Suit Combinations
A HUMOR-FREE DISCUSSION OF SUIT COMBINATIONS
By Rob Weidenfeld
I vary from my normal witty presentation of fictional characters who offer bridge lessons that can be found nowhere else but in the fantasy-driven mind of this author. Today I will be more disciplined and give you a sampling of how many players tend to butcher the play of a suit combination which appear at the table on a regular basis.
When I came to Cincinnati 40 years ago, I decided to get serious about bridge. After playing a lot and reading even more, I invested in The Official Encyclopedia of Bridge. It is a publication of the ACBL, updated yearly. We have older copies in our bridge library if you are interested.
I read a lot about systems, squeezes and odd things like winkles, but I was truly fascinated by suit combinations. As an aficionado of the mechanism involved, it can be truly painful to watch players, particularly experienced ones, not play a combination for the maximum number of tricks. The beauty of studying even a few pages of them is that you begin to get a feel for what to watch for and then figure these combinations out on your own.
When I present the ones for today, I will divide them up into 3 categories. One set for beginners, one for intermediates, and one for advanced players. In the encyclopedia, the chapters are divided by first, how many points the defense has. Then by which cards they have which total those points. Finally by how many cards you have in the combination.
Here is a simple example:
Axxxx opposite Q109
You are declarer and you are looking at dummy. The defense has 4 points in the suit. How do you play the suit?
The answer is you don't know yet. While most often at matchpoints you want to maximize your tricks, that is not always the case. And it is frequently not the case in a team game. Here, there is a different answer depending on the number of tricks you need to take.
For 4 tricks, the answer is to run the queen. If it loses, get back to your hand and run the ten. The pages tell us that you have a 60% chance of scoring 4 tricks. If you are playing in a team game and need only 3 tricks, lead small to the 9 and you have a 98% chance of getting 3 tricks. If you want to maximize your tricks, lead small to the 9, run the Q through next. You will take on average 3.57 tricks.
The encyclopedia has 9 entries for just this combination when the declarer has a total of 8 cards. This is why there are 56 pages in the encyclopedia of just suit combinations. Now let's try some for you. Answers are at the end.
BEGINNERS
1. AQ10 opposite xx - Declarer has 5 cards. How do you play for 2 or 3 tricks? What must the holding be for East or West so you can take 3 tricks
2. Qxx opposite J9 - Declarer has 5 cards. How do you play for 1 trick? What is your hope to be able to take even one trick?
INTERMEDIATE
3. AQxxxx opposite xxxxx - Declarer has 11 cards. You lead small towards dummy and West plays small. How do you play for 6 tricks?
4. AK10x opposite Jxx - Declarer has 7 cards. How do you play for 4 tricks? What is the only East or West holding where you can accomplish this goal?
ADVANCED
5. AQxx opposite J9xx - Declarer has 8 cards. How do you play for 4 or 3 tricks?
6. Qxxxx opposite 10xx - Declarer has 8 cards. How do you play for 3 or 2 tricks?
ANSWERS
1. To get 2 tricks, lead towards the Q or 10, although playing the 10 is slightly superior.
You have a 76% chance of success. For 3 tricks, you must play to the 10 first. Playing to the Q first will never work because you need to have the king and jack in the West hand. If you play to the Queen first, you cannnot pick up the K-J any longer even if it is the West hand. Your odds here are 25% and can be easily calculated. The odds of finding any given card in a hand is 50%. The odds of finding any two specific cards in one hand the odds are (50% x 50%, or 1/2 x 1/2) which equals 25% of ¼.
2. Short of finding the the ace and King in the same hand which is against the odds, you should play low towards your hand and insert the 9, hoping that the 10 is in the East hand. Your chance to make one trick are 50%.
3. Play the ace. The singleton king with East is is 2% more likely than Kx with West. Your success ratio by playing the ace is 52%
4. Obviously 3 tricks are always there. To play for 4 tricks, your best shot is to lead to the ace, get back to your hand and lead towards the 10. Don't lead the jack from hand. Why? West may have Qx.
5. For 4 tricks, start by finessing the queen. If it holds you must guess when you get back to your hand if to lead the jack trapping the now singleton 10 in the East hand or leading small to the ace, hoping that the king was doubleton in the West hand. If the K10x is in the West hand, you cannot take 4 tricks. You have a 16% chance on this line. For your best chance at 3 tricks, do not finesse! Lead to the ace, and then back to hand to lead small to the Q! This is a 90% line of play for 3 tricks.
6. For 3 tricks, lead small to the queen. If the jack appears from West, cover with the queen, and then duck the next round; if the ace or king appears on the first round, lead to the queen again; and if the jack does not appear from West and you lose to the ace or king, you cannot make 3 tricks. There is a 20% chance you will be successful. For 2 tricks, that happens anytime the cards are 3-2 against you. To increase your odds, lead toward the queen and duck the first trick. If an honor appears on the first round, lead small to the 10 next; otherwise lead to the queen again.
So how did you do? Here is my scale if you tried them all.
IF YOUR SCORE IS:
0- There is still hope for you...at solitaire.
1- Be patient. Bridge players aren't built in a day, or in your case maybe a few years.
2- Hey you are out of the beginner phase. Now it's time to get serious.
3- Be happy...opponents are not chuckling anymore when you sit down to play against them.
4-Directors are now starting to consider not putting you in a section because there are already enough good players in that section.
5- Other players are telling the director they would rather play in a different section.
6- I have some open dates coming up. Please give me a call.