The Spokesman-Review – 4 Ago 2001
An endplay may be defined as a maneuver in which one gives up a trick to a defender after denuding him of any safe exit. The endplay is usually executed near the end of play, but may appear on rare occasions to the early stages.
Today’s deal provides a good example.
When West leads his club king, many will find it difficult to refuse to win dummy s ace. With a singleton club in the South hand, the possible benefits of refusing to win dummy’s ace become even more obscure.
What happens if South impatiently wins dummy’s club ace? If he wins dummy’s ace and leads a trump. he gets the bad news immediately. East discards, and South can no longer avoid losing two spades, a trump and a diamond.
What does South gain by patiently refusing to win dummy’s club ace at trick one? He executes an early (very early) endplay against West. West has no safe lead at trick two.
He cannot lead spades, trumps or diamonds without sacrificing a trick. And it he leads another club, South can finesse to win two club tricks. This allows him to discard one of his losers and gives him 10 winners.
With 10 cards in his trump suit, one would not expect to suffer a trump loser. However, given West’s opening no-trump bid, why not guard against that possibility, especially when it costs nothing to do so?