Subhash Dhakras

Subhash Dhakras (b. 1948) is a leading bridge player from Maharashtra.

Tournament wins

• Tolani National Masters 1988 (winner)

Great Hands

Q x x
K x
10 x x x
J 10 x x
K 9 8 x x
A J x
x
A K Q x
Bidding
=======
S   W   N   E
=   =   =   =
1C  1H  x   2D
2S  P   4S  P
P   P

1C was Precision and the double was negative. West led DQ and continued with the Jack. How do you continue?

Dhakras ruffed the continuation and made the key play of SK from hand. West was forced to win the Ace (else he would have lost a Spade trick) and Dhakras was now in control.

Had he ruffed a Heart without first playing trumps, he could have got overruffed from a doubleton. Alternately if he had played a low Spade from hand instead of the King, defenders would have been able to draw dummy's trumps thus preventing a Heart ruff.

Another hand:

x x
K Q 10 x x
Q x x
x x x
A Q x
A x x
A K J x x
Q 10
Bidding
=======
S   N
=   =
1C  1D
1N  2D
2H  3N
4H  P

1C was strong (18+) and 2D was a transfer.

West leads the D10. How do you play?

If you routinely play HK and HA, you will go down if RHO has four Hearts. Dhakras very imaginatively played the HA and another Heart. When LHO followed, he could safely go up with the King and score 11 tricks. But when LHO showed out, he ducked a Heart completely and scored 10 tricks safely!

And finally this demonstration of good card reading:

Q 2
K 6 3
J 10 3
K J 9 6 3
K 8 7 5 4 3
A 9 2
4
A 8 7
W   N   E   S
=   =   =   =
P   P   1H  1S
1N  2C  P   2S
3D  3S  P   4S
x   P   P   P

West was Arvind Vaidya (Sr.), East was Raje, Rajendra Gokhale was dummy and the venue was Matunga Gymkhana.

West led the DA and followed it with the DK. Dhakras now played for his only chance by ducking a Spade felling Ests's singleton Ace. After that he correctly played RHO for a 1-5-4-3 distribution and ran the CJ smothering West's doubleton ten.