Hand of the Week #238 (Solution) ♠

As mentioned earlier, it appears as if we have 2 certain losers (diamonds) and 2 likely losers (hearts). Analysing this without any outside information from the bidding would suggest that we need something friendly to happen in hearts. We could draw the trumps and then finesse twice in hearts, hoping for North to have either of the ♥K or ♥J. If either of these heart finesses work then we would lose only 1 heart and therefore make our contract. This line of play would give us a 75% chance of success as we need only 1 of 2 possible finesses to work. However, given South’s takeout double in the bidding, it is very likely that at least one of these finesses will fail, and quite likely that they both will. What, if anything, can be done if South happens to hold both of the ♥KJ? If we are to finesse twice in hearts with this layout then we will fail in our contract as we will lose 2 tricks in both red suits. The key to this hand is to co-opt South into helping you, by losing the lead to them at a carefully planned moment – ie an endplay!

So, lose the opening 2 diamond tricks and wait to see what South plays next. Being aware that they are likely to hold most, if not all, of the defensive points, South should switch to a passive suit like a trump or a club. Basically, South should not play hearts from their hand! Assuming South does indeed switch to a black card to exit, we should win in either hand and draw the trumps in 2 rounds. Next we need to eliminate the clubs, so cash all of our top clubs making sure to finish with the lead on the table. At this point, we have no diamonds or clubs in either of our hands, and the defenders have no trumps left. At this point, we should take a losing heart finesse with a low heart to the ♥10 (worth a try in case North holds the ♥J) with South winning the trick with the ♥J. Due to our careful planning of this hand, South is now forced to help us dispose of our other heart loser. If South plays a heart then we win our ♥Q in hand and make our contract straight away. If instead South plays a diamond or a club, we can ruff on the table and discard our ♥Q from hand. Either way, we reduce our heart losers to 1, and we make 4♠ on the nose for +420.

The key to this hand is making sure we remove any safe option from South for when they gain the lead with one of their heart honours. Elimination, as it is known, is an integral part to performing an endplay. Above, we eliminated clubs and spades from the opponents’ hands, and diamonds were already eliminated for us by South cashing their diamond tricks there. As such, when South gains the lead, they must either give us a ruff and discard (club or diamond) or play hearts into our ♥AQ. In either case we reduce our heart losers to 1, and make our contract. Note that this play has a 100% chance of working, irrespective of where the heart honours are, so this should be the line of play adopted, even if you don’t get information in the bidding that gives you a clue as to where the opponents’ high cards are!