BBy Bot
Jun 09'24

Exercise

(For bridge players only. From Sutherland.[Notes 1]) Suppose that we are the declarer in a hand of bridge, and we have the king, 9, 8, 7, and 2 of a certain suit, while the dummy has the ace, 10, 5, and 4 of the same suit. Suppose that we want to play this suit in such a way as to maximize the probability of having no losers in the suit. We begin by leading the 2 to the ace, and we note that the queen drops on our left. We then lead the 10 from the dummy, and our right-hand opponent plays the six (after playing the three on the first round). Should we finesse or play for the drop?

Notes

  1. E. Sutherland, “Restricted Choice --- Fact or Fiction?”, Canadian Master Point, November 1, 1993.