From                  10th January, 2007, Board 2

                                          Theme               Trump Control

                                          Difficulty           * *

                                          Dlr North           E-W Vul               Hands Rotated

                                                                                                 for Convenience

West’s 1NT overcall showed 15-18. 

Against 3♠, West leads the A♦, then the K♦ which you ruff.  You lead the K♠ which is ducked, then the Q♠, won by West’s Ace, East pitching the Club Four.  West continues Diamonds, with the Nine, which you ruff.

Despite the 6-3 fit, you are in danger of losing control of the hand.  How do you avoid the ignominy of running out of trumps?

SOLUTION

If you draw the last trump and go about the Heart suit, you’ll run out of trumps before they run out of Diamonds to lead at you and before the Hearts are established.  The solution is not to draw that last trump, but to go after Hearts while there remains a lurker at large.  Now, when they win the first Heart, Dummy still has a trump to handle the Diamond force.  Yes, there is the danger that the defense may be able to organize a Heart ruff if West started with Ax or Kx of Hearts but that is a risk which has to be taken, as the alternative is sure defeat.

OK, now for the second bump in the road.  You leave a trump out, play on Hearts, and East wins the first round of that suit with the King.  Realizing that the forcing defense will no longer work, East shifts to the T♣.  What now?  Let us most definitely not take that “free finesse”, it will cost the contract!  The finesse will lose and Dummy will win the trick … now, the defense will duck the second round of Hearts, cutting you off from Dummy’s 13^th Heart and leaving your hand with a Club loser for down one.  Instead, you must hop up with the A♣ (preserving Dummy’s entry), draw the last trump (you can afford to now), knock out the second high Heart, and, if necessary, you have the K♣ as an entry to the 13th Heart.

	♠ T32 ♥ JT97 ♦ 875 ♣ K52
♠ A75 ♥ A52 ♦ AK92 ♣ Q86	North    West          East            South	♠ 8 ♥ K64 ♦ QJ643 ♣ T974
	♠ KQJ964 ♥ Q83 ♦ T ♣ AJ3

Keys to Success

   - Drawing only two rounds of trumps before playing on Hearts

   - Declining the "free" Club finesse, thereby preserving Dummy's entry for the 13th Heart