kantarbridge.com
|
North |
|
|
♠ A Q 9 6 5 3 |
|
|
♥ K 8 |
|
|
♦ 6 2 |
|
|
♣ 10 9 4 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
South |
|
|
♠ 4 2 |
|
|
♥ — |
|
|
♦ K J 3 |
|
|
♣ A K Q J 7 6 3 2 |
|
Partner opens 2♠, weak, and your leap to 5♣ silences the table. West leads the ♥Q. Plan the play.
The idea is to set up the spades to discard diamonds without letting East in to lead a diamond. After all you could lose three tricks in the two suits if East has the ♠K and West the ♦A Q. Another bad news scenario is East winning the ♠K and shifting to a low diamond putting you to an uncomfortable guess if the diamond honors are divided.
Unfortunately, the spade finesse goes directly into East and East will surely shift to a diamond. Can you figure out a way to keep East off lead even if East has the ♠K?
Duck the opening lead in dummy and unless East plays the ace, discard a spade from your hand! What can West do? In fact, if West doesn’t cash the ♦A, it is likely that you will be able to discard all of your diamonds on established spades and make an overtrick. Notice that the dummy has three club entries that will help you establish the spades even if the suit breaks 4-1.
In fact, if spades are 4-1, West has to shift to a trump at trick two to prematurely kill a needed dummy entry. As declarer, if West shifts to a trump at trick two and spades are 4-1 and the king is not singleton, you will have to lead a diamond from dummy and guess what to do if East plays low. I have complete confidence in you. Also, go after West as a partner rather than an opponent in the future.
In order to make this loser on loser play at trick one, you have to advance the play mentally so to speak. You have to ask yourself what is likely to happen if the spade finesse loses and a diamond comes back? Some terrifying scenarios can be avoided by looking ahead. Hopefully you will frighten yourself into making the winning play!
|
♠ A Q 9 6 5 3 |
|
|
♥ K 8 |
|
|
♦ 6 2 |
|
|
♣ 10 9 4 |
|
| ♠ J 7 |
|
♠ K 10 8 |
| ♥ Q J 10 7 5 2 |
|
♥ A 9 6 4 3 |
| ♦ A Q 7 5 |
|
♦ 10 9 8 4 |
| ♣ 8 |
|
♣ 5 |
|
♠ 4 2 |
|
|
♥ — |
|
|
♦ K J 3 |
|
|
♣ A K Q J 7 6 3 2 |
|
