Dealer
: North
Vuln : Both |
HAMMAN'S
TIPS #26
by Bob Hamman
the world's #1 ranked player
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Overbidders
require a little luck now and then. I won
the first trick
and cashed the ace-king of hearts.
When I saw West's jack,
it looked
like Q-J-x on my
left. So far so good. I led a diamond to
the ace and
played the queen. East played his king and I ruffed.
Now
I ruffed a
heart, and the queen appeared, as
expected. Now I could ruff
a
diamond and, if it lived,
play for the club finesse, but
I figured
East was more
likely to hold the king of clubs, since West
already
showed up with at least 8 points. Also, I had a chance
to
set up the
fifth diamond in dummy and discard both
of my spades (one
on the
diamond jack and one on
the fifth diamond).
I
cashed the ace of clubs, then the jack of diamonds,
discarding
a
spade. Then I ruffed a diamond and West
could not overruff.
I led the
10 of hearts. West ruffed
and I overruffed in dummy and led
the last
diamond to
pitch my last spade. East could take his king
of clubs,
but that was all.
My
tip is: Before committing yourself to a line of play,
it
sometimes
helps to attack a side suit to see if
something good happens
there.
In this case, I saw
that the heart honors were probably ruffing
out
and
my 10 would be set up, which helped me later to
extract
West's
second small trump.
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