november2016

English 52 running their tricks - they may try to collect a heart trick, first thing. 2-3. Play a club to dummy's honor and lead a spade. If South follows with 9♠, then duck the trick into the safe North hand. This maneuver will gain when South holds three spades such as the Q-10-9 and would otherwise have gained the lead to play a diamond through the king. Additionally, South must hold maximum club doubleton (or you could have discarded a diamond on the fourth club). North must also hold the diamond ace. South holding in spades: All these reservations make us to look for security at the level of 2-3%, often losing an overtrick. Also, following the recommended line will occasionally result in going down in a cold game. Suppose the North hand is as follows: ♠ ♥ ♦ ♣ J10 J93 A109 107642 South will ruff the second round of clubs play through the king of diamonds, beating the contract by two tricks. Wemay argue to what extent safety play makes any sense. In my opinion, wasting your energy and causing fatigue by long analyses is more harmful than the possible losses resulting from faulty assessment of risk. So, this is my advice - do not concentrate on looking for ultra safe solutions, that may result in lost overtricks or additional under tricks. In the long run it does not pay. Focus your attention on the atmosphere at the table, make your judgment of the situation and analyze opening leads. I have divided the problems on declarer play into four categories. • Clubs ♣ . The problems do not require long analysis. It is enough to know the main theme. • Diamonds ♦ . You have to have an idea of the required technique. Once you find your way, you will not encounter any problems. • hearts ♥ . Knowledge of the required technique and good analytical skill are needed to handle these problems. • Spades ♠. Problems marked as spades are difficult, complicated and multi- variant. Solving such a problem will give you a lot of satisfaction. We will see in next articles hands composed by me and you face your opponents in the Open Room and then compare your results with those achieved in the Closed Room. On each hand you may win or lose a lot of MPs. The defenders will play natural leads against you: a) fourth best, b) high from the doubleton, c) second best from three and more cards. Krzysztof Martens published 12 books – high level bridge, You can find all in website www.martensuniversity.com