
This conundrum was written by Eddie Kantar and was originally published in the book Kantar for the Defense - Volume 2 - you can find out all about it further down the page.
East - West vulnerable
Dealer South
You are West
Opening Lead: ♦2
Dummy plays low and partner wins ♦A, declarer playing the ♦J. At trick two partner returns the ♦8. Declarer plays the ♦10 which you ruff.
What do you return at this point? Why?
The ♠K. Partner has politely informed you that he has the ♠A with his return of the ♦8, his highest diamond. Now it's your turn to return the favor. If you lazily play a low spade, partner may decide to promote a possible trump queen for you by returning another diamond. if he does that, you lose your ♠K
Kantar invites his reader to direct every play towards the goal of beating the contract in a variety of hands, bringing focus on counting tricks, points and distribution. Problems range from an intermediate to semi-advanced level and knowledge of basic card combinations is assumed. Each book concludes with a complete list of themes for its 100 problems.