Broken suit play is correct By Alan Sontag

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Daily News – 7 Sep 1979

There is a well-known principle of suit play when you have a broken trump suit and a broken side suit. This principle is to play the broken side suit first to retain trump control.

Vulnerable: Neither Dealer = South

Lead: J

South took the diamond lead in dummy and in accordance with that principle led a club toward his queen. East rose with his king and led a second diamond to dummy’s king. Now South was ready to attack trumps. He came to his hand with a spade and led a heart toward dummy’s queen. East took the queen with his king and led back the jack. This left East with the high trump and South with two small trumps in each hand. South led a second-high spade from his hand. He then ruffed the jack of spades with one of dummy’s trumps, cashed dummy’s ace and his queen of clubs and ruffed his last club with dummy’s last trump.

Of course, East could have ruffed at any time he wished to do so, but South was still sure of his 10 tricks.