The
♦Q
opening lead is won in Dummy, and trumps are drawn in three rounds. Declarer
avoids playing Clubs, of course, instead she cashes her Spade winners and her
second Diamond winner, and exits with a Diamond. The defense can safely cash a
Spade, but now they will be faced with unpleasant alternatives:
-
Either
they can play a Spade or a
Diamond, giving Declarer a ruff and discard (one hand ruffs, the other discards
a Club loser)
-
Or
they can break open the frozen Clubs and give up the 10th trick that
way.
That line of play was not
guaranteed to succeed. Imagine West with ♣KQx, and further suppose that East is
able to win the third round of Spades and of Diamonds. Now, when Declarer exits
a Diamond, East wins and fires a Club through, won by West. Back comes a Spade
to East and another Club through, and that’s down one. How can Declarer avoid
this grisly fate when West holds the ♣KQ?
►
Yes, Declarer can duck the
opening Diamond lead (now East gets in only once and cannot lead Clubs twice
through Declarer). But that play will not be a great success if East is able to
ruff the second round of Diamonds.
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