Take All Your Chances


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North
♠ A Q J
A 5
A 7 6 5 4
♣ K J 9
South
♠ 9 8
10 8 6
J
♣ A Q 10 8 7 6 5

You open 3♣ and partner experiments with a new gadget you have decided to play, a jump to 4 after a 3♣ opening bid as Keycard Blackwood. The idea is to keep the bidding lower if necessary as well as having room to make a queen-ask, if necessary. In any case, you wind up in 6♣ and West leads the Q. Clubs are 2-1. Plan the play.
You have two choices:

  1. An immediate ‘all in one basket’ spade finesse (50%) and get it over with quickly.
  2. Try to set up the fifth diamond for a spade discard. This requires 4-3 diamonds (62%). Furthermore, if diamonds break an obscene 5-2, you still have the spade finesse in reserve. Suddenly you are up to a touch more than 80%! Start with the A and ruff a diamond, cross to the ♣9 and ruff a second diamond. If both have followed to each diamond play, diamonds have divided 4-3 and it’s all over but adding up the score. Cross to the ♣J, ruff a third diamond, enter dummy with the ♠A, discard your losing spade on dummy’s fifth diamond, concede a heart, and ruff a heart. Admirable.

Had you taken the spade finesse early, and had it lost, you would be dead. You would also be a strong candidate for FA. (Finesseaholics Anonymous).

♠ A Q J
A 5
A 7 6 5 4
♣ K J 9
♠ 10 7 4 2 ♠ K 6 5 3
Q J 9 4 K 7 3 2
Q 9 8 K 10 3 2
♣ 4 3 ♣ 2
♠ 9 8
10 8 6
J
♣ A Q 10 8 7 6 5

Note: Had clubs divided 3-0, you would have to give up on diamond establishment and fall back on the spade finesse. Why? In order to use an established diamond, assuming a 4-3 division, you must draw trumps. This means that there will not be a trump in the dummy to trump a heart if you discard a spade on the fifth diamond.

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