to discard your Diamonds. When the Club finesse loses, West will win any return, play the Club Ace, go to dummy and play the Jack, discarding a Diamond. When the Club 10 comes down, the Club nine is played, discarding a second Diamond and no further Diamond finesse is needed. If the Club 10 does not fall, you can always try the second Diamond finesse later. 

Questions: email me at gary@smabridge.com.  Lessons: Call 152-6351.