THE FINESSE -4

West opened the bidding with a two, and North aggressively bid three. East contemplated a Nil, but the spade King and nine were deterrents, and the club suit was very suspect. As the cards lie, Nil can be made only by very poor defense. South stretched for a five bid, as the opportunity to close out the game with eighty points was just too difficult to resist.

West led the club deuce, followed by the Jack, King and South’s Ace. Now South led his singleton diamond, and West played the King, while North covered with the Ace. (East followed with his spot card.) North continued with the diamond three, as East very cleverly discarded a low HEART, and South ruffed with the trump three, as West disgustingly pitched the Jack. The three of clubs was placed on the table which North trumped with the deuce (West tossed a low diamond). Another low diamond followed, and East once again disdained trumping, as he unloaded another heart! South gurgled gleefully as he ruffed with his seven, and West followed with his seven. “Far out” proclaimed South, and he played another low club, as West discarded his lowest heart, and North trumped with the four. The diamond eight drew a small heart discard by East and a ruff with South’s eight, while West followed. A low club lead by South allowed West to unload another low heart and North now ruffed with he ten, as East played the ten.

Now the moment of truth had arrived. North/South had already scored seven tricks, and the lead of North’s last diamond threatened to let the spade Queen win “en passant’ (an extremely beautiful play!) Instead, East rose with the King of spades, and a dumfounded South discarded the heart Jack, as West released his last diamond. The spade six was now played, and the Queen was gobbled up by the Ace as North’s Jack also fell! Whoops! The spade five was trotted out, and it went to East’s nine — the Master trump. All of the remaining clubs were good, and down went the eight bid. This was a really wild defense, but there is a lot of analysis here.

Do you see where North/South went astray?

The hand clearly called for a cross-ruff, BUT one detail needed attention. This theme often is seen in the game of Bridge, but rarely in Spades. Basically, if you hold a side suit of three cards or less with two winners (e.g. the Ace-King), it is a wise idea to CASH THE SIDE SUIT WINNERS FIRST AND THEN PROCEED WITH THE CROSS-RUFE

East was very careful to discard his heart suit low cards on North’s diamond leads — which allowed him the opportunity to ruff hearts if this suit was led. Had South paused to cash the Ace-King of Hearts BEFORE proceeding with the cross-ruff, it would have given him two more vital tricks. Given the fact that he held only three hearts, the odds were favorable of scoring two tricks.

When this hand was first played (in Worldplay), the post-mortems were quite intense! I was kibitzing this hand, and was quite impressed with the analysis presented by the North player. then I spotted the line of defense which could have succeeded.

Had South taken his top hearts and then tried for a club ruff, West had an opportunity to resort to an alternative defense. The second club lead (by South) is ruffed with the Ace! North is now forced to discard a side suit. The spade five would be led, followed by a low spot by North, and the KING by East. The nine of spades would then deprive North/South of two more ruffs. Finally, the minor suit winners into he East/West hands set the contract. The repeated leads of trump have been the antidote for hands which have a distinct cross-ruffing pattern.

How many West players could find such a defense?

Sometimes the most interesting plays are those which are never made in the heat of battle!