“Before You grab the first one, think, think, think!
Observe Trezel in action in the play of this hand during the 1971 World Bridge Championship.
Source: “Play Bridge with the Aces”
Dealer South N/S Vul
 K 10 8 4 K 9 8 7 6 A 2 4 3 |
||
| 6 4 3 K Q J 9 8 7 6 A Q J |
3 2 Q J 5 10 5 4 101 9 8 5 2 |
|
| A Q J 9 7 5 A 10 2 3 K 7 6 |
The Auction:
| West | North | East | South |
| 1 |
|||
| 2 |
3 |
Pass | 4 |
| 5 |
Pass | Pass | 5 |
| Pass | Pass | Pass |
Opening Lead K
Against Trezel five spades contract, West selecte the obvious lead of K. How was Trezel going to avoid the loss of one heart trick and two clubs?
He played dummy’s deuce of diamonds at the first trick! The defense was now helpless. Trezel won the diamond continuation with dummy’s ace ad discarded a heart from his hand.
Two rounds of trumps were played, followed by two high hearts and heart ruff to establish the suit. Two of Trezel’s clubs were discarded on dummy’s hearts and the cotnract was made, declarer losing only one diamond and one club.
Note that the “automatic” play fo dummy’s A at trick one will condemn the hand to defeat. Declarer would not be able to prevent East from gaining the lead in the heart suit for the killing shft through declarer’s K.