The Play Of the Hand Unblocking
Three ways to get extra tricks are called “Hold-Ups,” “Unblocking,” and “Ducking.” Last month we talked about Hold- Ups. This month we will discuss Unblocking. Next time, we will get into Ducking.
Unblocking is all about being in the right place at the right time. As Declarer you want to be able to take all the tricks you are entitled to without getting stuck in the wrong hand. Let’s take a simple, but familiar, situation to begin with. Disregarding the rest of the hand, lets assume you have the following in clubs:
Dummy
♣ K Q J 3
Your Hand
♣ A 7
You must play the A first and then the 7 or you will be stuck in your hand with no way to get the rest of the Clubs. This type of Unblocking should also used in the following situation:
Dummy
♣ A K J 4
Your Hand
♣ Q 6
In most situations where you have a solid or nearly solid suit divided between you and the Dummy, it is critical to plan the play so that you exhaust the hand with the shorter number of cards before getting to the hand with the longer number of cards in that suit.
Another interesting use of Unblocking is when you have a singleton honor Let’s look at the following hand:
|
Dummy |
||
| West ♠ K Q J 7 6 2 ♥ 7 3 ♦ Q J 10 ♣ 8 7 |
East ♠ 9 8 5 ♥ K 9 6 4 ♦ 9 8 ♣ 10 6 4 3 |
|
| Your Hand ♠ A 4 ♥ Q J 10 5 ♦ A K 6 4 3 2 ♣ J |
You are playing 3 No Trump. West opens the K of spades. You can duck, but it wont make any difference if you or don’t. If you do, he will simply play the Q next and you will have to take it with your Ace.
You now have to decide if you want to establish the clubs or the diamonds. You have 8 diamonds and only 7 clubs. But, the clubs, if properly planned, can give you 6 tricks. The diamonds at best can only give you 5. Look again at the Diamonds. You must give up one diamond to establish the rest. Because you have 8 there are 5 outstanding all of which are higher than yours, after you take the A and the K. When you give up that diamond, the opponents will take their spades and you will go down. So, we need to establish all the clubs.
Immediately, you must play the J of clubs. Now, how do we get to the rest of the clubs. Well, the A of Hearts looks like a good entry … but look at all those heart tricks you can get of the K is onside. Well, if you’re an optimist, you can finesse the K of hearts by playing the Q and letting it ride. As it happens, East will win the K and start in on the spades and down you go. Or, like me, if you are Unlucky Louie, you take the Ace and play down all the clubs and make your contract. This assures the contract but is not always the winning board.
Another “Unblocking” technique is unblocking by discarding. Let’s look at the following situation. Assume you have no other entries in the Dummy except those in this suit:
|
Dummy |
||
| West J 5 |
East Q 7 |
|
| Your Hand 10 9 3 |
You must be careful to start off by playing the 10 and not the 3. You might need it later to get to the Dummy. The 10 is covered by the J and you win with the Ace. East, of course, plays the 7. Now you play the K and the Q falls. You must be careful to discard the 9 or you will stuck in your hand with no way to get back to the Dummy.
Do not be a careless player. Don’t get caught in the wrong hand at the wrong time. Unblock!
