From                 2nd August, 2006, Board 2

                                          Theme               Weighing the Evidence

                                          Difficulty           * * * *

                                          Dlr North          E-W Vul            Hands Rotated

                                                                                             for Convenience

West’s 3♦ was preemptive.

West leads the A♦ against your 4♥ contract. 

If trumps are 3-2, you can be sure of 10 easy tricks here.  Four top Hearts, a Diamond ruff, a Spade, and 4 Clubs.  The only realistic chance of an 11^th trick is a second Diamond ruff in Dummy.  But there are entry issues.  For example, if you ruff on the board, cross to the K♥, ruff another Diamond, and cash the A♥, you are faced with the problem of getting back to hand to draw the last trump.  Clearly, you cannot cross on a Spade, that would release 3 winners for the defense. 

The bidding and the opening lead have been most informative, here is what we might reasonably infer:

(a)    Neither opponent has 5 Spades, so they are no doubt divided 4-3

(b)   West has 5+ Diamonds

(c)    West probably does not have a singleton Club, if she did that might well have been his opening lead

(d)   East, for his vulnerable overcall, probably has the missing high cards … K♠, K♦, A♣.

How do you give yourself the best chance of making an overtrick?  What is your sequence of plays?

SOLUTION

It looks as if the enemy Clubs are 2-2, or that East has the singleton Ace.  If that is the case, then it cannot harm to ruff that opening lead on the board and lead a low Club at Trick Two.  If the Clubs are indeed 2-2, then this line of play gives us a much needed entry back to our hand.  East will no doubt jump up with the A♣, and will get out a Club or a Heart … now, communications have been established, and 11 tricks will materialize.  This is the full hand:

Would it have worked to ruff the opening lead, cross to the K♥, ruff another Diamond, cash A♥ and then lead a Club?  Yes, it would … most of the time.  But the danger holding is when East started with 4-4-4-1 distribution … now, after Dummy has ruffed itself out, and Clubs are led, East will win the A♣, continue Diamonds, causing Declarer to lose trump control.  Overtrick?  No, not exactly, this line of play results in down one.

Keys to Success

   - Realizing that East likely had the missing high cards … K♠, K♦, A♣.

   - Concluding that it was safe to play on Clubs at Trick Two

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