North-South, after agreeing on hearts, use a series of control-showing cue
bids to reach 6
.
You, West, lead the
6,
four, king, ace. South plays ace-king of
hearts, East following, then plays ace-king
of diamonds and ruffs a diamond. Declarer
exits with the
8
to your queen, East following with the
2.
What do you play now, and why?
North-South vulnerable South deals
|
West |
North |
East |
South |
|
|
|
|
1 |
|
Pass |
3 |
Pass |
3 (1) |
|
Pass |
4 (1) |
Pass |
5(1) |
|
Pass |
5(1) |
Pass |
6 |
|
End |
|
|
|
(1) Cue-bid with hearts agreed
Opening Lead:
6
The best East can do with his second club card is to give his partner a
count of the club suit, information that may
help him to defend accurately. This signal
is known as "remainder count," "present
count" or "current count." It works this way:
if a defender has not already given count on
the first round of a suit his second card in
that suit reveals how many of those he has
remaining. With an odd number of cards
currently in his hand, he plays his lowest
card; with an even number of cards remaining,
he plays as high a card as he can afford.
Here East's deuce can be identified as either his last club or lowest from
three, i.e. he presently holds an odd number
of clubs. If East started two clubs declarer
has four and you will not beat the contract:
he will ruff his two remaining clubs in
dummy.
You must assume, therefore, that East started with four clubs and declarer
two if the defence is to have a chance. If
you switch to either a low spade or the
fancier queen, declarer will follow the odds
by playing for one honour in each hand
rather than both in the same hand, thus
avoiding his "unavoidable" spade loser. He
will arrange to lead the second round of the
suit through the defender who did not play
an honour on the first round of the suit.
<As declarer "must be" 4-5-2-2, it cannot
help him if you concede a ruff and discard;
he will still have to something about the
third round of spades. So, with complete
confidence that you are making the right
play, you continue with a third club and
defeat the contract.