Paris is a city with art, culture, and great food. So of course a visiting bridge player looks up the nearest club, picks up a partner, and tries to learn the French names for the various face cards. That's exactly what my father-in-law, Eric Robinson, did on a recent trip to the city of lights. 

While there, he reported back on this fun deal. 

Contract: 3NT

Vul:None Dlr: S	DUMMY  10652  QJ108  74  AK7
Lead: 4	DECLARER  A7  K94  AQ52  QJ63

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Even in France, the bidding looks the same as South opens 1NT, North uses Stayman and bids 3NT after finding South with no major.

West leads the fourth-best 4, low from dummy and East plays the 9. Now what?

First step in our plan is to count our tricks: we have one spade, no hearts (yet), one diamond and four clubs. That gives us six tricks to start out with. We can see that three extra tricks might come in the heart suit once we knock out the ace.

The only danger is the spade suit after this opening lead. This might feel like a holdup situation. We have six spades and the opponents have seven. If the suit is splitting 5-2, we are in danger of losing four spades plus the ace of hearts. So should we hold up? 

No. While holding up will work when East has only two spades and also the ace of hearts, it will fail whenever West holds the ace. Instead, think carefully about the spade suit. What card (or cards) must East hold?

East must have at least one spade honor. With KQJ, West would have led a top spade. That means that if the suit is 5-2, East now holds a singleton honor after playing the 9 at trick one. With East holding a singleton honor, the opponents cannot untangle the suit to take four tricks. East can cash the honor, but if West overtakes, your 10 in dummy will become a stopper.

If spades are 4-3, then the defense can only take 3 spade tricks and a heart while you will have nine tricks. 

The solution is to win the first trick and then play a heart. On this deal, West does hold the ace of hearts (We love it when the inferior line does not work). West wins and plays a low spade to East's jack. East now plays the J. 

Do you finesse? I hope not. We now have 9 tricks. You can run your clubs, and hearts and lead a diamond later. If East really does have only two spades and the K, there's a good chance that you will score the Q in the end position after having already made your contract. 

Take a look at the full deal: 

Vul:None Dlr: S	10652  QJ108  74  AK7
KQ843  A62  K86  105		J9  753  J1093  9842
	A7  K94  AQ52  QJ63

 

 

This concept of a blocked suit can be hard to visualize, so I recommend breaking out a deck of cards and seeing what happens when you win at trick one and also when you duck. 

 

 

As for whether to finesse in diamonds, this would be the position when East switches to a diamond not knowing where the King may be):

 

Vul: None Dlr: S	106  QJ10  74  AK7
KQ8  62  ?86  105		753  ?J109  9842
	94  AQ52  QJ63

From here, you can see that winning the ace is safe: you win and play your clubs then hearts (ending in dummy). 

East's last two cards will be diamonds so when you lead a diamond from dummy, you'll eventually win with the Q (as long as East has the king). 

 

 

 

 

 

This deal is one of the many examples where "rules" like the "Rule of 7" for hold up plays are inferior to the "Rule of Thinking". You might also figure out the spade position using the "Rule of 11", for example, but it's easier to think "West would not lead low from KQJx".