Plan A must surely be to set up
the Spades. If you can lose a Spade, ruff a Spade, and draw trumps ending in
Dummy, then there are 10 tricks (assuming that Spades are 4-3 and trumps 3-2),
with a valuable overtrick in the offing if the
♦K
is onside. But Declarer cannot draw trumps before playing on Spades, she needs
the ♥A
and ♥Q
as later entries to the board. So, Declarer loses the ♠K to West’s Ace, after
which West cashes the ♣J and exits a trump, won in Dummy. You ruff a Spade,
cash a high trump and cross to Dummy’s last trump (West showing out).
That’s the plan, but it comes to
naught when the ♠Q
is cashed and East shows out. With Spades 5-2, there are only three Spade
tricks. Goodbye Plan A, hello Plan B. This requires playing Diamonds
correctly, with Dummy’s ♦J98
opposite Declarer’s ♦AQ6,
and with ♦KT732
somehow distributed between the defenders. There are two certain tricks here,
but what’s the best play for three?
►
Should you finesse the
♦Q
and cash the Ace, hoping that East has
♦Kx?
… or should you lead the ♦J,
playing for East to have Kxx and West to have
♦Tx?
As West has the long Spades it makes sense to play for East to have the longer
Diamonds. With that in mind, Declarer plays East to hold
♦Kxx
rather than ♦Kx,
which means that leading the
♦J
from Dummy is the route to the coveted overtrick. Here’s the full deal:
►
|
♠ QJ732
♥
AQ6
♦
J98
♣ A3 |
|
♠ AT964
♥
97
♦
T7
♣ QJ92 |
Dummy
West East
Declarer |
♠ 85
♥
T32
♦
K32
♣ KT754 |
|
♠ K
♥
KJ854
♦
AQ654
♣ 86 |
|
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