The Plan XXIV by Tim Bourke

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Tim Bourke
Tim Bourke

Example: 819 IBPA Column Service.

Dealer South E/O Vul

 K 8 5
 Q 10 7 2
 Q 8 3 2
 7 5
 6 4 3
 A K 9 8 4 3
 6
 A K 8
   7
 J 5
 K 7 5 4
 Q J 10 9 6 2
   A Q J 10 9 2
 6
 A J 10 9
 4 3

The Auction:

  West North East     South
 —  —     1
  Pass  2 Pass     3
  Pass  4 Fin

West led the ace of hearts and, when that held, shifted to the king of clubs. When East played the queen of clubs, West continued with the eight of clubs.

East won the trick with the nine and exited with his remaining heart. Declarer ruffed low and drew three rounds of trumps, ending on the table. Next he ran the queen of diamonds and was delighted when it held.

Alas, when a diamond was played to the jack declarer was disappointed to see that West discarded a heart. Declarer had to concede a trick to the king of diamonds and finished down one.

“Running into that diamond break was a bit unlucky,” said declarer. “Luck had nothing to do with things,” retorted the dummy.

“You should ruff the second round of hearts high then lead the two of trumps to dummy’s eight to lead a low diamond to the nine. When that holds, you draw trumps ending in dummy and lead the queen of diamonds. Then you would always have made four diamond tricks and your contract.