Even if your partnership employs sensible methods and bidding is the best
part of your game, you will occasionally
find yourself in an apparently hopeless
contract. Like South's 5
on today's deal.
North-South vulnerable East deals
|
West |
North |
East |
South |
|
|
|
Pass |
1 |
1 |
1NT |
2 |
2 |
|
Pass |
4 |
Pass |
5 |
|
End |
|
|
|
Opening Lead:
A
With six-five shape and strong intermediate cards in his suits, South's 2
is virtually automatic. North's jump to 4
(four trumps, handsome spade holding) is
understandable, but not as clear-cut. South
can hardly pass 4
and both 4
(trying for a five-three fit) and 5
are normal continuations. With a minimum and
a likely ten-card club fit, South chooses 5,
only to find that he has three top losers.
West leads the
A,
however, giving declarer a breath of hope.
To succeed, he must play on spades to
discard both dummy's diamonds before a
defender gains the lead. Playing ace-king
works only if the defender with queen-doubleton
cannot (or does not) ruff the third spade
with a high trump to take the
A.
If, instead, declarer can determine which
defender has three spades headed by the
queen, a normal two-one trump break with
divided honours permits him to get home. We
will soon see why this is so, but first,
where is the queen of spades?
Declarer might reason that West would prefer to lead a diamond (rather
than the risky
A,
which could easily set up heart winners in
dummy) if he did not have the ace. If, on
that assumption, declarer places West with
the
A,
one club honour (East would have doubled
holding both the ace and king) and the
A,
he will conclude that East is a favourite to
hold the
Q
for his raise.
A thoughtful declarer plays the
K,
spade to the jack, continuing with the
A
and a fourth spade, discarding diamonds even
if West can ruff the fourth spade with the
3.
If the singleton trump honour ruffs,
declarer drives out the other honour later.
If the small trump takes the defensive ruff,
declarer plays a trump when he gets in,
crashing the ace and king.