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 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.
Both sides vulnerable
Dealer North
Opening Lead: ♦J
Dummy wins, partner signals with the ♦9, and declarer follows with the ♦3. A spade is led to the ace, followed by the ♥Q and a heart to dummy. Partner follows with the ♥5 and the ♥4 as you discard a diamond.
At trick five the ♠Q is led from dummy, declarer discarding the♦Q.
Do you win this trick? If so, what do you return? If not, why not?
Crediting partner with three trumps (from his high-low count signal in hearts), it is possible to count declarer's tricks.
If you win this trick and return a spade, say, killing one discard, declarer will remain with six trump tricks, four spades, plus two minor suit aces for twelve. (Declarer must have the ♣A to have any play.)
What about ducking this trick? If declarer plays another middle spade, partner ruffs and the spade suit in dummy is dead. Now all partner needs is the ♣K to defeat the contract. The proper play is to allow the ♠Q to hold so that partner can trump the next spade, killing dummy's long suit.
1- Partner's willingness or failure to double to high level cue bids should influence your choice of opening leads.
2 - One technique of killing a long side suit in dummy is to delay taking your winner until partner is void. Then he trumps the suit allowing you to retain your winner.
3 - If the deuce and trey of trumps are interchanged, this hand cannot be defeated! Declarer cashes the ♠A at trick two, crosses to the ♥A and leads the ♠Q. The defense is helpless because there is an additional dummy entry. Work it out.
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.
