On the Ropes

The early skirmishing in the play of the cards has turned out favorable. Your side has captured one of the opponents' count cards and you have won at least one unexpected trick. You know that the opponents can be beaten; this is your big chance. How do you proceed?

You can, of course, continue with your normal style of play. If the opponents have bid the limit of their hands and have nothing extra, they are certain to go down in defeat. But they may have something in reserve -- an extra queen or jack -- that might replace their lost count card. Your job is to make sure they don't score these secondary honors.

Raw Aggression

You have the option of turning up the heat. You can shift to high gear and become highly aggressive in your play. You can try tactics that you would not normally use because of the risk involved.

Spades is normally played conservatively. But the gain of an unexpected trick gives you a safety margin for taking risks. An unusual effort to win an extra trick may result in the loss of a trick instead, but you are still well-placed to make your bid. If your tactics pay off with the gain of an extra trick, surely the opponents are doomed. Let's look at some examples. First there are aggressive finessing situations.

A. South leads the K. North 5 2 West A 4 East J 8 7 6 3 South K Q 10 9

B. South leads the K. North 7 4 2 West 10 6 East Q 9 5 3 South A K J 8

In Example A, South loses the first trick to West's ace. Later, after North-South have captured an enemy count card and have won an unexpected trick, South finesses against the J.

A similar situation is shown in Example B. South's opening lead is the K. He wins and switches suits. Later, under favorable conditions, he finesses against East's Q. West might cut the third round, but it will cost him a spade to do so.

C. North leads the 10. North 10 4 West K 8 7 East Q 6 3 2 South A J 9 5

D. West leads the 9. North J 7 4 West 9 8 3 East A Q 5 2 South K 10 6

North and South get off to a favorable start in the heart and club suits in Example C. When North leads the 10, South lets it ride. When diamonds are led a second time he will finesse the J. If it wins, South has denied the opponents a second winner in the suit while creating another for himself.

In Example D, again North and South have gained an advantage. Now West leads the 9, which looks like a top-of-nothing lead. East fears South has the K so he goes up with the A and returns a low heart. On this trick South also plays low.

These aggressive finesses are not recommended in the course of normal play. It is the cushion of the earlier unexpected trick that provides the safety margin for such action. Now let's see some full-deal examples in which aggressive play allows a side to set an 11-bid.

House of Straw

South surveyed his miserable hand without joy. It was one of those pathetic zero-trick hands that are not quite suitable for bidding nil. All he could do was to make a 1-bid and hope the partnership was not overboard.

North A 9 3 A 2 J 10 9 7 Q 5 3 2 West K Q J 7 2 K 5 3 K 8 9 7 4 East 8 6 5 J 8 7 4 A Q 2 A K 6 South 10 4 Q 10 9 6 6 5 4 3 J 10 8 The bidding: North East South West 2 3 1 5 North led the 2

North led the 2, taken by East's king. East cashed his second club top and tried a heart switch, but West's K fell to the ace. North cashed the Q and led his 2.

Noting that his side had already won an enemy count card and an unexpected trick, South took an aggressive heart finesse, winning the 9. He continued with the Q for his side's fourth trick. When he next led his last heart, West had no answer to this card. He trumped with the K to tempt North to overtrump, but North simply discarded a diamond (See Jay Tomlinson's article on Trump Promotion.) North eventually won two spade tricks for the set.

South certainly got his money's worth with his flimsy hand. Had he won the second heart with the queen his side could do no better than finish with an overtrick or two. And if the heart finesse had lost to a stiff jack, North's spade winner still fulfills their bid.

Skinny Values

Both North and South briefly considered bidding nil, but wisely decided against such action. North opened play by taking his two heart winners and was prepared to retire from play. He led a third heart and South won an unexpected trick with the Q.

North 10 5 2 A K 5 2 Q 7 10 7 5 4 West K Q 9 7 10 9 7 K J 6 4 K Q East A 8 J 8 4 10 8 3 A 9 8 3 2 South J 9 4 3 Q 6 3 A 9 5 2 J 6 The bidding: North East South West 2 2 2 5 North led the K

South was still not sure whether to try for the set or bags, so he made the either/or play of a low diamond away from the ace. It is easy for us to see that West should have gone right up with the K, but West reflexively played low. North was surprised to win the Q, a second unexpected trick, and returned the suit hoping his partner had the ace.

South indeed had the A, and now knew they had a good shot at a set. Instead of ducking the trick to dodge bags, he won the ace and gave his partner a diamond ruff, killing West's count card. South took the setting trick at the finish with a spade. "You were thinking about nil, Partner?" remarked North as he subtracted 70 points from East-West's score. "So was I."

Small Hands, Big Swing

It does not necessarily take a powerful hand or one with skewed distribution to set an 11-trick bid. We have seen two examples where all it took were a couple of queens or even a 10 being in the right place at the right time. If you can gain an early advantage, turn aggressive. And remember: Always play for the set.

Regards,
Popsicle

[A good example of this sort of aggressive play is found in Rate Your Game #25.]