Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-03-12
BRIDGE TALKS
By MRS. JOHN AxUNcE. in.

Continuing the discussion of the hold
| up play, we now come to the type Of
hand In which the player is not able to
hold up his high card, but good judg-
ment shows the necessity of playing it
on the first or second trick. This often
happens in playing a no-trump con-
tract. Declarer often finds his cards so
| placed that he is very anxious to hold
up until the third round of his oppo-
nent's suit, but he is unable to do So
Many times he has to use the only
stopper he possesses of the. opponents
suit on either the first or second trick,
due to the fact that he has only few
cards Of the suit or because If he fails
to take the trick in question he viii not
be able TO take any other in that suit
Under such conditions, If the lead has
been from a flve-card suit or the de-
clarer finds by counting the cards of the
| suit in his own hand and in his dummy
that the opponent holds a total of nine
or more, he realizes that If he is to get
game he must take eight consecu-
tive tricks before giving the opponents
the opportunity to lead. If he lets the
opponents in after taking his only trick
in their suit, they will have sufficient
tricks in their suit, together with any
| other trick they may be able to take,
to prevent game.
The following hands illustrate this
very well. South gets the declaration
at one no trump and holds:
spadss-Ace. lack. 9. 2.
Diamonds-Ace, Q, z.
Clubs-Ace. Jack, 10, 9.
West, the leader, holds:
Spsdes-9, Z, 4, 8,
b p,sTo1da<,,n lack, e.. e a. g..
Clubs-6, 2.
North, partner of declarer, holds:
Spades-King, 8.
HeartS-king, 2.
Diamonds-Queen, 8, 6, 4, 8. 2.
Clubs-Queen, 9, 3.
East, leaders partner, holds:
spse.es-Sussn' 70, 3.
Diamonds-10, 5.
ClubS-king, z, 5, 4.
To trick No. west would naturally
lead the fourth best from his longest
and strongest, with the combination in
that hand practically no re-entry, so
therefore he does not wan to lead his
ace and possibly lose control of the suit.
He therefore leads the 4-spot of hearts
After this lead dummy's hand goes
down, and remember when you are
dummy to put your cards about six
inches from the edge of the table, thus
enabling your partner to reach the
cards when playing them without hav-
ing to stretch to get them.
AS soon as the dummy hand goes
down, declarer sees the king and 2-spot
OF hearts and, holding the s and z in
the closed hand, realizes there is a total
Of only four hearts In the two hands.
Applying the rule of IL, he finds that
the partner of leader holds four cards
higher than the 4-spot; therefore the
lead was from four or fve-card suit,
and If he passes this trick the partner
of leader will have three hearts left In
his hand, enough to lead back to his
partner that many times. With this
division of hearts, IL will not make any
difference which opponent he eventually
let's in, and he realizes that his only
chance for trick in hearts is to play
his king to trick No. and hope that
leaders partner will not have the ace.
Leaders partner played the 5-spot and
declarer the 7-spot. This was q hand
In which the declarer's good Judgment
showed 1t unwise to hold of In the OPP
ponent's suit. Declarer wins game in
this deal by playing illnesses In the
spade and club suits and then playing
the diamond suit.