That Extra Percentage

Pages: Page 4 of 4

Dealer: North
Vuln: Love All
Scoring: IMPs
  1. spade6 5 3
  2. heartK 6
  3. diamondA Q 10 7 5
  4. clubA 8 5
  1. spadeK J 10 9
  2. heartJ 10 9 3
  3. diamond2
  4. clubQ 10 4 3
club diamond heart spade NT
N - 5 - 4 4
S - 6 - 4 4
E 2 - 2 - -
W 2 - 2 - -
Green square in centre
  1. spade7
  2. heartQ 8 7 5 4 2
  3. diamond8
  4. clubK J 9 6 2

Contract: 6diamond
Declarer: South
Lead: heartJ
  1. spadeA Q 8 4 2
  2. heartA
  3. diamondK J 9 6 4 3
  4. club7
Double dummy analyser: makeable contracts
West North East South
1NT Pass 3diamond
Pass 4club* Pass 4heart
Pass 5diamond Pass 6diamond
Pass Pass Pass

* Cue bid agreeing diamond

Recommended line 2: Win the opening lead in hand and play clubA, ruff a club. Cross back with a trump, cash heartK and ruff the last club. All this is as before, but now the lines diverged.

The second writer recommended crossing back to dummy and leading a spade. If East followed with the spade7, then South should cover with the spade8. Even playing low would guarantee 12 tricks! West would either show out (very unlikely) or have to overtake with one of the spadeKJ109 and would thus have to concede a ruff and discard or lead into the jaws of spadeAQ. If East did not oblige with spade7, South would win spadeA, cross back to dummy with a further trump and play a spade to the queen as before. This represents about a 3% improvement on the first line. Not much, but we all know how important these extra chances can be.
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