Playing technique. A playing tactic that allows the declarer to
finesse the Left Hand Opponent's tenaces toward the dummy's higher
tenaces. Usually used together with unblocking technique.
NORTH  J 9  7  9 8  -- |
||
| WEST 10 4 -- -- Q J 8 |
EAST -- 9 8 5 -- 7 4 |
|
| SOUTH K 8 -- 10 9 3 |
Spade is trump, South leads 7 from dummy (North), East plays 9, South ruffs
with K,
West can do nothing but discard a small club. Now, South uses the Pitt
Coup by leading 8, West's 10 4 is finessed by North's J 9. More important is after North
won West's first spade, another trump is played to clear West's last
trump. South discards the 10 to unblock the diamond suit, so that North
can cash the diamonds for the remaining tricks.
The full deal was:
South dealer
North-South vulnerable
| NORTH J 9 7
5 7 6 3 9 8 6
4 3 2 -- |
||
| WEST 10 4 3
2 J 10 K 7 Q J 8
6 5 |
EAST Q A Q 9
8 5 2 Q 5 A 10 7
4 |
|
| SOUTH A K 8 6 K 4 A J 10
K 9 3 2 |
| SOUTH | WEST | NORTH | EAST |
| 1 NT |
-- | 2 |
2
|
| 3
|
4
|
4 |
Pass |
| Pass | Pass | Pass | Pass |
The lead was theJ on which East played A. A heart
return was captured by South's K and West's 10 dropped. South counted that each minor suit
had at least one
loser. Also, West was most likely to have doubleton heart jack and
ten...Thus, the only hope was to knock out opponent's queen of spade in
order to that the contract had a chance to make.
From the analysis, South played A, and luckily, East's
queen was shown. South then played A and then followed by J. Very lucky, opponents' diamonds
were 2-2 break. After
eaten by West's K, with some hesitation, 5 was
returned. From this point, Sourth noted that with proper handling, the
contract could be made. In order to capture West's trump, South could
not ruff with table's trump, also, he needed to unblock hand's 10 so as to cash
table's diamond after clearing West's trump
cards. South thus discarded the 4 from table and lead
East's A to
win. Up to now, the defenders won one trick from
each of the three side suits. East leaded 10, but it could not
stop Sourth from making the contract. South won with K, and
discarded the 6
from table instead of the apparently
useless 7.
South then drew trump from hand with 6, West played small and table won with 7. Now, South
played the 7
from table, East followed with
9 and South
trumped with K,
East discarded with 8. Now, the Pitt Coup can be used as previous shown.
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