| Dlr: South | ♠ 9 6 4 3 | |
| Vul: E-W | ♥ A K 8 7 5 | |
| ♦ A K | ||
| ♣ K Q | ||
| ♠ K Q J 10 2 | ||
| ♥ J 6 | ||
| ♦ J 5 4 | ||
| ♣ A 7 3 |
| West | North | East | South |
| 1♠ | |||
| Pass | 2♥ | Pass | 2♠ |
| Pass | 4NT | Pass | 5♠ |
| Pass | 6♠ | All Pass |
Against your spade slam, West leads the ♦10. Do you see any dangers? What is your plan for taking 12 tricks?
Solution
On West’s lead of the ♦10, declarer foresaw no traps in the play. He took the first trick with the ♦A and led a trump to East’s 5 and his 10.
Declarer next led a diamond to the king and a second trump to East’s 7 and his jack. After ruffing the ♦J with dummy’s ♠9, declarer advanced dummy’s last trump. East stepped up with the ♠A and returned a club. Declarer had to win in dummy and try to get back to hand by ruffing a heart. The ♥A stood up but the king did not: East ruffed it and the contract was down one.
“A 5-1 heart break! Now that was really unlucky,”offered declarer somewhat mournfully.
As ever, dummy was unmoved. “Luck had nothing to do with the outcome,” he rebutted. “The only danger to the contract was bad breaks in the major suits and you should have acted accordingly. At trick two, you cash the ♦K and play a trump. When the 4-0 break comes to light, you ruff your diamond loser in dummy with the ♠9 and cash the ♣K and ♣Q, followed by the ♥A. Only then do you play a second trump. East would have let you win the trick but, when he wins the next trump, he has no heart to play. No matter which suit he returns, you would win the trick in hand, draw the outstanding trump and claim the last two tricks with the ♣A and the ♥K.”
“If, by chance, East had had a second heart, his lead of that card would have put you safely in dummy, whereupon a heart ruff would have allowed you to pull his last trump. In that way, you would have needed only for East to follow to one heart and two clubs.”
The full deal:
| Dlr: South | ♠ 9 6 4 3 | |
| Vul: E-W | ♥ A K 8 7 5 | |
| ♦ A K | ||
| ♣ K Q | ||
| ♠ — | ♠ A 8 7 5 | |
| ♥ Q 10 9 3 2 | ♥ 4 | |
| ♦ 10 9 8 2 | ♦ Q 7 6 3 | |
| ♣ 8 5 4 2 | ♣ J 10 9 6 | |
| ♠ K Q J 10 2 | ||
| ♥ J 6 | ||
| ♦ J 5 4 | ||
| ♣ A 7 3 |