A Tragedy from A to Z

This story is sad from the beginning to the end... So get your kleenex handy.

Karla was crying on her best friend's shoulder: "I really don't know who is dumber: Him, or me, for marrying him! I just can't stand him anymore..."

"What happened?" asked her friend.

A week ago, my husband got a phone call and came home crying.

"What happen?" I asked.

"My father died", he said, sobbing.

I tried to comfort him, but then the phone rang again, and he started sobbing even harder: "My brother just called. His father died too..."

Karla was crying, and her friend put a caring arm around her: "It can happen, don't be harsh on him over this. Obviously he was upset, and not thinking straight. How is he in normal life situations?"

"Not much brighter... He heard somewhere that 1NT is the toughest contract to make at bridge. So last time we played, when I opened 1NT, he raised me to 3NT so that I will have an 'easier life'. And then, on the way home I saw a dead bird and told him, 'look, the poor bird died...'. But he raised his head up looking at the sky: 'where, where?'"

"Do you see to what kind of Olympic level of stupidity I have to put up with?", sighed Karla.

Her best friend had an idea: "Why don't you take a lover? That will make you feel better".

"I already have two of them. But he doesn’t care... He said he would only feel cheated if I played Bridge with another partner”, said Karla wiping away some more tears.

"So...? Cheat on him at bridge then, with another partner“, suggested her best friend.

Karla decided to listen to her best friend's advice and started to play bridge, hiddenly, with another partner. It was a pleasant feeling of freedom and mutual understanding.

Here is an example of their great partnership co-operation:


Dealer South, all vulnerable:



Karla lead the ♣A and her partner followed with the ♣10. Although they agreed before that on an Ace lead a high card is an encouraging signal, she realized, after seeing dummy, that partner can't possibly encourage her to continue the suit. So her first instinct was to continue with a Diamond, the suit her partner overcalled. However, after pausing to think for a bit, and looking at the club suit in dummy, she realized that the ♣10 must be suit preference, telling her to play the higher remaining suit – Spade. And so she played the ♠9. Her partner won the ♠K, lead back a Club, which she ruffed.

Another Spade came to partner's ♠A, another Club got ruffed and the cherry on the cake was a Spade ruff by partner. 3 DOWN!.

All other declarers made 4♥ + 1, as the other tables played a Diamond at trick 2, allowing declarer to win, pull trumps, and get 5 Hearts, 4 clubs and 2 Diamonds.

Unfortunately, soon enough, her husband started to suspect something was amiss. He hired a private detective, who confirmed his suspicions:

"Your wife is cheating on you by playing Bridge with another partner".

The husband got very upset. He bought a gun and came to catch her in the act next time she had a bridge session scheduled (he got the place and hour from the private detective). And so he barged in like a terrorist, scaring everyone with his new gun - and aimed it at Karla.

He stood like that for a few long seconds, his hand shaking, then he seemed to change his mind and put the gun to his own head.

"Don't do it!”, shouted Karla.

"Shut up, you cheater! And don't think I will spare you! You are next!”, he said, and pulled the trigger.

And so this sad story had a very tragic end.

However, it has not ended the way you might think...

Luckily for him, the jealous husband didn't realize he needed to put bullets into the gun... and so he survived. But the marriage, which was once (long, long ago) purely based on love, has ended.

Karla got remarried to her Bridge partner and lived a happy life. Her ex-husband found out that there are other Bridge partners but Karla (he didn’t know it would possible...).

So maybe happy ending after all?...

Choose Your Finesse – Part 5

On many occasions when you are declarer the success of your contract would depend on a successful finesse. Sometimes declarer has a choice between finesses. He has to decide which finesse to take (or whether to take a finesse at all...) This is Part 5 of Oren's series on Finesses. If you missed the previous articles, you can find them here: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 and Part 4

Take these hands and see if you choose the right finesse:

Start the test now!

41. You play 6♥ on a ♠J lead . Which finesse do you take, if any?

You play 6♥ on a ♠J lead. Win with the Ace, play two rounds of trump, ending in hand, and continue with the ♣K, throwing the ♠Q from dummy. Play ♦A and continue with another Heart to dummy. Now play the ♦8, intending to run it if West plays low (or playing the ♦K if West covers). That way you will lose only one Diamond.

If you play 3 rounds of Hearts and then ♦AK and another - You will lose two Diamond tricks and go down.

If East shows out on the second Diamond - Play the K and continue with a third Diamond to the J. That way you lose no more than 1 Diamond against any 4-1 split.

42. You play 4♠. East opened 1♣ and West lead the ♣8. East took the ♣A and switched to the ♦2. West won with the ace and played another Diamond. East ruffed and played another Club to your ♣Q. Which finesse do you take, if any?

You play 4♠. East opened 1♣ and West lead the ♣8. East took the ♣A and switched to the ♦2. West won with the ace and played another Diamond. East ruffed and played another Club to your ♣Q.

Count! East has 4 Clubs and 1 Diamond, which means he has 4-4 in the majors. That means that West is void in Spade! Finesse Spades to the ♠10, come back to dummy on the ♥A and finesse Spades again.

43. Against 3NT, West lead the ♥2 (4th best of his longest suit). Upon winning the ♥A, you played the Club suit and West followed twice... Which finesse do you take, if any?

Against 3NT West lead the ♥2 (4th best of his longest suit). The lead tells us that West doesn't have 5 cards in any suit as the ♥2, the lowest card in the suit, shows he has only 4 cards in Hearts.

The success of the contract depends entirely on finding the ♦Q. Therefore, after you decide to win the ♥A, play 4 rounds of clubs and watch what opponents discard. You will notice that West follows only twice. This means he has at least 3 diamonds! (Because his lead indicated he has no 5 cards in another suit). Play ♦K and finesse the ♦Q next.

44. You play 4♦ after the auction below. West lead ♣AK and a 3rd club got ruffed by East, who switched to spade. You won in hand and played ♦Q. West followed with a low card. Finesse or Drop?

You play 4♦. West lead ♣AK and a 3rd club got ruffed by East, who switched to spade. You won in hand and played ♦Q. West followed with a low card.

Count! West has 4 clubs (as East had 2), 4 hearts (from the bidding ), and... 4 spades (spades must be 4-4 as neither East, nor West bid 1♠). So... West has 1 Diamond and East had 2 (only one now because he ruffed once). Play the Ace to drop the ♦K.

45. You play 4♥ and West lead the ♦J. Which finesse do you take if any?

You play 4♥. Win the ♦J lead, play another Diamond, continue with the ♥A and run the ♥10 (gaining if West has no more Hearts to play). West will win the ♥J but he is now endplayed in 3 suits: either Club, solving the club finesse problem, or Diamond, giving you a ruff/sluff (you can throw a spade loser from hand), or Spade, helping you score your ♠K.

46. You play 4♥ and West, who opened the bidding with 1♣, lead the ♣K (East responded 1♠). Which finesse do you take, if any?

You play 4♥ and West, who opened the bidding with 1♣, lead the ♣K (East responded 1♠). Win the ♣A, play a Diamond to the ♦A, and continue with a low spade from dummy.

If East wins - you score a spade trick. If West wins, he cannot play Heart, and so you will manage to ruff your 3rd spade in dummy. If, at trick 2, you play a spade to the ♠Q (or ♠9), East wins, returns a Heart and defense will manage to play two rounds of Hearts. You will lose 3 Spades and a Heart on that line of play.

47.You play 6♠ on a ♣J lead. Which finesse do you take, if any?

You play 6♠ on a ♣J lead. If you had the ♥Q instead of the ♥J, a good move would have been to throw a Diamond from dummy, promoting the ♣K when East wins the ♣A, and later on to throw another Diamond from dummy on the ♣K.

But as you have a Heart and a Diamond loser, you need to ruff, draw 2 rounds of trumps and try the Diamond finesse first. If it fails, you cannot afford any Heart losers and you need to play ♥AK later, hoping for the ♥Q to drop.

But as it happens here, the ♦J holds the trick – which means you can afford to lose one Heart. Play Heart to the ♥K and then a low Heart to the ♥J, scoring 3 Heart tricks whenever the ♥Q is with East, or if Hearts are 3-3 (and throw your Diamond loser on the 4th Heart).

48. You play 6♥ on a ♦Q lead. Plan your play.

You play 6♥ on a ♦Q lead. You have 9 top tricks. If you try two spade ruffs – You will go down.

Best play is to try the double finesse in clubs: Win the ♦K, play ♥AKQ and then ♣Q from dummy.

If East plays low - Throw one of your losers. West wins and plays the ♦J. Win the ♦A and run the ♣J, ruffing if East covers with the ♣K. Play ♠AK, ruff a spade and throw two more losers on the good ♣109.

Normally this line gives 75% chance to make your contract (you lose only if West has ♣AK, but it is more than likely that with ♣AK, West would choose to lead a top club, and not a diamond).

49. You play 4♠ on a ♦Q lead (East opened 1♦). East won with the ♦A and returned a Diamond to your ♦K. Which finesse do you take, if any?

You play 4♠ on ♦Q lead (East opened 1♦). East took the ♦A and returned Diamond to your ♦K, play 2 rounds of trumps, finesse with the ♥Q (East will play LOW) and play 2nd Heart to the ♥A. Ruff the 3rd Diamond, play 3rd Heart and throw a club from hand! East wins the ♥K but he is now end-played: Either by playing a club = You make your ♣K, or Diamond = you ruff in dummy and throw another club form hand.

50. You play 3NT on a ♦J lead. Which finesse do you take, if any?

You play 3NT on a ♦J lead. Win and play a low club, let it run without finessing. Later on try to finesse the ♣Q. If that works, cash the ♣A and give opponents the fourth club, promoting the last club. If the club finesse fails, try cashing the ♥A, and the ♣A.

If clubs split 3-3, you make the last two clubs, and if not - you can still try to play a Heart to the ♥Q to establish your heart suit.

Stay tuned for Part 6 of the test!