From                   1st July, 2009, Board 24

                                          Difficulty            * * *

                                          None Vul

West’s second Double was a so-called “Action Double”, and East elects to defend.

East leads the ♦7 (3^rd and 5^th leads), and East wins the King and cashes the ♦A.  Next, East shifts to a Spade.  You have lost two Diamonds and there are two certain Heart losers.  How do you get out for just one trump loser, scoring a respectable -100 instead of a terrible -300?

SOLUTION

Trumps will have to be 2-2 and if the ♣A and ♣Q are in different hands then you will have to make the correct guess.  What can be deduced from the bidding and the play?

-         Diamonds are 4-4 and West has the Queen, based on the play to the first rwo tricks.

-         Hearts are 4-4, based on the bidding

-         As we are relying on 2-2 Clubs, then Spades will have to be 3-3.

So, before we make the critical Club guess, we can afford to fish around for more clues, because if there is a Spade ruff in the air then the contract was always going down at least a couple.  So, you win the Spade shift in your hand, and lead a Heart to Dummy’s Ten and East’s King.  Back comes a Spade and again you win in your hand and lead a Heart.  West wins the Ace and now you have smoked out the missing high cards.  West started with ♥AJxx and ♦Qxxx.  Surely, if he had the ♣A as well he would not have passed 2♥, he would have invited game.  So, if you trust the enemy bidding and play, you will guess the trumps correctly, expecting the full hand will be:

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