Our focus this week is on handling 6-1 fits as declarer. It pays to know the more common percentage plays by heart, a good example being “eight ever, nine never.” In rarer cases, practical players may have to work out the odds on the fly.
In our first deal, North hauls his partner to game, and West’s club jack lead is covered by the king and ace. Declarer takes the club return in dummy and broaches trumps. Should he finesse the 10 or the queen?
If hearts are 3-3, this is a pure guess. By contrast, if East has honor-doubleton, either finesse will suffice, but not so if West is short. Declarer cannot realistically pick up K-J-x-x in hearts on his right, or even J-x-x-x without a complex trump reduction. However, he can more easily allow for K-x-x-x by inserting the queen. West’s heart jack will then drop under the ace, and declarer can force out East’s heart king by advancing the 10.
That does the trick here, but declarer’s work is not yet done. Having discarded diamonds from dummy on the trumps, he ruffs the third club trick and draws the final trump, releasing a spade. There is a temptation to try the diamond finesse now, but that can wait. Declarer should first cash the spade ace and king and ruff a spade. With spades 3-3, dummy’s fourth spade takes care of the diamond loser. If instead spades were 4-2, declarer could fall back on a diamond to the queen. Note that trying the diamond finesse first would be fatal if East won and returned a diamond, removing dummy’s entry.