From                   18th June, 2008, Board 2

                                          Theme                Counting Points

                                          Difficulty            * * *

                                          Dlr North           E-W Vul

West leads the A♣ and continues a Club.  In order to make 9 tricks you must pick up both major suit Queens.  How do you plan to accomplish that feat?

SOLUTION

With the A♣ out of the way there are 16 HCP’s unaccounted for.  East surely has the lion’s share, but he probably does not have all of them, unless his hand is unbalanced.  That deduction comes from the assumption that he would have opened 1NT with a balanced 15-17.  So, if East is balanced, then we’d expect West to hold one of the major Queens or else a Diamond card, and in any event we don’t expect West to hold two of those cards.  The best way forward, after winning the K♣, is to exit a Diamond.  The best defense now will be to cash the three Diamonds, and then to concede a ruff and discard in Clubs.  That ruff and discard does not help Declarer, he must still guess the Spades, but by now the HCP situation will have become clear.

During the cashing of the Diamonds, the K♦ will emerge from the West hand, and the Diamonds will be known to be 4-3.  So, it seems clear enough to finesse against East for both missing Queens.  This play is not 100% though, East might have started with 4=1=3=5 shape and 11 HCP’s, for example.  But, if that is the case then E-W are cold for 10 tricks in Clubs, so 3♥ down one will not be the end of the world.

Keys for Success

-         Remembering the auction

-         Exiting a Diamond to find out more about the missing HCP’s
 

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