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Nothing That Special, Just Kinda Cute


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I don't have that many entries to dummy, and I may need to take the diamond finesse besides taking 2 heart ruffs in my hand. Although it is possible that I have only 1 spade loser, this is against the odds so it seems best to take the diamond finesse immediately.

 

So diamond to the 10, and assuming that this holds, a heart duck.

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I don't have that many entries to dummy, and I may need to take the diamond finesse besides taking 2 heart ruffs in my hand. Although it is possible that I have only 1 spade loser, this is against the odds so it seems best to take the diamond finesse immediately.

 

So diamond to the 10, and assuming that this holds, a heart duck.

That was my start. The diamond finesse lost, and you get a somewhat strange diamond return.

 

I won the diamond Ace, played a heart to the Ace, and ditched a heart on the third diamond, all following. A heart ruff, club Ace, and club ruff followed. Another heart ruff back to hand.

 

At this point, the opponents have one diamond in the bag, and I have two diamonds, two clubs, and a heart, plus two ruffs in hand and a ruff on dummy, for 8 tricks. I am in hand with KJ10 x on dummy, 98 xx in hand, trumps never touched.

 

So, the "cute" part is now obvious. You ruff a club high as a finessing safety play, playing LHO for the spade Ace. When that wins, you can play the last heart and the spade 9 on the next trick, whether underuffing or not, to guarantee the contract.

 

Without the high spade, RHO would have over-ruffed, spade back to LHO's Ace, and a small spade back, to lose a heart at the end.

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At this point, the opponents have one diamond in the bag, and I have two diamonds, two clubs, and a heart, plus two ruffs in hand and a ruff on dummy, for 8 tricks. I am in hand with KJ10 x on dummy, 98 xx in hand, trumps never touched.

 

So, the "cute" part is now obvious. You ruff a club high as a finessing safety play, playing LHO for the spade Ace. When that wins, you can play the last heart and the spade 9 on the next trick, whether underuffing or not, to guarantee the contract.

 

Without the high spade, RHO would have over-ruffed, spade back to LHO's Ace, and a small spade back, to lose a heart at the end.

It's not obvious to me to ruff high. If the spade honours were the other way around, wouldn't you have gone down, by means of an overruff followed by a spade to the queen and another spade? In the position you were in, it looks like a guess.

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At this point, the opponents have one diamond in the bag, and I have two diamonds, two clubs, and a heart, plus two ruffs in hand and a ruff on dummy, for 8 tricks.  I am in hand with KJ10 x on dummy, 98 xx in hand, trumps never touched.

 

So, the "cute" part is now obvious.  You ruff a club high as a finessing safety play, playing LHO for the spade Ace.  When that wins, you can play the last heart and the spade 9 on the next trick, whether underuffing or not, to guarantee the contract.

 

Without the high spade, RHO would have over-ruffed, spade back to LHO's Ace, and a small spade back, to lose a heart at the end.

It's not obvious to me to ruff high. If the spade honours were the other way around, wouldn't you have gone down, by means of an overruff followed by a spade to the queen and another spade? In the position you were in, it looks like a guess.

Sure. This is a guess, but a guess is nonetheless required.

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