The dealer wins four odd tricks.
ILLUSTRATIVE HAND NO. 19
Trick 1.—Should Z refuse to win the first round of spades with the king, his hand may be led through and the king captured. He cannot gain by holding up this high card unless the original leader holds a six-card spade suit as well as the ace of hearts. In other words, he will lose if A has a four-or a five-card suit, and can only win if A holds a six-card suit and the ace of hearts. In the play of any hand, the usual, not the unusual distribution of the cards should be considered.
Trick 2.—Z must play the hand with a certain goal in view—eight tricks. If he leads the diamonds, he is compelled to guess, and a wrong guess would be disastrous. As the ace of hearts must win, Z hopes, by allowing the spades to make, to obtain information which will guide him to a successful finesse.
Tricks 4, 5, and 6.—Why does B protect both clubs and diamonds?
Trick 9.—A’s discard of the two of diamonds is informative and as B is protecting the diamond suit the dealer can safely infer the location of the queen.
FORCING DISCARDS TO LOCATE A FINESSE
It is the rubber game, score twelve to twenty-four against the dealer. Z passes the make. Y declares “no-trumps.”
| ♠ 9 5 | |||
| ♣ A 8 7 3 | |||
| ♦ A 10 8 6 | |||
| ♥ K Q 3 | |||
| ♠ A J 10 7 6 |  | ♠ Q 4 | |
| ♣ K 10 6 | ♣ Q 5 4 | ||
| ♦ 9 4 2 | ♦ Q 5 3 | ||
| ♥ 8 2 | ♥ A 9 6 5 4 | ||
| ♠ K 8 3 2 | |||
| ♣ J 9 2 | |||
| ♦ K J 7 | |||
| ♥ J 10 7 4 | |||
| TRICK | A | Y | B | Z |
| 1 | 7♠ | 5♠ | Q♠ | K♠ |
| 2 | 2♥ | Q♥ | A♥ | 7♥ |
| 3 | 10♠ | 9♠ | 4♠ | 2♠ |
| 4 | A♠ | 3♣ | 4♥ | 3♠ |
| 5 | J♠ | 7♣ | 5♥ | 8♠ |
| 6 | 6♠ | 8♣ | 6♥ | 2♣ |
| 7 | 6♣ | A♣ | 4♣ | 9♣ |
| 8 | 8♥ | 3♥ | 9♥ | J♥ |
| 9 | 2♦ | K♥ | 5♣ | 10♥ |
| 10 | 4♦ | 6♦ | 3♦ | J♦ |
| 11 | 9♦ | 8♦ | 5♦ | K♦ |
| 12 | 10♣ | A♦ | Q♦ | 7♦ |
| 13 | K♣ | 10♦ | Q♣ | J♣ |