| Dlr: North |
♠ 6 4 |
|
| Vul: E-W |
♥ 8 6 4 2 |
|
|
♦ A K Q 3 |
|
|
♣ K 6 3 |
|
|
|
|
|
♠ A K Q J 9 3 |
|
|
♥ 3 |
|
|
♦ 8 6 4 2 |
|
|
♣ J 4 |
|
| West |
North |
East |
South |
|
1♦ |
Pass |
1♠ |
| Pass |
1NT |
Pass |
4♠ |
| All Pass |
|
|
|
Against your 4♠ contract, West starts with the top two hearts. You ruff the second round and now must decide on a plan to get to 10 tricks. Do you have any ideas?
Solution
After ruffing the second heart, declarer drew trumps in three rounds, throwing a heart from the table. Declarer saw that he would always have 10 tricks if diamonds were 3-2 or West had the ♣A, so he considered what could be done if both of these possibilities failed. He saw that the only hope in such circumstances was that East had ♣Q. Accordingly, he crossed to dummy with the ♦A diamonds and led a low club toward his hand. East rose with the ♣Q and led a third heart. Declarer ruffed and led the ♣J, which was taken by East with the ace. (South was pleased to see that East had that card, too.) East continued with a fourth round of hearts; declarer ruffed in hand and threw the *D*3 from dummy. He then played a diamond to the king and was pleased to see East discard a club. Declarer made six trumps, three diamonds and a club for a total of 10 tricks.
You should note that nothing is lost by the approach of not playing a second diamond when West turns up with the ♣Q. You can still have the original chances of the ♣A being onside or diamonds being 3-2.
The danger of playing a second diamond before leading a low club can be seen just by transferring the ♣A and ♣Q to West: West wins with the ♣Q and plays a third round of diamonds, making the ♣K unreachable. West would make a heart, two clubs and a diamond. The full deal:
| Dlr: North |
♠ 6 4 |
|
| Vul: E-W |
♥ 8 6 4 2 |
|
|
♦ A K Q 3 |
|
|
♣ K 6 3 |
|
| ♠ 10 2 |
|
♠ 8 7 5 |
| ♥ A K J 5 |
|
♥ Q 10 9 7 |
| ♦ J 9 7 5 |
|
♦ 10 |
| ♣ 10 8 5 |
|
♣ A Q 9 7 2 |
|
♠ A K Q J 9 3 |
|
|
♥ 3 |
|
|
♦ 8 6 4 2 |
|
|
♣ J 4 |
|
