AJ4 
85432 
A8
J73Pass 1D 1H
1S 2D 2S 3H
Pass 4H All Pass
109763 J J975 A102 KQ82 Q106 Q632 K8Opening Lead:Six of Spades.
5 AK97 K104 Q9654 One trait that all expert bridge players have in common is the ability -- andthe energy -- to "count out" every hand they play. Counting involvesusing all the available clues from the bidding and play to count the high-cardpoints in the unseen hands and count the number of cards each player holds ineach suit.
Some of it is guesswork, but if you put some effort into it and draw thecorrect inferences, you can often come up with an extremely accurate picture ofwhere all the cards are. And the more you practice, the easier it gets.
This hand is an interesting example of the benefits that come from payingattention and drawing the correct inferences. My partner, Tom Kniest of St.Louis, used all the evidence available to get an accurate count on the hand andbring home a difficult game contract.
| AJ4 85432 A8 J73 | West North East South (Tom) Pass 1D 1H 1S 2D 2S 3H Pass 4H All Pass | ||
| 109763 J J975 A102 | KQ82 Q106 Q632 K8 | EW vulnerable Opening Lead:Six of Spades. | |
| 5 AK97 K104 Q9654 | Tom (South) thought his 4-card suit was strong enough for a 1-level overcall, so he bid 1H over East's 1D opening. My 2D cuebid showed at least 3-card heart support and asked how good his overcall was. With the well-placed diamond king and the opponents bidding his singleton, Tom liked his hand. He saw no point in bidding the clubs, so he showed a little extra with a freebid of 3H, which I raised to game. |
Tom backed up his judgment with careful declarer play to make his thin game.He won the spade opening lead in dummy and ruffed a spade in his hand, then leda diamond to dummy's ace for another spade ruff. When he now cashed the AK oftrumps, he had all the information he needed about the opponents' distribution.
East had shown up with 3 hearts and presumably 4 spades (if spades had been6-3, West would surely have bid his spades again over the 3H bid). It alsoappeared that East had at least 4 diamonds, because if he had held 3-3 in theminors, he would have opened 1C.
That left East with 1 or 2 cards in the critical club suit, but which ones?Tom had also been counting the high-card points, and he was virtually certainEast had a singleton or doubleton club honor for two reasons:
(1) Without the club ace or king, East wouldhave at best a poor 10-count, not enough for an opening bid;and,
(2) If West had held AKx(x) of clubs, he wouldprobably have led one of the honors on opening lead.
With that picture of the layout, Tom led the Club Queen from his hand,guaranteeing only two club losers if East held Ax, Kx or a singleton honor inthe suit. West won the club ace and led a diamond to Tom's king. Tom now playedEast for the doubleton honor by leading a low club and ducking in dummy, whichcollected the now-singleton king. East could cash his trump queen, but dummy wasup and Tom scored his +420.