Saturday, April 6, 2013

Jennbridge: Ron Smith blog

Great news for bridge enthusiasts!  Ron Smith, the well known and entertaining San Francisco bridge professional and musician, has started writing a bridge blog.  He has decades of great stories so it should be quite fun.  I'm also pleased to report that he features this blog and the Losing Trick Count booklets as he is a big fan of losing trick count.  Here's the link to Ron's blog:

http://us4.campaign-archive2.com/?u=6a1cd6ff9387d4623b3bfac81&id=a2e0b0e7a5&e=4678m9f0b42

A hand from the club yesterday.  Partner opens 1♣ and I hold:

♠AJ9
KJ109x
Kxx
♣Jx

I respond 1 and he reverses into 2.  I bid 2NT, forcing, showing values as well as a spade stopper, and he raises to 3NT.  A diamond is led.

♠xx
AQ
AQJx
♣Axxxx

♠AJ9
KJ109x
Kxx
♣Jx

Clearly I have 11 tricks, but as we are playing matchpoints, I look for that extra trick.  There are chances for an extra trick in spades so I win the diamond on the board and lead a spade to the 9.  The king wins!  This is good news because later I will lead a spade to the jack trying for my 12th trick.  A heart is returned and eventually I do score my 12th trick when jack of spades wins.

Plus 490 was an 87.5% board.  Always be on the lookout for that extra trick in pair games.  Leading twice toward the AJ9 is always worth a try.

See you at the table!

1 comment:

Unknown said...

A well-known device for a defender, when observing a lead toward a AJ9 suit, is to play a royal when holding only one royal and to play small when holding both royals but no ten.

A good declarer will likely hook the nine if the defender plays small. But if the defender plays a royal, might declarer sometimes be tempted to later lead toward the jack, spurning the otherwise more attractive play of the nine?

One has to know the players, of course. At a recent club game, my partner was the defender sitting before the AJ9 holding. He played small from KQ no ten. But this declarer seemed unfazed, perhaps unaware, and proceeded to successfully finesse the jack.