From                 Wednesday Game Archives

                                          Themes             Blocking & Unblocking

                                                                    Avoidance Play

                                          Difficulty           * * *

                                          Dlr South          None Vul       Hands Rotated for

                                                                                           Convenience

North’s raise to 3♣ was preemptive.  West leads the J♦.  How do you play the Diamond suit?  And the Club suit?

SOLUTION

The best chance in Diamonds is to play low, hoping that the suit blocks.  This requires North to hold Kx or Ax or AK or AKx.  After playing low at Trick One, Diamonds are continued, to East’s Ace and King.  A Spade comes back, so you have cleared the first hurdle, the Diamonds were indeed blocked..  Now, you must develop the Club suit without letting West in.  You could lay down the A♣, hoping that East has Kx or Kxx, but an alert defender with Kx will throw the K♣ under the A♣, creating an entry for his partner.

A better line of play is to cross to Dummy’s K♥, and lead a low Club, planning to duck if the K♣ is played by East.  If the K♣ does not appear, then we rise with the Ace, and lead a low one back, hoping that West started with a singleton honor or that East started with Kx.  This is the hand we are hoping for:
 

Keys to Success:

    - Realizing at Trick One that the best chance in Diamonds was to play low, hoping for their suit

      to block

    - Executing an Avoidance Play in Clubs by leading the first round of the suit from Dummy.