From                   11th April, 2007, Board 14

                                          Theme                Postponement of Trumps

                                          Difficulty            * * *

                                          Dlr East              None Vul

The defense starts with the Diamond Six to East’s Ace.  East cashes the A♣ and then reverts to the Diamond Seven to West’s King.  Next comes the J♦ which you ruff with the Eight, East following with the Four.

It looks as if you’ll need 3-2 splits in both of the majors.  Assuming that you get those splits, is there anything else to worry about?

SOLUTION

By forcing us to ruff in Dummy, the defense has given us entry problems.  If we draw two rounds of trumps then ruff out the Spades, we won’t be able to enjoy long Spades with that high enemy trump still at large.  The solution is to play on Spades first, later using the trump suit as our entry back to the board.  We’ll need some luck though, the defenders will be able to ruff the third round of Spades, and our only hope is that their ruff comes at the expense of their natural trump trick.

After ruffing the third round of Diamonds, we play A♠, K♠, then the third Spade, ruffed by the Nine and overruffed.  But the overruff is in the hand with the three Hearts and so 9 tricks are made.  We made that sound pretty simple, but there is a trap for the unwary.  It would be a mistake for Declarer to lay down the K♥ before playing on Spades, because after West overruffs the third round of Spades he can play a fourth round of Diamonds, giving Partner a trump promotion.

Key to Success

   - Playing on Spades before drawing even a single round of trumps