BRIDGE NOTES: Meet Bridge challenge with reason

Dummy play in Bridge is always a learning experience where you are forced to think logically, observe keenly, analyze the clues put forth and then proceed cautiously by a process of thorough investigation to decipher the opponents card placements and thus find the winning play. The advice of planning first before playing to trick one is a good one.
But once done, many a hand pose different problems where a finesse is one alternate or a break in a suit requires the perfect timing. Eventually a judgment is called for. But in Bridge before you make the final judgment, there are some techniques that need to be employed, the two familiar being a simple procedure of finding cards by the act of forcing them to be played, eg playing a king to force out the ace. Say west takes it.
That may be a key information to his strength holding. Say west had originally passed but has turned up with AK of a suit and now shown up another the Ace-11 points already shown by a passed hand should mean the remaining missing HCPs with east. The other technique is when you make a simple but seldom attempted ruse to bluff the opponents.
Let's learn by illustration. NS are in 4S on the following hand: The bidding: The declarer has on the face of it 2 trump losers, a heart loser and possibly one or 2 club losers depending on the placement of the club honours. As south, how would you proceed after west makes it easy for you by cashing the top trump honours, with east following once and discarding the deuce of clubs next. What's more interesting for you is that supposing west now shifts to the 10H covered by east's QH and your ace.
The opponents have been friendly making life easy for you. All you now need to guess is the club play. The question is how best to proceed? You have some basis for finding whether east's 1NT response (normally consisting of at least 6-9 points) is likely to contain the ace of clubs or the queen of clubs. How do you work it out? If the KD is with west, east surely has the ace of clubs. But can you risk the diamond finesse to find out, for if it loses, you are surely one down.
Here is one simple ruse that can make you certain of where the KD lies in order to enable you to find the winning club line. Just play the AD and then QD. If east does not cover, trump it and know for sure that missing the KD, he has surely the AC. Reenter the dummy with a trump and play a club, going up confidently with the KC if east plays low.
This hand was played by the great American expert Bobby Wolff who has a phenomenal record of never misguessing the finesse of the queen. Here of course Wolff was pitted against two inexperienced new comers, otherwise an experienced clever east, even if he had KD would never cover knowing for sure that declarer cannot have more than a singleton diamond for the simple reason that with more than one diamond, he would surely have taken the diamond finesse.
Let us use the above technique of investigating first before making the key play by our next illustration where NS are in 6H on the following hand: The opening load is the QC on which east drops the 10C. Plan your play. When you play the AH, west drops the QH. The problem remains of how to get rid of the club loser - by a direct finesse of the diamond queen or a ruffing finesse depending on where you place the KD.
In the bidding west had originally passed in the first seat. Your inferences if any? Giving QJ of clubs and QH to west, he cannot have both KD and AS having passed originally. So did you get the key play? Yes play KS from hand after drawing trumps. If east takes it, tough luck you are still on a guess. But if west takes it, KD has to be with east and a ruffing finesse will surely see you home. Bridge is made easy if you meet the Bridge challenge with reason.

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     North       South         North           South

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

    K 7 6          A J 5     A 5 4 2     K J 9 8 7 6

    A Q 8              7     A Q J 3               9

      6 3        K J 7 4     A 7 4 2           K 8 3

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W         N         E         S

1H        P       1NT        2S

P        4S            All Pass

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