| Dlr: South | ♠ A J 8 7 | |||||||||||||||||
| Vul: E-W | ♥ 8 6 3 | |||||||||||||||||
| ♦ 8 6 5 | ||||||||||||||||||
| ♣ Q 6 3 | ||||||||||||||||||
| ♠ K Q 10 5 2 | ||||||||||||||||||
| ♥ 7 5 4 | ||||||||||||||||||
| ♦ A K Q 4 | ||||||||||||||||||
| ♣ A | ||||||||||||||||||
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West lead the ♥J against your game contract. East takes the first three tricks with top hearts and exits with the ♦J. You win the ♦A. Now what?
Solution
After winning the ♦A, declarer considered his options. Obviously, if trumps were no worse than 3-1, he could ruff a diamond in dummy if necessary. He asked himself, “What can be done if trumps are 4-0?” and concluded that the safest option would be a dummy reversal.
With that in mind, declarer cashed the ♣A at trick five, then led the ♠K. When West followed, declarer overtook this in dummy with the ♠A and was rather pleased when East discarded a club.
Declarer ruffed a club with the ♠Q then led the ♠2. When West followed with the 3, the trick was won with dummy’s ♠7. The ♣Q was then ruffed with the ♠10 and West’s remaining trumps were picked up by finessing dummy’s 8 then cashing the jack while discarding the ♦4 from hand. Declarer claimed the three remaining tricks with his diamond tops: he made four trumps, three diamonds, a club and two club ruffs for a total of 10 tricks. The full deal:
| Dlr: South | ♠ A J 8 7 | |
| Vul: E-W | ♥ 8 6 3 | |
| ♦ 8 6 5 | ||
| ♣ Q 6 3 | ||
| ♠ 9 6 4 3 | ♠ — | |
| ♥ J 10 9 2 | ♥ A K Q | |
| ♦ 3 2 | ♦ J 10 9 7 | |
| ♣ K J 7 | ♣ 10 9 8 5 4 2 | |
| ♠ K Q 10 5 2 | ||
| ♥ 7 5 4 | ||
| ♦ A K Q 4 | ||
| ♣ A |