When Paul Bowyer was in charge of coaching the English National Juniors Team, he ought to gather interesting technical hands.Warning: these hands are full of vitamins! You will bounce on your chair... To play Paul's hands from the 1st instalment, click here.
This deal comes from a teams-of-four competition where few declarers played the hand correctly. East-West reached 4♠ universally and all Norths cashed the two top Diamonds before switching to a black card. Most Wests could see nothing better than the Heart finesse – winning trick three they drew trumps and played a Heart to the ♥Q and ♥K. In the fullness of time declarer lost another Heart and was one down. “Unlucky, partner”, claimed most of the declarers, “nothing I could do”. Hmmmm... Let’s take another look at this. The best play in Hearts is actually to cash the ♥A first, cross to the East hand and then lead a Heart up to the ♥Q. The reason? Well, if South has the ♥K then the ♥Q is still the tenth trick and North might have had a singleton ♥K. No chance you say? Well, it is a small chance. However, look at the effect of this extra chance if we combine that play with an elimination and the chance of a misdefence. And watch the timing! After two top Diamonds and a Club switch, draw trumps (luckily 2-2), cash all the Clubs ending in East and play a Heart off the dummy. If South were to play the ♥2 then the hand is solid. Declarer covers with the ♥4 and politely waits for North to win and lead something to declarer's advantage. Game over.
As it happens, South plays the ♥8. So declarer pops the ♥A on it (any singleton ♥K?? Not today), crosses to dummy with a trump and leads another Heart.
If South has the ♥K you are home and dry. And if North has the ♥K doubleton as on this layout…? Well, North wins his ♥K but is endplayed. He only has Clubs left so you ruff in the dummy and throw your Heart away. 4♠ bid and made.
What if North had ♥K x x? Then, you were truly unlucky, n'est-ce pas?
There is a chinese say:'An image is worth 1000 words!'You may want to take theOnline Player Guided Tour
1 - Bidding: Click the 'Play' button in the middle of the page to display the bidding box.When you are ready, click the 'Start Bidding' button.When a bid is alerted, it is shown on a yellow background. You can then click that bid to display the related alert.When there is a comment or a question about your own bid, you can read it on the bidding box comments pane, and then, click the 'Ok' button to continue bidding.Click 'Close Bidding Box' to proceed to playing the hand.2 - Playing: The lead is automatic if you are declarer, otherwise you'll see the 'It's your lead' warning in the center pane.You will play your cards and dummy's as if you were at a live table.2.1 -Touching cards are considered equivalent! e.g. if you have 876 and you play the 7 while Vu-Bridge expects you to play the 6, then the 7 will blink and the 6 will be played.2.2 -Sometimes there will be a comment or question during the play.You should read it and click the 'Click to continue' button at the top of the comment text.If its a question, there will be a 'Show Answer' button to click at the bottom of the comment panel.2.3 - When a comment bears a 'Finish flag' button, you can click it to reveal hidden hands and continue playing. We use this to explain technical coups like end-plays, squeezes etc.2.4 - You can review the last trick by clicking on the last won or lost trick (back of card) at the bottom of the screen. The last trick will show during 3 seconds and then play will continue.2.5 - You can click the 'Undo last trick' button at the let of the screen in order to redo one or several tricks and review the attached comments.You can review the auction by clicking the 'Auction' tab in the same area.3 - Moving the comment panel:When the mouse hover the dark green background of the bidding box or the comment panel, you'll see a crosshair cursor and you can drag and move it around the page.The left and right arrows on the top left corner of the comment panel allows you to increase or reduce the width for better readability.4 - When a hand is finished, you can click the 'Board List' at the top of the comment panel, and play other hands From the same Series.To play other Series, visit the Vu-Bridge's home page and click the 'Bridge Hands' button.