From                   4th November, Board 20

                                          Difficulty            * * *

                                          Both Vul

If West had led a Spade it would be 10 easy tricks (you must assume 3-2 Diamonds), but he surprises you with the opening lead of the Heart Five.  Can you still make that all-important overtrick?

On the opening trick East plays the ♥K and you duck.  Back comes a low Heart, you duck again, and West wins the Queen.  Then another Heart to East’s Jack and Dummy's Ace.  You start on the Diamonds, and West pitches a Spade on the third round.  You cash the rest of the Diamonds.  What next? 

SOLUTION

It looks very much as if West started life with 7=3=2=1 distribution so it’s safe enough to lead the ♠K next.  West surely has the ♠A and you’ll lose just two Hearts and the ♠A.  But West craftily ducks that trick!  Now if you play another Spade, West will win and exit a Club, leaving you with a losing Club at Trick 13.  No problem!  You simply cash the ♣A (removing West’s exit card) and then lead the second Spade.  West is down to just Spades and must surrender the last trick to Dummy

That was not such a tough hand, but Declarer still needed to get three things right:

-         She had to hold up the ♥A on the first two tricks

-         She counted out the West distribution

-         She cashed the ♣A to extract West’s only safe exit card
 

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