feb.indd

English 46 How do you play the Diamonds to give yourself the best possible chance of making 3 tricks? The answer is not so clear to many club players. You should play the Ace of Diamonds fi rst, and then small to the King. You then play small to the Jack. If the diamonds are 3-3 you lose to the Queen but make your 3 rd trick in Diamonds from the last diamond. If they are 4-2 and the Queen is 4 times on your left you still make 3 tricks, and if they are 4-2 with the Queen four times on your right you make only 2 tricks and have to pray that the Clubs are 3-3. So what is the point in giving up on the fi nesse? The bonus you may get is when the Queen of Diamonds is doubleton on your right. If you fi nesse - you make only 2 tricks, but if you play off the Ace and King of Diamonds and the Queen drops - you make 3 tricks. Either way you make your contract and lose 1 or 2 Imp's because the other side made an overtrick or two, or you score 12 IMP's because you made your contract when your teammates defeated the contract. 12-1 seems like pretty good odds to me. Your teammates may congratulate you (you should be so lucky), but more likely they will be gloating over their brilliant defense. Here is the deal you hope for: ♠ ♥ ♦ ♣ QJT5 KJ6 T976 T4 ♠ ♥ ♦ ♣ AK3 A85 K32 K876 ♠ ♥ ♦ ♣ 987 432 AJ54 AQ5 ♠ ♥ ♦ ♣ 642 QT97 Q8 J932 ‘ ±²¸Ç°» ɸ»¯Çȸ³ É´²±¯É³³ Æ´°À¸¸Ã» ³Á¸±½ ¼¸Ã·´È ¼¸¿´º²Á É´¸´Ç¶É »Á Á²¸½ ¼¸È²¶ ¼¸Ç°¶ ¼Á ɴǺ¸³ ¾´¸²³ É´Å´°Æ° É´ÃÉÉȳ : »°Æ» ´»º´É´ ³Å´°Æ» ´ÃǷų ¼È³ É¶É Æ´°À¸¸Ã° ´¿É´¯ ´Èö “ ɸ»¯Çȸ³ ‘ ±²¸Ç°³ É´²±¯É³ ”