Hand of the Week
South plays in 6♥ after opening the bidding and showing extra values over a game-forcing heart raise of 2NT by North. How do you plan to make 12 tricks in hearts after West leads the ♣K?
Solution
Let’s see what happened when the deal was played in a local team game:
After winning the first trick with the ♣A, the original declarer drew trumps, cashed the ♠A and then led the ♠9. West covered this with the 10 and dummy’s ♠J was taken by East’s queen. When the inevitable diamond return came declarer had no option but to play the queen. West took this with the king, and the slam failed by one trick.
Declarer moaned about his luck in going down in a 75% contract and, as is often the case, dummy was not sympathetic. “You had the ♠9, didn’t you? After drawing trumps, you should have played a spade to the 9. This succeeds in producing three spade tricks whenever East has the ♠10. If the 9 had lost to the ♠Q, you would have two discards for your diamond losers immediately. In this case, West would win with the ♠10. After ruffing ruff the club return, you play a spade to the ace, then return to dummy with a club ruff. You cash the ♠K and, as the cards lie, the ♠Q falls and the contract is home. You make three spades, five trumps, a diamond, a club and two club ruffs. Finally, if the queen failed to drop under the king, you would still have had the diamond finesse as a last chance. This way you would combine three chances instead of two you were satisfied with.”