From                 Board 14     3rd March, 2010

                                          None Vul          Hands Rotated for Convenience

If you don’t think much of North’s 5♥ bid then neither do we!  And you may also take exception to South’s 2♥, come to think of it.  But bear with us, if you will, we had to find a way to get you in 5♥ so that we could challenge you to make 11 tricks.

West leads the ♦A, and you ruff the second Diamond (East following to both tricks, with the Nine and then the Seven).  There is the ♣A to be lost, which means that you cannot afford a trump loser.  The ♥Q is probably with East, but the extreme bidding by West suggests some distribution and it seems quite likely that East has four or even five Hearts.  What’s your plan?

SOLUTION

If East has Heart length it may be possible to organize a trump coup against him.  To start with you want to knock out the ♣A, so you lead a Club to Dummy’s King and East’s Ace.  You win the Club return and run the ♥T.  The good news is that this wins the trick, the bad news is that West shows out!  Yikes!  But all is not lost.  East has six black cards and provided that he has at least three Spades the contract is now cold!  Next, you ruff a Club, and when both defenders follow you know that East started life with 3=5=2=3 distribution.  You cash three Spades ending on the board, and lead a Club.  In the 4-card ending, East has nothing left but trumps, so you lead a Club, which is ruffed and over-ruffed … then you ruff your last Spade on the board (East is obliged to under-ruff) … and at Trick 12 East is caught in a Trump Coup.  11 tricks!

That was well-timed play.  Declarer had to recognize the likelihood of long trumps with East, he had to knock out the ♣A before playing trumps, and he had to run the ♥T without cashing the Ace first.

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