Lose the Board Win the Trials

Pages: Page 5 of 5

Dealer: West
Vuln: Love All
Scoring: IMPs
  1. spadeK Q 9 8 5
  2. heartK 6
  3. diamondA Q 10 8 3 2
  4. club—
  1. spadeA
  2. heartA Q 7 5 2
  3. diamondK 6
  4. clubA Q 9 7 3
club diamond heart spade NT
N - 4 - 3 -
S - 4 - 3 -
E 4 - 3 - 1
W 4 - 4 - 2
Green square in centre
  1. spadeJ 10 4
  2. heart8 4 3
  3. diamond9 7
  4. clubK 10 6 5 2

Contract: 5spade
Declarer: South
Lead: spadeA
  1. spade7 6 3 2
  2. heartJ 10 9
  3. diamondJ 5 4
  4. clubJ 8 4
Double dummy analyser: makeable contracts
West North East South
1heart 2heart* Pass 2spade
3club 3diamond 4heart 4spade
Pass Pass 5club Pass
Pass 5diamond Pass 5spade
End

* spades and a minor

I'm afraid that if Now what? is applicable then the answer is +650 - you should have ditched heartK under the ace, which is exactly what Martel did. My apologies for this sneaky approach, but it would been much easier had I asked "What do you do when West leads a heart to the ace?". Well done if you spotted it!

At the other table North pressed on to 5spadewhere West led spadeA followed by ace and another heart. Declarer Walter Johnson drew four rounds of trumps ending in hand. He was then able to pick up the diamonds via the finesse. Had West led clubs at every opportunity to force dummy, 5spade would have been impossible.
Martel's Grand National team lost 8 IMP on this board, but went on to win the trials.
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