From                 14th June, 2006, Board 7

                                          Theme               Establishing Side-Suits

                                          Difficulty           * * *

                                          Dlr North          Both Vul               Hands Rotated

                                                                                                 for Convenience

We were being tricky when we said "draw trumps and get those Clubs going".  You need an entry to Dummy for those Clubs, and the only entry is in the trump suit.  You can be sure that, if you draw trumps first, and then play on Clubs, a competent East will duck the first round, even if he has a doubleton King.  But, you can afford to play two rounds of trumps, ending in hand, keeping a trump entry on the board for the soon-to-be-established Clubs.  How do you proceed now in these two cases?

 

Case 1:  Trumps are 3-2?

Case 2:  Trumps are 4-1 (either way)?

 

SOLUTION

 

In the first case, it's pretty simple.  You'll go after Clubs, and will end up making 10 tricks or 13 tricks, but nothing in between!  If the Club is off-side, they'll get two Diamonds and a Club ... needless to say, Dummy must not waste its last entry by ruffing a Diamond.

 

Nothing much changes if trumps are 4-1, except that now you are going down unless the Clubs behave.  After drawing those two rounds of trumps, you will run the 9♣, and, if it loses, you are down.  But, if the Clubs are 3-2 with the King on-side, you can just keep running Clubs at them.  Eventually, they will ruff in, and cash their Diamonds, but you'll still make 10 tricks.

 

 

Keys to Success

   - Winning the first trick (in case all 13 tricks were possible)

   - Playing just two rounds of trumps before tackling Clubs (and leaving a high trump on the board)

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