DENVER FALL 2015 NABC – NOV 26-DIC 6
The 2015 Fall NABC is being played in Denver let us look some interesting deals from the bulletin’s series: Take all your chances at bridge – 3 by Eddie Kantar
After you open 1
, a simple limit-raise sequence lands you in 4. West leads the 
Q. East wins the ace and returns the suit. Plan the play.
Solution
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After ruffing the diamond return and drawing trumps, you have a 100% play. Did you spot it?
It illustrates a theme entitled the safety-play finesse.
Cash the 
A and Q and lead a low club towards dummy’s K-10. If West shows out, rise with the king and play the 10, giving up the lead to East as you discard a heart. What can East do? If East leads a heart, the most you can lose is one heart trick (one of your hearts goes on the K). If East leads a diamond, giving you a ruff and discard, you know what to do. Discard a heart from your hand, the shorter heart hand, and ruff in dummy. With one heart remaining in your hand the most you can lose is one heart trick. You wind up losing a club, a diamond and a heart.
If West follows to the third club, stick in the 10. If it wins, discard a heart on the K and lead up to the 
K for an overtrick. If the finesse loses to the jack with East, East is faced with a choice of evils: leading a heart up to dummy’s king or giving you a trick-costing ruff and discard. You can’t lose this contract regardless of who has the J as long as you take a safety-play finesse. The full deal:
If you don’t play the 10 on the third round of the suit, you will go down on this layout. You will have to lead up to the K, losing three tricks in the suit.