Polling You #53: Contract Bridge End Plays #2, March 16, 2011

End Plays in Contract and Duplicate Bridge

In our previous episode, we learned side suit split “Quackers” (Queen-Jack) can be promoted to earn an much needed trick.  Also, it’s always nice to induce the opponents to help us so we do not have to guess a two-way finesse when missing the Queen.

Visitors – Click here to view Part 1 of the video commentary

Free Membership – Click here to view the complete Part 2 of the video commentary

Premium/ULTRA – Click here to view Part 3 of the video commentary

Throw-in plays on a side suit is powerful magic, but can it work on a trump suit, too?  And how about making non-working honors into a repeated finesse?  If you’re ready to become a magician, read on and view our commentary…

Introduction – Recap:

General methods to win extra tricks using avoidance, elimination and end plays:

– Temporarily ducking a winning trick.

– Choose when to throw opponents into the lead: finesses, ruffs and sluffs, etc.

– Allow non-dangerous opponent into the lead.

Review – Promotion:

– Holding J x x and Q x x, strip side suits so opponent must either lead to this holding or give you a ruff in one hand and a sluff in the other hand.

– Holding A J x and K 10 x, again strip side suits so opponent must lead to this holding, eliminating the need to guess a two-way finesse.


Bridge players love repeated finesses with holdings like A J 10 and x x x.
However with split honors like A x x and J 10 x, the odds of making 2 tricks is reduced to 10 percent.  However, using an end play technique the odds return to 76 percent since the opponents must lead to your suit.  Similarly, on the holding x x opposite K x, the odds of making 1 trick goes up from 50 percent to 100 percent when the hand to the left of the King must lead the suit.  Other hand patterns follow the same tactic and percentage, such as holding 10 x x and K x x.

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Happy Bridge Trails and Tales,

BridgeHands

Comments

  1. abestenberg says:

    I was not able to open part 1 of today’s (3/16) video commentary .

  2. quickie says:

    I can’t get the video of #53 to play???

    • BridgeHands says:
      Hello Abe and Quickie,
      .
      We apologize that Part 1 of the video was not available for several hours. The video server files were all in place however the access control was not properly configured. Thank you for letting us know about the error.
      .
      Best wishes,
      BridgeHands Support
  3. BridgeHands says:
    Greetings Bridge Pollsters,
    .
    Okay, the results are in on part 3 of our poll on avoidance, elimination and end plays. The first four responses each received close to 10 percent of the votes:
    .
    J 5 4…and…Q 6 3 (throw in either)
    A 3 2…and…J 10 7 (throw in either)
    K 2…and…4 3 (throw in North)
    A 2…and…Q 3 (throw in South)
    .
    Finally, 63 percent of the votes went to:
    None – all may be helpful throw-in plays
    .
    So throw-in plays, end plays and the like can be a bit challenging for all of us at times. For the above card combinations, we recommend getting a deck of cards, separating a single suit and setting up these holdings for further experimentation. On the top two hands, you will find that when either North or South leads these suit you will receive 1 and 2 tricks on the respective hand – often one more than if you led the suit yourself. On the third hand you’ll find that North must be on lead to win a trick, while on the fourth hand South must be on lead to win 2 tricks when South holds the King.
    .
    Good luck with all your Bridge plays, be they End Play, throw-in plays, or otherwise!
    .
    Michael
  4. shmekle says:

    Polling you 53 Hand 1 has some errors :
    1. North hold 9HCP not 11HCP
    2. If west wins trick 8 and trick 10 as indicated, and east wins trick 1 the 6S contract cannot be accomplished.
    3. Shouldn’t this be a 4S contract?
    Regards
    Eddy

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