First look at you sure winners : one in spades, three in
hearts and two in Clubs : a total of 6 winners. You
therefore need to develop three more winners to make your 3NT
contract. Your best chance of course is the Diamonds
suit. Once Opponents' ♦A
is gone you will have 4 more winners.
But this means giving one of the Opponents the lead
once more with his ♦A,
and after winning that trick he will immediately continue to
play spades again and play out all spade
winners.
Wrong play
If you play the ♠A from
Dummy on the very first trick there is a good chance that
you will not make your 3NT contract.
If the 8 spades of the Opponents are divided 4-4 there will be
no problem, because they will only make 3 spade tricks
plus the ♦A, 4 tricks in
total, leaving you with the required 9 tricks to make the
3NT contract.
| North ♠ ..
Q J 5 ♠K
|
|
Declarer (W)
♠ - 10 ..
♠3
|
| Dummy (E)
♠A ♠ - ..
8 7
|
| ♠2 South ♠ 9 6 4 .. ♦ A
|
|
But if Opponents' spades are divided 5-3, they will make
4 spade tricks (instead of 3), plus their ♦ A : 5 tricks in total and
the 3NT contract will go down one.
(South will win the first Diamond trick with his Ace,
then immediately return a spade to North's 4 spade
winners.)
| North ♠ ..
Q J 5 2 ♠K
|
|
Declarer (W)
♠ - 10 ..
♠3
|
| Dummy (E)
♠A ♠ - ..
8 7
|
| ♠4 South ♠ 9 6 .. ♦ A
|
|
Right play
Instead you should play the ♠7 from Dummy on the first
trick, and when North follows up (next trick) with the
♠Q, Dummy once more
should play low : the ♠8. Only on the 3rd
trick should Dummy play the ♠A !! This is called a
"hold up" play : you are holding up playing Dummy's
Ace. For look what has happened :
| North ♠ ..
.. J 5 .. ♠2
|
|
Declarer (W)
♠ - .. ..
♣2
|
| Dummy (E)
♠A ♠ - ..
.. ..
|
| ♠9 South ♠ .. .. .. ♦ A
|
|
When after winning the ♠A Dummy leads a diamond to
chase out South's ♦ A,
South has no longer any spades left in his hand to lead
back to his Partner. North is stranded with two more spade
winners in his hand but can not gain the lead. For
whichever suit South now leads (at trick 5) Declarer or
Dummy will win the trick and can cash in all remaining
tricks as winners (making 10 tricks instead of only 8).
If North had been holding both 5 spades and the ♦ A instead, the contract was
doomed from the start. But good play is all about playing
the percentages, so that every time that the
favourable distribution occurs (like in this game) Declarer
will be ensured to make his contract.
Whenever you are in a NT contract and you hold 5 cards in a suit with only the Ace as a stopper (xx opposite Axx) : hold up twice !
|