Trusting
her judgment, Declarer decided to play West for a singleton or doubleton Heart
King. After ruffing the third Club she plunked down the
♥A,
but West did not oblige with a singleton King. Next, Declarer removed West’s
safe exit cards by finessing the
♦J,
cashing Dummy’s ♦K
and ruffing a Diamond. Now, when Declarer exited with a trump, West was
end-played. Upon winning his
♥K
West had the unpleasant choice of leading away from the ♠K, or conceding a ruff
and discard by leading a Club. The full deal:
|
♠ T2
♥
JT43
♦
KJ93
♣ T95 |
|
♠ K9
♥
K6
♦
Q854
♣ AQ764 |
Dummy
West East
Declarer |
♠ 87643
♥
72
♦
A72
♣ J32 |
|
♠ AQJ5
♥
AQ985
♦
T6
♣ K8 |
|
A strange deal! Declarer had
potential losers in both majors but declined to take the finesses … but she
did take the Diamond finesse when there were no remaining losers in the
suit!
Take a look at the West had.
Could he have done anything to spoil Declarer’s fun?
►
Yes, after the defense takes the
♦A
and two Clubs, if West reverts to Diamonds (instead of playing another Club)
then Declarer can no longer extract all of West’s exit cards and will be down
one. That's not an easy defense to find.
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