18 C R Y D E R P O I N T MARCH Contract Bridge CARD-READING A STITCH IN TIME SAVES NINE Let’s say that you’re declarer in a given hand and that if you adopt a certain line of play, you’ll be a strong favorite to make your contract. And let’s assume that if you adopt a different line of play, you can become an even bigger favorite. Naturally, you’ll be better off in the long run if you choose the line of play that offers the greater chance of success. That’s pretty much the situation in the accompanying deal after you win West’s heart lead with the jack. It’s tempting to tackle the diamonds at once by playing first the king and then the ace, hoping the opposing diamonds are divided 3-2. But if you did that in the actual case, you’d go down one, assuming best defense. Now let’s say you’re the type of player who worries from the start that the diamonds might be divided 4-1 instead of 3-2, and that East might have the four diamonds. In that event, you could SPACED OUT 18 CRYDER POINT COURIER | MARCH 2015 | WWW.QUEENSCOURIER.COM take steps to try to overcome the imagined 4-1 division. You would do this by leading a low spade to dummy’s king at trick two, followed by a low diamond toward your K-9. After East plays low, you’d finesse the nine! You wouldn’t expect to win the trick, but you’d nevertheless be confident that nothing whatever could stop you from making at least nine tricks. As it happens, the nine would lose to West’s ten, but regardless of what he did next, you’d be certain to make at least four notrump. In the actual deal, the safety play in diamonds assures the contract. It might have proven futile (if East had held the J-10-x-x of diamonds and put up the ten on the first lead from dummy), or it might have cost you a trick if the diamonds were divided 3-2, but it is nevertheless the right way to play the hand. (c) 2015 King Features Syndicate Inc. by STEVE BECKER In my book, A Beginner’s Guide to American Mah Jongg, I start the strategy chapter by admonishing students not to separate the tiles by leaving spaces between combinat ions . I explain that doing so reveals to the other players which combinations you are waiting to complete and how close you are to Mahj. For example, if you separate one tile from the rest of your hand the probability that you’re waiting for a tile to complete a Pair is 99.99%. Not a good idea. So….last week I was invited to play at a fund-raiser—it was not a tournament—just the same 4 or 5 players at each table..and there were lots of tables. At one of the tables, four of the women were former students of mine and we greeted each other with enthusiasm. A fifth player was a friend, (we’ll call her Rose) and playing, so I watched the hand. The game was close to the end. Rose had made two Exposures—a Kong of 8Bam and a Kong of 9 Bam. She had effectively announced to everyone that she was playing the 4th Consecutive Run hand. But, much to my chagrin, she had three tiles on one end of the rack and two tiles on the other, making it obvious that she was waiting for a Flower. Players, in all probability would not have discarded a Flower, but because she had separated her tiles so completely, she left no doubt about what she needed and how close she was to Mahj. Even if she needed a Green and it was discarded she couldn’t call it because she still needed a Flower to Mahj. She gave her opponents safe discards of Green Dragons. And, of course no one discarded a Flower but everyone discarded Greens. Predictably, she didn’t win. But I had a great time at the fund-raiser and fun seeing old friends! AMERICAN Reprinted courtesy of the Jewish Journal of Los Angeles and Elaine Sandberg. Elaine is a mah-jongg instructor, who has taught the game for Holland American Cruise Lines and at American Jewish University, and the author of “A Beginner’s Guide to American Mah Jongg: How to Play the Game and Win” (Tuttle, $14.95). til next time... may the tiles be with you!
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