Hand of the day #211
The Aces On Bridge by Bobby Wolff This column aims to amuse, as well as to educa...
This conundrum was written by Julian Pottage and was originally published in the book Defend or Declare - you can find out all about it further down the page.
Opening Lead: ♠J
The original declarer ruffed the spade lead in dummy, came to hand with a trump, ruffed another spade and returned to hand with the ♥K. After that came a second top trump and two top diamonds. When East showed out, prospects took a nosedive. A single ruff would no longer suffice to set up a diamond winner. When declarer led a heart in an attempt to get back to dummy, West ruffed in with the ♣Q and played a spade to East’s ace. Even if West had been unable to ruff in until the third round of hearts, the contract would still have failed.
In broad terms, if both minors broke 3-2, this line would have worked whenever East had either three diamonds or three clubs. The defenders would be unable to get in to cash the spade in time. Is there a line that caters to more hostile breaks?
I have not mentioned the possibility of a 3-3 heart break. This is because if the heart layout is friendly then you can probably set up the diamonds.
Making this slam requires a different approach. Rather than trying to get rid of all your spades before you lose the lead, you should lose the lead at a time when the defenders cannot hurt you. In other words, you need to lose the lead while dummy still has a trump to ruff a spade.
Having ruffed a spade in dummy, you cannot avoid losing a trump trick even if someone has a doubleton queen. There is no time like the present. Lose your trump loser at Trick 2. Let us say a trump comes back. You win, draw the remaining trump and play on diamonds. You ruff the third round, return to dummy with a heart and ruff the fourth round of diamonds. You still have one further entry to dummy to cash the long diamonds. If, instead, a heart comes back at Trick 3, you win in hand, draw trumps and set up the diamonds as before.
Note that, holding a trump trick, West quite correctly did not lead the singleton ♥J. Declarer would have an easy ride on that lead. The straightforward line of winning in hand, cashing two trumps and then playing to set up the diamonds would have been good enough.
An unusual problem format, it gave the reader all four hands and challenged them to analyze the deal and decide whether they wanted to play or defend. This sequel comprises 72 problems, presented in the same unique fashion, and will appeal to the same readership.
