Resident Wag Was Right

Pages: Page 6 of 6

Dealer: North
Vuln: E-W
Scoring: IMPs
  1. spadeJ 9 8 7 5
  2. heartJ 7
  3. diamondA Q 8
  4. club7 4 3
  1. spadeQ
  2. heartK Q 9 8 4 2
  3. diamond10 6 4 3 2
  4. club6
club diamond heart spade NT
N - - - - -
S - - - - -
E 1 4 4 1 3
W 1 4 4 1 3
Green square in centre
  1. spadeK 10 6 4
  2. heartA 5
  3. diamondK 7 5
  4. clubA Q J 8

Contract: 4heart
Declarer: West
Lead: diamond8
  1. spadeA 3 2
  2. heart10 6 3
  3. diamondJ 9
  4. clubK 10 9 5 2
Double dummy analyser: makeable contracts
West North East South
Pass 1spade Pass
1NT Pass 2NT Pass
4heart End
Forget about long term - it's trick one that this deal is all about. After I had self destructed on the first two deals, my long suffering partner Simon Stokes had to face this diabolical diamond8 lead on board three. He naturally played low and South won diamondJ. It looked all over as diamondA and a diamond ruff took the next two tricks, but step forward South. Perhaps hopeful of a favourable spade position, South switched passively to a trump. West assumed that this marked North with spadeA and therefore opted for a ruffing finesse against South's clubK because North would have opened with the missing high black cards. Right action - even if it was for the wrong reason. West's losing spade went away on clubJ and 4heart came home after all - much to South's chagrin.

As the resident wag commented afterwards
"At least North didn't lead diamondQ - try finding the cover after that lead"!
Previous page

This section is a placeholder for the forum. For the time being it will be a noshow class.