From             20th September, 2006, Board 9

                                          Difficulty      * * *

                                          Dlr North     E-W Vul
 

♠ KT6 ♥ KT762 ♦ KJ8 ♣ K7	North    West      Dummy             South	♠ A4 ♥ A983 ♦ AT9 ♣ J854
West   North   East     South                         Pass    1♣        Pass              1♥      Pass     2♥        Pass              4♥      Pass     Pass     Pass

North leads the Club Nine, and their convention card says that this lead shows "0 or 2 higher".  South wins the Ace, returns the 6 to your King, and North plays the 3.  Next you lead a low Heart towards the board, and receive a jolt when North pitches a low Diamond.  Deciding that it's best to take the inevitable loser earlier rather than later, you play the 9, losing to South's Jack.  Back comes a Club, which you ruff, North following with the Ten.

You can count 2 Spades and a Spade ruff, 4 trump tricks, 2 Diamonds, and a Club ... that's 10 tricks, can you make a third Diamond trick for 11 tricks?

SOLUTION

This hand almost plays itself, after the key play of losing an early Heart.  Ruff the Club return, cash the Spades and ruff a Spade, North following with the 2, 3, and 9.  Then, draw trumps, coming down to a 3-card ending with nothing but Diamonds in Declarer's hand and Dummy.  North will have to find a total of four pitches on the Hearts, and three of them will be low Diamonds, and one the J♠.  North is known to have the Q♣, and surely her other two cards are Diamonds.  After all, would she not have preferred the Q opening lead from QJ9xx, rather than the risky 9 from KT9x?  So, no need to guess the missing Diamonds, they are surely 2-2.

The complete deal:

	♠ J932 ♥ ♦ 65432 ♣ QT93
♠ KT6 ♥ KT762 ♦ KJ8 ♣ K7	North    West      Dummy            South	♠ A4 ♥ A983 ♦ AT9 ♣ J854
	♠ Q875 ♥ QJ54 ♦ Q7 ♣ A62

Home    Hand Analyses    Bidding Quizzes     Play Problems    System Library