From 4th June, 2008, Board 17 Theme Counting the Distribution Difficulty * * * Dlr West None Vul
West, being a passed hand, showed the unbid suits with that 1NT bid, typically 5-5 but that’s not guaranteed.
West leads the Diamond Six, which has all the appearances of a singleton. You win in hand with the K♦, finesse in trumps, and draw a second round (trumps are 2-2). How do you avoid losing three Clubs, a Heart and a Diamond.
SOLUTION
The bidding and the play have been quite revealing. It looks as if West started out with 2=5=1=5. He started out with the K♠, and it hardly seems likely that he also has the A♣ and K♣, most players nowadays would have opened that hand. So, it seems a reasonable assumption that East has Ax or Kx in Clubs. If that is so, we can eliminate the Diamonds and throw in the opponents with a Heart.
So, after drawing trumps, Declarer ducks a Diamond, which is won by East. The Heart return is won by the Ace, now the A♦ is cashed and a Diamond is ruffed. Declarer exits a Heart and the defense is helpless. The full deal:
After winning the Heart, if West plays another Heart Declarer uses the ruff and sluff to shake a Club loser. And if West plays a Club, Declarer plays low from the board, ensuring that East is forced to win the second round of Clubs and concede a ruff and sluff.
Key to Success - Remembering the auction and deducing the enemy distribution - Eliminating the Diamonds - Playing low from Dummy on the first round of Clubs
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