23

February 2016 English Bridge

www.ebu.co.uk

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