After Jumpover (West) led his 4th best ♠4, Nimble thought a few moments and played low. Cousin Quick (East) hopped up with his Ace quick as a jackrabbit, for all the reasons noted above. This of course did not work out well for the defense.
The classroom was eerily quiet – perhaps in a state of shock – until someone finally posed the $64,000 question: “Why in the world did you play low, Mr. Nimble?”
Mr. Nimble’s reply: “I guess it’s because I dislike that saying about being a dull boy. If you are ever Declarer in a similar situation – holding either a singleton or void - before you automatically reflex playing one of Dummy’s honors, STOP and THINK! Consider if there is any risk in playing low versus the potential gain should East decide to pop his Ace. Remember, your opponents don’t get to see your cards before you have played them!
“On this board the risk was almost zero. If the ♠10 or Jack had won the first trick, then, if and when I needed to pitch a club loser, I could lead to the ♦A, ruff out East’s known ♠A, and go back to the ♦K to pitch on the other high spade – no harm, no foul, you might say.
“Suppose Cousin Quick had played his 10 and hastily shifted to a club? Unless it’s a singleton, I would no longer have a club problem. I can play low and if my Queen happens to win, I can work on ruffing out the ♠A later so I can get rid of my losing club. If West has the ♣K, then I no longer need a club pitch. This is pretty much the same line I would have taken if I had split my honors and East shifted to a club at trick two. Of course if I suspected his club was a singleton, I could pop my ♣A and immediately set up my club pitch before playing trumps.
“Let’s take a look at the huge upside of playing low from Dummy. When Cousin Quick jumped up with his ♠A faster than you can say ‘Jack Robinson,’ he knew he had to work on getting a club trick before it disappeared, so he speedily switched to the ♣2. Of course I played my Ace and reached Dummy with a diamond to cash my good spades, pitching 2 clubs, as my Cousin Jack and my other Cousin Jack watched their club winner vanish. And it cost me nothing!”
To assuage his cousin, Nimble offered: “In deference to your professor’s conclusions - and yours too - if my hand had been something like ♠J ♥AKxxxxx ♦xx ♣Kxx or perhaps ♠J2 ♥AKxxxxx ♦x ♣Kxx, playing the Ace immediately, as you all agreed to do, would have been the only way to hold me to 10 tricks. This time if East decides to play the 10, not only would my spade loser disappear but I would be able to ruff out the ♠A for a club pitch. That’s why playing low from the board at trick one is so difficult to defend.” He then grinned and added: “But if you thought I was incapable of playing low without holding the Jack, then you don’t know Jack!”
Hurriedly retaking the reins, Quick mentioned that Cousin Nimble was not just a trick one pony, so to speak, but also a Jack of all trades. Why? “We were playing upside count (& attitude) and Nimble was busy observing our leads and carding. He concluded that a 3-1 heart break was very likely.” You can watch the entire deal play out by clicking here and continuing to hit the “Next” button.
Quick advised the class there is a really nice safety play when holding the A-Q but no Jack in a 9-card fit, especially perfect for a 3-1 break. Play to the ♥A first – no finesse! If the King doesn’t drop, go back to the board to lead towards the Queen, covering East’s card if it’s not the King. Unless West is the one with the 3 hearts, you can’t lose more than one trump trick.
Quick noted: “Cashing the Ace first, rather than finessing, gives up an unnecessary trick only if Easts holds a doubleton King. At the table, when my cousin led a heart to the Ace, felling West’s King, even The King, the one playing Dummy’s cards, was pretty impressed.” (If you thought Nimble doesn’t abide by the Rabbi’s Rule, the one that says “whenever the King is singleton offside, play the Ace!” then once again you don’t know Jack!)
Professor Quick’s final comments: “Declarers who took the heart finesse not only lost 2 hearts, but several of them went down (losing a spade and a club as well) while ‘Cousin Smarty Pants’ took 11 tricks.” Then he turned to his cousin: “When our team hit the road, Jack, to go to Chicago, I was truly glad you were on our side.”
Jack B. Nimble just smiled… at the club, however, you should have seen him jump over Kendall Stick as they moved to the next round.
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