Puzzle This

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North
♠ 10 9 8
♥ K Q J 3
♦ 6 4 3 2
♣ J 9
South
♠ A Q 3
♥
♦ A K Q 5
♣ A K Q 4 3 2

As South, you are declarer in 6NT. West leads the ♦ J. You win the ace, and try the ♦ K, but East shows out. What now? Assume clubs are not 5–0.

View Solution
North
♠ 10 9 8
♥ K Q J 3
♦ 6 4 3 2
♣ J 9
West
♠ J 5 4
♥ 10 7 6 4
♦ J 10 9 8
♣ 10 5
East
♠ K 7 6 2
♥ A 9 8 5 2
♦ 7
♣ 8 7 6
South
♠ A Q 3
♥
♦ A K Q 5
♣ A K Q 4 3 2

You have one spade trick, three diamonds and six clubs for a total of 10. You need two more tricks. If you can cross to dummy and drive out the ♥A, you’ll have two more tricks easily, but you must get to dummy twice — once to drive out the ♥A and again to cash your winners. If you cross to the ♣J and play the ♥K, East can win the ace and exit with a club. Even if East exits with a spade, allowing you to finesse, it doesn’t help: you’ll still need one more trick.

You have little choice: After you find out that diamonds are 4–1 at trick two, you must take a club finesse by playing low to dummy’s 9. If it succeeds, you can get to work on hearts while you still have a dummy entry with the ♣J. Desperate times call for drastic measures.