| West | North | East | South |
| 1♠ | |||
| Dbl | Redbl | 2♥ | 2♠ |
| Pass | 6♠ | All Pass |
You are playing teams and find yourself in 6♠ West starts the defense by leading the ♣Q. How do you plan to bring this one home?
Solution
The contract and opening lead were the same at both tables. At the first table, declarer called for dummy’s ♣A. He cashed the ♠K and was disappointed to see West discard a club. After leading the ♠2 to East’s 5 and his 10, declarer led a heart. West rose with the ♥A and exited with the ♣J, taken by declarer with the king. Now there was no way for declarer to make a 12th trick because he did not have the entries to ruff a club and execute a trump coup against East.
At the second table, declarer took trick one in hand to lead a heart. West rose with the ace and exited with a club to dummy’s now-bare ace. Next, declarer cashed the ♥K and ruffed a heart. Only then did he lead a trump to dummy’s king, getting the bad news of the 4-0 trump break. Declarer continued by ruffing a second heart, then cashing the ♦K and ♦A and ruffing a diamond. At trick 11, declarer ruffed his remaining club with dummy’s ♠Q for his 10th trick. Declarer could then claim the last two tricks, as his ♠A 10 was over East’s ♠J 7. The full deal: