Answer to

Hand of the week commencing Sunday 15th October 2006

Plan your play in this 6NT after the ¨4 lead.

 

 

 

ª

 Q 7 6 5

 

 

 

Dealer South

©

 K 5 3

 

 

 

Love All

¨

 Q 2

 

 

 

 

§

 K J 5 2

 

 

 

 

 

N

 

 

ª

10 8 4 3  

 

 

ª

J  9 2

©

Q 9 2

 

W                          E

©

J 8 6  

¨

10 9 5 4

 

 

¨

8 6 3

§

10 9

 

 

§

Q 8 4 3

 

 

 

S

 

 

 

 

ª

A K

 

 

 

 

©

A 10 7 4

 

 

 

 

¨

A K J 7

 

 

 

 

§

A 7 6

 

 

 

W

N

E

S

 

 

 

2§

NO

2ª

NO

2NT

NO

6NT

NO

NO

NO

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When this hand was played against me, poor declarer put all his eggs in the club finessing basket and when the suit failed to break wound up a trick short.

Initially you have 3 spade 2 Hearts, 4 Diamonds, and 2 clubs giving you a tally of 11 winners. You need 1 more. If clubs or Hearts break then you have your extra trick. If the Club Queen is onside you will be all right. If we go for the club finesse first and it fails we can no longer test the Hearts. However if we test the Hearts first the clubs is still an option.

With this in mind we cash the King of Hearts followed by low Heart from both hands.

We regain the lead with the ¨Q and unblock the Spades (before they give us grief) and then play 2 more rounds of Hearts. Pleased to see the Hearts breaking 33 we no longer need to rely on the Club finesse. If the Hearts had not broken then the Club finesse option would have had to be taken.

 

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