From                   1st September, 2010, Board 3

                                          Difficulty            * * *

                                          N-S Vul               Hands Rotated

Against 3♦, West leads the Club Nine, which looks rather like a “top-of-nothing” lead.

The first question is “What is your objective?” to which we’d say “10 tricks”, just in case E-W can make 8 tricks in 2NT.

First reaction might be to cross-ruff the hand.  Ruff the first trick in Dummy, after which you will, er, yes, exactly what will you do?  You are in the wrong hand to tackle the major suits, and you can be sure that the opponents will not let you score 9 separate trumps plus the ♠A … they’ll be leading trumps in the not too distant future.

SOLUTION

The solution is easy enough.  Pitch a Heart from Dummy at Trick1!  East will win the trick with his King, and cannot profitably continue the suit.  So, he’ll shift to a Diamond.  You win that with the Ten, and take the Spade finesse:

-         If the Spade finesse works, then Declarer can merrily cross-ruff the hand (hoping that West does not have a doubleton Spade)

-         If the Spade finesse loses then expect another Diamond to come back.  Now the best chance for 10 tricks is 3-3 Spades.

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