Bridge Tips - Play of the Cards, No. 6 - Playing in Teams
You are playing in the Swanmore Cup Teams of Four Knockout Competition.
How do you play the following three hands?
1. You are declarer South, in a vulnerable contract of 3NT and the two of
clubs has been led. You duck. East plays the King and returns
a club.
North
♠ xxx ♥ xx ♦
AKQxxx ♣ Ax
South
♠ AQx
♥ AKJxx ♦ xx ♣ xxx
Answer: -
It looks as if you have three losers in clubs, but otherwise you probably
have six tricks in diamonds and two Aces and two Kings to give you 3NT + 1.
Looks fine. BUT THINK AGAIN! If the diamonds break badly, 4 - 1 ( a 30% chance)
and you play off the Ace and King of Diamonds, you no longer have an entry
to dummy to get to your fifth and sixth diamond after losing the fourth diamond.
You then only have seven certain tricks and need the Queen of hearts to be
with East, AND you need East to have three or less hearts - not very good
odds. But if you play a small diamond at trick three, then provided the diamonds
don't break 5 - 0 (a 4% chance), you can make five diamonds and the two Aces
and two Kings. This is called a 'safety play'.
Playing in Teams matches is different from Duplicate, as overtricks really
aren't important - they are only worth 20, 30 or 40 points a trick whereas
a game or slam is worth 400 or more points. So you should look to see if you
can make your contract, and if you can, then look to see if there is any
way a bad split could stop you - and can you do anything about it? In duplicate,
the emphasis is on making overtricks, so you don't tend to look at this aspect
of the game - safety play. In the above example, the correct safe play only
goes wrong on a 5 - 0 break, and you are trading 30 points for an overtrick
against 500 points for a vulnerable game! But in Duplicate, this safety play
would give you a bottom most of the time with only 3NT!
2. You are declarer South, in a contract of 6 Clubs and
a spade has been led. The opposition have not bid so you have no clues.
North
♠ AQx
♥ Axx ♦ xxx ♣ KQTx
South
♠
Kxx ♥ xx ♦ AQJ ♣
A9xxx
Answer: -
You have a certain heart loser and you can't do anything about it. So the
contract should make provided the King of diamonds is with East. If it is
with West, there's nothing you can do, so the hand looks fairly straight forward
- take out trumps and then enter dummy twice to take the diamond finesse.
BUT THINK AGAIN! What if East has four clubs to the Jack? Provided you DON'T
play the Ace of clubs immediately, you can find out if West is void and then
can finesse the Jack on the second round - though the A - 9. But if you had
played the Ace to start with, East is always going to make his Jack. This
is another example of a 'safety play'.
3. You are declarer South, in a contract of 4 Spades and
a club has been lead. You put up the King, which is taken by the Ace
and a Club is returned. The opposition have not bid so you have no clues.
North
♠ AKTx
♥ Axx ♦ Axxx ♣ Kx
South
♠ Qxxx
♥ xxx ♦ KQJx ♣ Qx
Answer: -
This looks fairly straight forward with only three losers - a couple of
hearts and the Ace of clubs. But, having seen the previous two examples,
you've probably spotted the 'safety play' this time. If the trumps break
4 - 1, then you can pick up the Jack if West has four to the Jack - PROVIDED
you play the Queen first, not the Ace then the King. Obviously, if East has
four to the Jack, you can't do anything about it.
SUMMARY
When you are playing in a 'Teams' event, the strategy in playing a contract
is a bit different. You first look to see if you can actually make the contract.
If it looks as if you can, you then look to see if any adverse breaks can
cause problems - and whether there is a way of overcoming them, even if it
means you may lose an overtrick. In a Teams event, it is much more important
that you make the contract than you get an overtrick or two - quite different
from pairs!