More Tips —Book Review 

By Jared Johnson 
ScoreCard Editor 

(Editor’s Note:  I had two alternate reviews prepared - don’t ask me why - of the Eddie Kantar book that was reviewed in the January ScoreCard. It’s an excellent book so here’s the other one.) 

Squeeze Books (Vivisphere Publishing, Poughkeepsie, N.Y.) has done the bridge world a service by republishing Eddie Kantar’s Take Your Tricks (550 Bridge Tips You Can Take to the Bank). Prolific bridge writer Eddie Kantar provides a series of quick tips on all aspects of the play, both play and defense. Let’s look at a couple. 

Suppose you have ace-doubleton in dummy opposite four to the queen in your hand and cannot afford to lose a single trick in the suit. You can always play the ace, hoping for a singleton king, but that is extremely unlikely.  

Or you can try for a swindle. Boldly lead the queen. If right hand opponent holds the king, without the jack or ten, he may duck, figuring you have those back up cards. And of course, starting with ace doubleton in dummy, you can’t finesse again. Still not odds on by any means, but probably a better chance than looking to drop that singleton king, and so much more satisfying it if works. Now let’s extend the swindle concept to an entire deal. All vulnerable, South dealer. 

North 
Í AQJ10 
Ì 876 
Ë Q104 
Ê1054 

 West                    East 
 Hidden                      Hidden

South                                                                                                                                                        
Í2    
ÌAK5 
ËAKJ93 
ÊJ92 

You end up in 5Ë instead of the preferable three notrump which makes unless they lead a club and clubs split five-two (and even then they might block). 

West leads a diamond. You could win in hand and play a spade to the queen. If the spade finesse wins, you pitch a club, but you still have two club losers and a heart loser unless you ruff a spade and the king comes down. 

Or, after the queen wins, you play the ace, pitching a club, and play the jack, pitching another club, as West wins the king. They can now take a club, but the Í10 is a parking place for the losing heart.You lose a club and a spade. 

But if East gets in he's more likely to switch to clubs. 

Instead you should win the trump lead in dummy, East following, and immediately play ace and a spade, letting it ride (if East doesn’t cover), and pitching a heart, not a club. Don’t draw trumps immediately because you might need a trump as a second entry to dummy and if diamonds break three-one, one opponent can signal the other. 

If right hand opponent holds the king, you end up getting at least two pitches. If left hand opponent wins the king, what suit do you think he will switch to when he sees you pitching hearts? Presumably, given that he didn’t lead a club, he doesn’t hold a combination like ace-king or king-queen or queen-jack in that suit. 

With a holding like ace-queen or king-jack or ace-jack, he may be scared to start the suit. 

You win the heart return, draw trumps ending in dummy, and take two pitches on the spades, losing only one more trick. 

Then of course, the East-West postmortem begins about why West didn’t lead a club earlier. 

Syndicated bridge columnist Alfred Sheinwold once remarked that making a contract on a good swindle is much more satisfying than on a more straightforward line of play. 

And of course, here East could still have the ÍK.