23
February 2016 English Bridge
On the next deal you are in 4´. West leads the ´A
followed by the ´4, East following to both.
You need to avoid three losers in hearts, and the
opponents declined to play the suit for you. You
might make the token gesture of cashing the tA-K,
crossing to dummy's ®A and ruffing a club but then
you will be faced with tackling hearts yourself. Start
with the ™3 to dummy's ™9. East wins with the ™J
and exits with a minor suit. By all means try
running off a few trumps but you will eventually
have to play hearts again. You lead the ™5 and West
again plays low.
Of course this is a restricted choice position. If
East had the ™Q as well as the ™J he would have had
a choice. Faced with this, it will normally pay you to
assume that East had no choice. West is twice as
likely as East to have the ™Q so playing dummy's
™10 is better odds than the ™K.
We now see the same heart suit but this time you
have better options. You are in 4´. West leads the ´A
followed by the ´5, East following to both.
Start by eliminating the minor suits - tA, tK, tQ
followed by the ®K, ®A and a club ruff. You cannot
force the defenders to initially open up hearts, but
you can certainly make them play the second round
to your advantage. Lead the ™3.
If West plays an honour your problem is solved. If
West plays low try dummy's ™9. If East wins with
the ™Q or ™J he is endplayed - a heart return
guarantees a trick for your ™K while a minor suit
concedes a ruff and discard.
Even if you cannot fully eliminate the minor suits
you should do what you can. In the final example
West leads the ´A followed by the ´8 against your
4´ contract, East following once and then
discarding a diamond.
With only one entry to dummy you cannot fully
eliminate clubs but it costs nothing to take the tA,
tK and ®K, ®A and ruff a club before tackling
hearts. One defender still has a club left. If West has
it, East will be endplayed after a heart to dummy's
™9. If East has the last club no doubt he will use it to
escape the endplay, but you have lost nothing by
trying. This play is called a Partial Elimination.
• It is usually an advantage to force the
defence to open up a suit, particularly one
with scattered honours and intermediates.
• Eliminate the side suits, so that when the
defence leads they are forced to make a
helpful action.
• If you can force a defender to give you a
ruff and discard you can drop a loser.
• If it is not possible to strip out all suits, you
can try a partial elimination. r
´ 5 4 3 2
™ K 10 9
t Q 6
® A 8 5 2
´ K Q J 10 7 6
™ 7 5 3
t A K
® K 4
´ 9 8 3 2
™ K 10 9
t Q 6 4
® A 8 5
´ K Q J 10 7
™ 7 5 3
t A K 9
® K 4
N
W E
S
´ 9 8
™ K 10 9
t 8 6 4 3
® A 8 5 2
´ K Q J 10 7 3 2
™ 7 5 3
t A K
® 4 N
W E
S
N
W E
S