Jim's Rule

Pages: Page 9 of 10

Dealer: East
Vuln: Love All
Scoring: Pairs
  1. spade3
  2. heartA 10 9 6
  3. diamondQ J 9 3
  4. clubJ 9 8 2
  1. spade10 9 8 5 4 2
  2. heart8 7 3 2
  3. diamondK
  4. club10 4
Green square in centre
  1. spadeK Q 7
  2. heartQ J 5
  3. diamond10 8 6 4
  4. clubK Q 7

Contract: 6club
Declarer: South
Lead: spade10
  1. spadeA J 6
  2. heartK 4
  3. diamondA 7 5 2
  4. clubA 6 5 3
West North East South
1NT Dble 3spade
Pass Pass Dble Pass
4spade Pass 5club Pass
6club Pass Pass Pass
Jim first focussed on the trumps. Before playing for clubKQ doubleton, the other possibilities had to be weighed up. Jim's rule would not help here - clearly East could not hold a singleton, so maybe the intrafinesse was a better shot.
Keeping his options open, declarer played a small club to the eight, which East won with the King and returned a small diamond. "What a strange switch." pondered Jim. East wouldn't lead from diamondK 10 x (x). Maybe it's a bluff from diamondK x, but he realised that East would have to hold al the rest of the missing points if there was to be any chance, so there was no room for the diamondK because of the 1NT opening bid. That being so, it would have to be single in West's hand. When the king dropped under the Ace there was a subliminal flash of Samantha's smile before Jim's eyes. A spade was ruffed low and, deciding on the intrafinesse, the clubJ led from dummy. To prevent a further spade ruff, East covered and the club10 fell in the process. The last trump was drawn and dummy's diamond winners cashed to reach the following position:
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