From                 January 17th, 2007, Board 9

                                          Theme              Entry Management

                                                                   Scissors Coup

                                          Difficulty           * * *

                                          Dlr East            N-S Vul                 Hands Rotated

                                                                                                  for Convenience

East’s 2♦ is a Weak Two, purporting to be in the 5-10 range.

West leads the Heart Four to East’s Ace, then a Heart to West's King. Dummy’s Queen takes the third round of Hearts, East pitching the Diamond Seven.

This contract is unlikely to make, and is in danger of going down two.  It’s easy to imagine taking the losing Spade finesse, West cashing her Hearts, and then a Diamond through Dummy for two more defensive tricks.  Is there a way of getting out for down one, if, as seems likely, all the cards are poorly placed?

SOLUTION

Yes, the key play is to lead a Diamond towards the board before playing on Spades.  East will win the Diamond trick and be in a dilemma.  If he cashes a Diamond (before shifting to a Spade) he’ll set up your 7^th trick), and if he shifts to a Spade immediately he’ll never score his second Diamond, and Declarer will have the timing to score his 7^th trick in Spades.

The precise sequence of plays will be:

            Heart to the Ace

            Heart to the King

            Heart won by Dummy’s Queen

            Cash K♣ and Q♣

            Overtake the J♣ with the Ace (entry-creating play in case Q♦ is with West)           

            Diamond to King and East’s Ace

            Spade return, Declarer can take the futile defense

            Hearts are cashed (Declarer must pitch the A♠!)

Now, at Trick Eleven, South must concede the last three tricks to Dummy.

	♠ JT84 ♥ QJT ♦ KT ♣ KQJ7
♠ K6532 ♥ K8543 ♦ 9 ♣ T4	North    West           East            South	♠ 97 ♥ A7 ♦ AQ7653 ♣ 865
	♠ AQ ♥ 962 ♦ J842 ♣ A932

Keys to Success

   - Overtaking the J♣ to create a second Club entry to Declarer's hand (necessary if West had singleton

     Q♦)

   - Playing Diamonds before Spades (the so-called Scissors Coup)

   - Either declining the Spade finesse, or else losing the Spade finesse and pitching the A♠ on the Hearts