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                                          Theme               Trump En Passant

                                          Difficulty           * * *

                                          Dlr North          None Vul               

West leads the Q♥, which you win in your hand.  Next, a Spade to the Jack and the King.  A Heart is continued, won on the board with the King, as you pitch a Diamond from your hand.  Next, you play a Spade to the 9, which holds as North shows out.  Despite the bad trump break, you can be sure of 10 tricks.  But this is matchpoints!  What is the best line of play to achieve 11 tricks?

SOLUTION

Clearly, you are not going to make 11 tricks without getting the Clubs going, and the time to do that is right now, before you draw any more trumps.  Play a Club to Dummy’s King, a Club to your Ace, and ruff a Club.  One of two things will likely happen:

            Case 1:            Clubs will be 3-3, in which case you just lead a trump from
                                     Dummy and make 11 tricks.

            Case 2:            East will have 4 Clubs (remember, West surely has 7 Hearts and                                      is unlikely to be the hand with long Clubs), in which case it is possible                                      to devise a very pretty en passant ending!

Yes, this is the Case 2 scenario.  Establishing the Clubs didn’t work, but you have another string to your bow.  If the cross ruff is timed correctly you can end up in Dummy after Trick 11.  East will have AT of trump, and in your hand you will be down to the bare Q♠ and a Club.  Lead a red card from the board, and score the Q♠ en passant!  Whether East ruffs high or low, the Q♠ will win a trick.

Keys to Success

   - Playing on the side-suit early, and trusting that the side-suit length is opposite the preemptor

   - Timing the cross-ruff so as win Trick 11 on the board