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.
North - South vulnerable
Dealer South
You are West
Opening Lead: ♥5 ♦♣
Partner’s ♥J drives out the ♥A.
- What is the trump position?
Declarer leads a trump to dummy, as you discard a low diamond, and leads a club. Partner discards the ♠2, declarer plays the ♣K.
- What do you make of declarer’s distribution?
- Do you take this trick? If so, what do you return? If not, why not?
Have a think and click here to reveal the answer
- Declarer started with ♥A10xx.
- Declarer is known to hold four hearts and two clubs. His other two suits are likely divided 4–3 as it would be unusual to open one notrump with a 5–4–2–2 distribution. South is more likely to hold three spades and four diamonds than vice versa as partner might have entered the fray with 3♦ with a four-card suit at this vulnerability.
- Win the trick and return a low club allowing partner to ruff. Assuming partner exits with his last trump, declarer will wind up a trick short. Count tricks. After two rounds of trumps have been played, declarer can take no more than six trump tricks (assuming he crossruffs), one diamond and two spades. Your defense requires partner not to hold the ♠J, no more. (Even if declarer has the ♠J he will probably finesse into you, the hand short in spades, as he needs three spade tricks to make his contract.)
KEY LESSON POINTERS
- There is no substitute for counting tricks.
- Giving partner a ruff in dummy's long suit while still retaining control is an effective method of silencing the suit.
- Assume when an opponent opens one notrump he has 4–3–3–3, 4–3–3–2, or 5–3–3–2 distribution. 5–4–2–2 or 6–3–2–2 hand patterns are too exceptional to worry about.
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.
