An Unhelpful Partner

Pages: Page 3 of 6

Dealer: West
Vuln: N-S
Scoring: IMPs
  1. spade9 6
  2. heartA Q 9 5
  3. diamondQ 10 4 2
  4. clubQ 4 2
  1. spadeK 7 5 3
  2. heartJ 6 4
  3. diamondA 9 8 6
  4. clubA 8
club diamond heart spade NT
N - - 1 - -
S - - 1 - -
E - 3 - 5 4
W - 3 - 5 4
Green square in centre
  1. spadeA Q J 10 8 2
  2. heartK
  3. diamondK 5 3
  4. clubK 7 5

Contract: 6spade
Declarer: West
Lead: spade6
  1. spade4
  2. heart10 8 7 3 2
  3. diamondJ 7
  4. clubJ 10 9 6 3
Double dummy analyser: makeable contracts
West North East South
1NT* Pass 2heart~ Pass
2spade Pass 3spade# Pass
4club Pass 4diamond Pass
4spade Pass 5club Pass
5diamond Pass 6spade Pass
Pass Pass

* 12-14
~ transfer
# GF, slam aspirations

. . . what I had completely overlooked was that North can break up the squeeze by returning a diamond when in with heartA - not just on the opening lead. This diamond switch totally screws the entries for declarer - either dummy's entry to the diamond threat has to be used prematurely (by winning the switch with diamondK) or declarer has to sacrifice his own entry (diamondA) to the potential winner of heartJ. This diamond switch is very difficult to find but a careful analysis by North, who has a complete count on the hand, will lead to the conclusion that if he thinks declarer has heartJ then he must play his partner for diamondJ. Try it!!
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