Hand of the week commencing
Sunday 9th July 2006
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Dealer
North |
ª |
A Q 6 4
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North
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© |
A
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§6
lead |
¨ |
A
K Q 9 |
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§ |
K
J 9 2 |
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N |
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ª |
9
8 7
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ª |
3
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© |
Q
6 |
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W
E |
© |
K
9 8 7 4 2 |
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¨ |
J
7 4 |
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¨ |
10
3 2 |
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§ |
Q
10 8 6 4 |
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§ |
7
5 3 |
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S |
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ª |
K
J 10 5 2 |
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© |
J
10 5 3 |
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¨ |
8
6 5 |
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§ |
A
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S |
W |
N |
E |
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2§ |
NO |
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2ª |
NO |
3ª |
NO |
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4NT |
NO |
5§ |
5NT |
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7ª |
NO |
NO |
NO |
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When
this hand was originally played against me declarer managed to play off his AQ
of Spades early and then realized that he needed to ruff Hearts in dummy UGH too
late – West, who started off with only 2 Hearts was able to ruff higher than
dummy and poor declarer went one off !!
At the start of the game declarer has 5 Spades, 1 Heart, 3 Diamonds and 2 clubs totaling 11 winners off the top. This means he needs just two more. As long as he takes two Heart ruffs early on he will prevail. After winning the club he needs to play a Heart to dummy’s Ace. He then re-enters his own hand with a high trump (noting that both opponents followed to trump play). He can now take the first heart ruff high with either the Ace or Queen in dummy. Now he returns to hand a trump, in order to take another Heart ruff (High if necessary). Now his priority is to draw trumps as soon as possible and claim. He ruffs a low club to get back to hand and draws the last trump. Now he can claim. He has won 5 natural trumps, 1 Heart, 2 Hearts ruffed in the short hand, 3 Diamonds and 2 clubs, and has avoided the embarrassment of going off.