| Show BETTER BRIDGE BRIDGEL L By C C. C H. H Goren Neither vulnerable S Sou South o u t h deals North NorthA A A K 7 2 10 4 2 West est East Y K 4 95 J 10 9 7 6 5 3 2 53 I South Q 10 V 4 A A K 9 8 7 The bidding South Vest est North East 1 NT Pass 4 NT Pass 5 NT Pass 6 NT Pass Pass Pass Opening lead jack of of dia dia- monds When mention is made of oC a pla player er resorting to the principle of percentages in the play of a aland hand land many a student will ill conjure up the vision ision of a gentleman with horn rimmed glasses poring over overa a table of oC logarithms logarithms-a a vision which is by no means character character- Its It's not as heavy as all that as we shall shaIl observe in a moment South scraped the bottom of the barrel to dig out the wherewithal wherewithal wherewithal where where- withal with which to mould the slam Norths North's four no trump bid was fully justified by his holding of 16 points That South should act again is doubtful He has in excess excess excess ex ex- cess of a minimum only the fifth club and an extra 10 North of course cheerfully went on to six sit after p partners partner's invitational bid of five He lie held a gilt edged raise consisting of 16 points whereas he might have had only 15 for his I raise to four no trump After dummy won the diamond opening it was apparent that 12 tricks were available if the club suit could be brought in without the loss of a trick If the club suit would yield only four tricks declarer declarer declarer de de- still sUIl had the heart finesse running for him The question arose as to lu the best way to manage the club suit South led a low Jow club and played the king in the hope of dropping an honor from Tests Test's hand After that he would have to decide whether to play West Vest for a singleton singleton singleton sin sin- gleton or a doubleton honor When no club honor dropped and i when the heart finesse lost the contract failed by a trick Declarer had not availed himself himself him hIm- self of the best chance which is another way of saying that he had hadnot hadnot hadnot not made the proper percentage play Declarer should have rested his hopes in the club suit on finding finding finding find find- ing East with both club honors Th This s should occur about one ter of the time And here is all the mathematics you need know to fasten Casten this one onto your memory memory memory mem mem- ory When two specific cards are missing in this case the queen and jack hack they will win be found one in each hand about half the time They will be found in the left lefthand lefthand lefthand hand about a quarter of oi the time and in the right hand a quarter of oC the time The chances of oC finding West Vest with Ith a singleton honor or queen- queen jack doubleton is extremely re re- re- re mote Declarers Declarer's best play was to take the double finesse against I East |
