The Schnapsen Log
From a Position of Strength (solution)
Martin Tompa
A big danger to your strong hand are the two marriages that are outstanding, particularly the 40-point trump marriage. If you lead ♣A, Emmi may very well trump it and show the heart marriage for something like 45 trick points before the stock is even exhausted. If you lead ♣J or ♠Q, she may win the trick, exchange ♦J, and show the trump marriage for 64 or 66 trick points. If you lead ♦A, she will surely discard something useless such as ♠K and you may ultimately lose control of trumps and the deal.
It seems a shame that you don’t have a good lead from this powerful hand. If only she had to follow suit…
The problem is that the stock is open. If you closed it, could you draw trumps and collect enough trick points? You already have 19. ♦AT and ♣AJ would bring the total up to 53. And Emmi has to contribute at least a jack, a queen, and two kings to these tricks, for another 13, making a grand total of 66. Success!
© 2012 Martin Tompa. All rights reserved.
