Hand of the week commencing
Sunday 16th April 2006
After
a somewhat dubious auction how does South make his contract after
§2
lead ?
|
|
Dealer
North |
ª |
6
|
|
|
|
|
East
West Vul. |
© |
A
K J 9 8 4 |
|
|
|
|
|
¨ |
J
8 6 |
|
|
|
|
Lead
§2 |
§ |
A
J 4 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
N |
|
|
|
ª |
K
Q 9 5 3 2
|
|
|
ª |
J
8 7 |
|
© |
Q
6 5 |
|
W
E |
© |
10
3 |
|
¨ |
10
4 2 |
|
|
¨ |
7 |
|
§ |
2 |
|
|
§ |
K
10 8 7 6 5 3 |
|
|
|
|
S |
|
|
|
|
|
ª |
A10
4 |
|
|
|
|
|
© |
7
2 |
|
|
|
|
|
¨ |
A
K Q 9 5 3 |
|
|
|
|
|
§ |
Q
9 |
|
|
|
S |
W |
N |
E |
|
|
|
1© |
NO |
|
3¨ |
NO |
4¨ |
NO |
|
4NT |
NO |
5© |
NO |
|
5NT |
NO |
6¨ |
NO |
|
7¨ |
NO |
NO |
NO |
At
trick one you can count 1 Spade, 2 Hearts, 6 Diamonds and 1 Club as your initial
tally of winners (tricks you can win without doing any work- you have no further
tricks YET)
To
bring in this contract you will need to establish Dummy’s Hearts but your
entries to dummy are limited especially after the Club lead. Is West leading
from a singleton or from a king ? Quite frankly, you do not need to find out at
trick one. You are going up with dummy’s ace and are going after dummy’s
Hearts.
You
play off two top trumps from hand leaving out just the 10 in West’s hand. You
then turn your attention to the Heart suit playing off the Ace King and ruffing
the third high one with your Trump Queen. You can now go over to dummy with the
carefully preserved ¨J
to enjoy the remaining 3 established Hearts. You have won 1 Spade, 2 Hearts, 5
Diamonds, 1 Club, 1 Heart ruffed (in the long hand – that’s why only 5
natural trumps) and 3 established Hearts and your contract was never in jeopardy
with unnecessary 50% finesses.