Was It Cold

Pages: Page 6 of 6

Dealer: South
Vuln: E-W
Scoring: Pairs
  1. spade9 4
  2. heartQ 9 3
  3. diamond10 7 3 2
  4. clubJ 10 5 2
  1. spadeK Q 10 8 6
  2. heartJ 5
  3. diamondJ 9 6
  4. club9 6 4
club diamond heart spade NT
N 5 5 - - 3
S 5 5 - - 3
E - - 1 2 -
W - - 1 2 -
Green square in centre
  1. spadeJ 7 5 3 2
  2. heartK 10 8 6 4 2
  3. diamondQ
  4. club8

Contract: 6club
Declarer: South
Lead: spadeK
  1. spadeA
  2. heartA 7
  3. diamondA K 8 5 4
  4. clubA K Q 7 3
Double dummy analyser: makeable contracts
West North East South
2club*
Pass 2diamond~ Pass 3club
Pass 4club Pass 6club
Pass Pass Pass

* 23+ or GF
~ weak

Knowing that West would be likely to have his quota of missing spades, at least two diamonds and definitely three clubs, the majority of hearts would be in the East hand. That being so, any end-play would have a better chance on East, for he would be more likely to hold heartK. Taking the diamondQ at face value, it had to be either singleton or from doubleton queen-jack, but the Principle of Restricted Choice dictated that it was more likely to be a singleton, and so Steve backed his judgement ("I just could not resist it .....") and played low on East's queen. East was end-played and forced to lead a heart or concede a ruff and discard. +980.

Steve's partner had the last word "Well played partner. Was it cold?"
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