From                   26th April, 2006, Board 27

                                          Difficulty            * * * 

                                          Dlr South            None Vul

West leads the K♣.  Plan the play.

SOLUTION

We can count 5 Hearts and a Club, and we have the timing to set up a Diamond ruff on the board.  The 8^th trick will have to come from the Spade suit, and the winning plan is to  take the A♣ at Trick One (we cannot afford to duck, they might shift to a trump), and lead a Spade towards Dummy’s King.

West is caught in a dilemma … if he jumps up with the A♠ and shifts to a trump, we score 2 Spade tricks and don’t need the Diamond ruff … if he ducks, we play the K♠, and can now arrange for Dummy’s ruff.

And, if the A♠ is with East?  He’ll take the K♠ with the Ace and will no doubt shift to a trump.  Of course, we’ll play Diamonds, and hope that the winner of the first or second Diamond will be unable to lead trumps again.  But, if it turns out that they are able to deprive us of our Diamond ruff, we’ll make sure to win the 3^rd round of trumps on the board so that we can take a Spade finesse.

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