Friday, September 16, 2005 6:58 AM

Cash Out Situations

PITBULLS:

In baseball , it pays to be a switch hitter. I have been told that most leading experts at the world class level “switch hit” when it comes to opening leads. They play 3^rd and 5^th against suits and 4^th best against NT. Against NT you rarely lead from 3 card suits and 4^th best brings in the quite valuable “rule of eleven” . In NT you do not “burn” valuable spot cards by leading your second lowest from a 4 card holding Q983 . Not only is the 8 horribly hard to read , it may be the setting trick later on in a NT contract !

In suit contracts , it is imperative especially in cash out situations to know the difference from 3 to an honour or 4 to an honour. When we have the AK on lead , we “switch hit” depending on whether we want count or attitude. What if partner opened and has the AK of her suit ? Hands like this one occur time after time

♠ AKQJ52

♥ J73

♦ 1086

♣ 7

♠98 ♠1073

♥Q862 ♥ AK954

♦K932 ♦ AQJ4

♣ 962 ♣ K

♠ 63

♥ 10

♦ 75

♣ AQJ108543

If partner by leading the heart deuce has 4 of them , we must cash one heart and two diamonds. If partner has 3 of them , we must cash 2 hearts and 1 diamond ( give west 5 diamonds) . Wrong order would be fatal.

Declarer false carding causes “cash out” problems unless the spots are just right. What if West has 62 of hearts and declarer has Q108 and false cards with the queen ? Experts have devised a rule to get around this problem. As East can count the hearts between himself and dummy , he only plays the king from AK if the combined total is 9 or less. If more , he hides the king and wins the Ace instead. This clues East into the heart count. When partner switches to the diamond Ace , he will discourage with the King as he knows the heart will cash. Switch hitting again ! Rather clever !