Entries
I once played a hand with Tobias Stone, one of the great players and personalities of all time. We were playing in Juan Le Pins in France where we had acceptable results, if not winning results. One hand in particular stuck out.
Our opponent played in 4♠. Declarer won the opening lead, drew trumps, and went about his business. After winning the first nine tricks, he pointed to dummy which was good. Four winners. He said he was making all 13 tricks. Tobias objected since he knew that declarer could not get there. It seemed that declarer had been so busy setting up his winners that he forgot to allow for an entry to get to them. He was down one in 4♠. Since other declarers around the room were routinely bidding and making 7♠, this board was worth a complete top to us.
This article will discuss entries. Sometimes the entry will be to dummy. But some of the time the entry will be to your hand. Regardless of where you need to be, you need to be able to get there. In many cases, you will be playing matchpoints where extra tricks count for something. The hand below is a team event where making your contract is the most important thing.
| Dlr: North | ♠ K J 10 | |||||||||||||||||
| Vul: None | ♥ K | |||||||||||||||||
| ♦ A K 6 3 2 | ||||||||||||||||||
| ♣ A 7 3 | ||||||||||||||||||
| ♠ A 5 3 | ||||||||||||||||||
| ♥ A J 10 9 8 | ||||||||||||||||||
| ♦ 9 2 | ||||||||||||||||||
| ♣ Q 6 5 | ||||||||||||||||||
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Dummy puts down his hand with some pride and notes that he made a very conservative rebid of 2♣. “This ought to be easy,” he says after displaying his wares.
West leads the ♠4. The most common scenario is this — South spots that he has been given a free finesse and he plays the jack from dummy. Today, that play results in East playing the queen. South wins and goes about the heart suit. South makes a good play by overtaking the king with the ace. He continues hearts, knocking out the queen, and then plays a club toward his queen. If East has the king, South will get three spades, four hearts, two diamonds, and two clubs. That adds up to 11 tricks, a fine days work.
But something bad happens. West has the ♣K and South can’t get to his hand for the hearts. South tries to set up a trick in the minors but can’t do it. Down one.
Did North bid too much? You would be hard pressed to convince him. Or was something else at work?
There is a better line and if you have not spotted it, I will show you the complete hand.
| Dlr: North | ♠ K J 10 | |
| Vul: None | ♥ K | |
| ♦ A K 6 3 2 | ||
| ♣ A 7 3 | ||
| ♠ 9 6 4 | ♠ Q 8 7 2 | |
| ♥ 6 3 | ♥ Q 7 5 4 2 | |
| ♦ Q 10 8 5 | ♦ K 4 | |
| ♣ K J 8 4 | ♣ 10 9 | |
| ♠ A 5 3 | ||
| ♥ A J 10 9 8 | ||
| ♦ 9 2 | ||
| ♣ Q 6 5 |
One of the things that is often stated but often overlooked is the rule that you should count your tricks. Here, you have three sure spades, four sure hearts, two sure diamonds, and one sure club. This adds up to 10 tricks. The next thing you have to inspect is your entries. You can set up the four hearts by using the thoughtful overtaking play in hearts but you must keep an entry to your hand. The answer is obvious if you ask yourself what can go wrong. Win the spade lead with the king. Then play on hearts by overtaking the king with the ace and continuing the suit. Eventually, you will come to your ♠A and you will take nine certain tricks. Managing your entries was the key.