Maximum Penalty Extracted

Pages: Page 5 of 5

Dealer: North
Vuln: N-S
Scoring: Pairs
  1. spadeJ 7 6 5
  2. heartJ 3
  3. diamondK J 6 2
  4. clubA Q 8
  1. spadeA 10 4
  2. heartA Q 10 8 7 2
  3. diamondA
  4. clubK J 7
club diamond heart spade NT
N - - - - -
S - - - - -
E 1 3 4 2 4
W 1 3 5 2 4
Green square in centre
  1. spadeK 9 3
  2. heartK 5 4
  3. diamondQ 10 9 7 3
  4. club4 2

Contract: 1diamondx
Declarer: North
Lead: spade3
  1. spadeQ 8 2
  2. heart9 6
  3. diamond8 5 4
  4. club10 9 6 5 3
Double dummy analyser: makeable contracts
West North East South
1diamond Pass Pass
Dble Pass Pass Pass
At the table East played another heart. Disaster! Declarer ruffed in dummy, took the club finesse and exited with the last spade. Although East was able to ruff in front of dummy and play a trump to her partner's ace, when North ruffed West's continuation with a low trump East was forced to lead into diamondKJ and surrender the last two tricks. +200 did not score well for E-W with game laydown.

What was the best lead? A heart or a double-dummy trump work best, for then East-West can claim their high red suit winners early and exit with a club. North will have to open one of the black suits to E-W advantage and 500 will be the minimum penalty extracted.
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