What & Why (03)

First up: your homework. You are West and it is teams. You opened 1C, 1H from partner and you rebid 1NT (15-17). Partner calls 6NT.

AQ62 KQ5 K9 Q973

J875 A862 AJ7 AK

Here are the questions, all relating to the spade suit:
Please be specific re your play: what do you lead from which hand and what then.

1. If you have landed up in 7S (or 7NT) how do you play the spade suit?
2. If you are in 6S in a teams match, how do you play the spade suit?
3. If you are in 4S, does it matter much if you are playing teams, and how would you play the suit?
4. In 4S in a club session, how would you play the suit?
5. In 3NT in a club session, how would you play the whole hand given the four of hearts lead?

The spade suit is integral to the whole hand, whether you are playing in spades or No Trumps. It may also make a difference whether you are in game only (4S) or in a small slam, or even overboard in a GRAND slam. It may also make a difference if you are playing TEAMS or MATCH POINTS, and if match points, if you are playing in a high level tournament or in a club session.

Before I review some of the above questions and answers, let us take one more look at just the spade suit, in total isolation from the rest of the hand: AQ62 opposite J875

There is a right and a wrong way to FINESSE. It is surprising how many learners and even some more advanced players, will not finesse correctly, so let us look at the questions I have posed above.

1. How do you play the spade suit if you cannot afford to lose a trick in it? The only realistic chance is that South holds exactly Kx. You must start by leading the five from dummy and putting in the queen. That is the most common type of finesse. Note that some inexperienced players will, when playing for a spade finesse, start by leading the JACK from dummy. That, if you think about it, will almost certainly guarantee that you lose at least one spade trick, irrespective of which opponent has what. If South has a singleton king, you will lose two spade tricks after the ace and queen win, and if North has a singleton king, you lose to the king and then, later, to the ten in South’s hand. Therefore, leading the jack for a finesse is close to a zero percentage play in all circumstances. Why do I say ‘close to a zero play? If you look carefully at the cards, you will see that there is one possible holding that North can have when leading the jack through South will pick up all the spades, and that is if North has precisely 10-9 doubleton. So, can we agree now that if you have that combination of cards in your hand and dummy you will NEVER start by leading the jack?

Let’s look at the spade suit again: AQ62 opposite J875

You must bring the spades in for no losers in 7S. Fat chance, really, but you must start by leading the five to the queen. If the queen wins and the ace then drops the king from South, you’re very lucky but at least you played it the only possible way.
But if you are in the more sensible small slam and can afford to lose a trick in spades, but cannot afford to lose two tricks in the suit, you must find a way to increase your chances in such a way that you a) give up the possibility of only one spade loser and trade it for a high probability of only one spade loser. Do you see the difference? That is what is known as a safety play. You are prepared to lose a trick if necessary to ensure that you have no more losers in the suit. Before we look at questions 2 to 5, I want to talk a bit more about this example.

What I want to draw your attention to is the importance of ‘pips’ i,e. the smaller and intermediate cards. One of my very good panelists would play this as I have suggested, the five to the queen, but then he added: “if North follows with the nine, you have two options available: you can return to dummy and next lead the jack, which will, when South covers with the king, swallow up North’s ten, IF North started with 109 doubleton”.

There are always other options than can be found if you look carefully enough, but in this play, when you see the nine from North, any better than just playing the ace and hope South’s king drops? The answer may well depend on whether North is a trustworthy looking person or not, in other words, is North an innocent who would always play his lowest card in such a situation, or is North a true expert who would be clever enough to protect his partner’s doubleton king, by smoothly following with the NINE from a holding of 109x. This play cannot cost any tricks and can gain by sewing a seed of doubt in declarer’s mind if declarer is indeed equally expert at reading the cards. If declarer decides that the best chance is to then play North for a doubleton 10-9, declarer will next lead the jack from dummy and this will result in a trick for North’s ten! Just like if declarer had started by leading the jack the very first time, which would NOT have been the best play! Should declarer fall for North’s brilliant play of the nine of spades if that does occur? If North is known to be a very good player, in fact more than a very good player, then just ignore his nine of spades. The cards don’t change once they have been dealt and the chance of North having been dealt precisely 10-9 of spades and South K43 are much lower than South having been dealt ANY Kx doubleton.
The pips are very important, so learn to take note of every pip you see and use all the information you have available to make the most use of your own pips, or at least the higher ones of the 7,8,and 9.

Here endeth the lecture - for now. I am now waiting for answers to questions 2 to 5 from those who are still mulling them over.