From                  Wednesday Game Archives

                                          Theme                Counting Points

                                          Difficulty            * * 

                                          Dlr West            Both Vul           Hands Rotated

                                                                                               for Convenience

West leads a low Diamond, won by the King.  You lead the 9♠ which holds, then another Spade, won by East with the Ace, West following.  Next comes the Q♣ shift.  Plan the play.

SOLUTION

Thanks to the lucky trump position, you can count 10 tricks.  To make 11 you just have to guess the Hearts correctly.  If you count up East’s HCPs, this one is a cinch.  East has shown up with AQ♠, Q♣, and presumably the J♣ too.  That’s 9 HCPs from a hand that passed in 3^rd seat.  Surely, East does not also have the K♥.  Yes, 11 easy tricks for all those declarers who took the trouble to do a little counting as this is the full deal.

Keys to Success

   - Counting up the missing HCP's

   - Remembering that East passed in 3rd seat and playing the Hearts accordingly.