| Dlr: South |
♠ K 7 5 4 |
|
| Vul: N-S |
♥ A Q 6 3 2 |
|
|
♦ A |
|
|
♣ K Q 2 |
|
|
|
|
|
♠ A Q 3 2 |
|
|
♥ — |
|
|
♦ 7 6 4 2 |
|
|
♣ A J 10 9 5 |
|
| West |
North |
East |
South |
|
|
|
1♣ |
| 2NT(1) |
Dbl |
3♥ |
Pass |
| Pass |
Dbl |
Pass |
3♠ |
| Pass |
4NT |
Pass |
5♠ |
| Pass |
6♠ |
All Pass |
|
(1) 2NT = At least 5-5 in hearts and diamonds
Your partner made two penalty-oriented doubles, but you did not like your void in hearts, so you bid 3♠, after which your partner drove your side to the spade slam. West leads the ♦K. What is your plan for making this contract?
Solution
As usual, declarer could count 11 tricks against any distribution and 12 if the trumps were an unlikely 3-2. After winning the first trick with dummy’s ♦A, declarer played the ♠K and ♠A, getting the bad news that East had a trick in the suit. Declarer ruffed a diamond then cashed the ♣K. The ♣Q was overtaken with the ace. When West discarded a diamond, declarer paused to think. It was clear from the auction that East had longer hearts than diamonds. Otherwise, he would have bid 3♦ instead of 3♥. Declarer surmised that West began with 1=5=6=1 shape and East with 4=3=2=4 distribution. So, declarer cashed the ♠Q and played two more rounds of clubs, reducing everyone to four cards. Declarer now played his last club. East threw a heart because he saw that there was no point in ruffing. If he did ruff, he would have had to lead a heart, allowing declarer to take the last three tricks with two hearts and a trump. Discarding, however, that served only to delay his fate. Declarer now led a trump, throwing dummy’s remaining low heart. East got his trump trick but dummy’s ♥A and ♥Q took the last two tricks. If West had followed to the second club, he would have been marked with 1=5=5=2 shape, so a second diamond could then have been ruffed safely in dummy. The ♥A would have taken care of declarer’s last diamond and all declarer would have lost would have been a trump trick.
The full deal:
| Dlr: South |
♠ K 7 5 4 |
|
| Vul: N-S |
♥ A Q 6 3 2 |
|
|
♦ A |
|
|
♣ K Q 2 |
|
| ♠ 10 |
|
♠ J 9 8 6 |
| ♥ K J 10 9 7 |
|
♥ 8 5 4 |
| ♦ K Q J 9 8 3 |
|
♦ 10 5 |
| ♣ 5 |
|
♣ 8 7 4 3 |
|
♠ A Q 3 2 |
|
|
♥ — |
|
|
♦ 7 6 4 2 |
|
|
♣ A J 10 9 5 |
|
