| Dlr: West | ♠ K 7 4 | |
| Vul: E-W | ♥ A 8 6 | |
| ♦ K 9 5 | ||
| ♣ J 9 6 4 | ||
| ♠ A Q 6 3 | ||
| ♥ Q J 4 | ||
| ♦ A J 7 | ||
| ♣ Q 10 8 | ||
| West | North | East | South |
| 1NT | |||
| Pass | 3NT | All Pass |
(1) Weak
West leads the ♥3 against your notrump game. East contributes the 10. How will you find nine tricks on this deal?
Solution
Declarer took East’s ♥10 with the jack and played the ♣Q. East took this with the ace and returned the ♥5 to the 4, 9 and ace. Declarer continued with a low club to the 10 and West’s king. West cashed the king and two other hearts to set the contract one trick.
“Perhaps I should have tested the spades and, if they were 3-3, tried the diamond finesse,” declarer offered.
“Rubbish,” said North, allowing some of his disappointment with this feeble effort of declarer-play to show. “All you had to do was let the ♥10 hold at trick one. As the cards lie, East would not have been able to do better than play the ♥5 at trick two.
West would have covered the ♥Q with the king and dummy’s ace would have won the second trick. At trick three you would have played a club and the defense would have been helpless. If East had won the ♣A, he would have been out of hearts, and if West won the trick, he could have set up the heart suit, but would have lacked the entries to cash his heart winners. You would have made three spades and two tricks in each of the other suits and, by the way, the contract.” The full deal:
| Dlr: West | ♠ K 7 4 | |
| Vul: E-W | ♥ A 8 6 | |
| ♦ K 9 5 | ||
| ♣ J 9 6 4 | ||
| ♠ 10 2 | ♠ J 9 8 5 | |
| ♥ K 9 7 3 2 | ♥ 10 5 | |
| ♦ Q 4 2 | ♦ 10 8 6 3 | |
| ♣ K 3 2 | ♣ A 7 5 | |
| ♠ A Q 6 3 | ||
| ♥ Q J 4 | ||
| ♦ A J 7 | ||
| ♣ Q 10 8 |
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