Matters of Entry by Terence Reese

On many hands declarer can count sufficient tricks for his contract but his difficulty lies in being at the right place at the right time. In a word, he has entry trouble.

A sort of problem arises on the following hand, though here the defence may allow declarer to escape the consequence of misplay on the first trick.

Dealer South All Vul

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

The Auction:

West	North	East	South
			1
Pass	1	Pass	2NT
Pass	3NT	End

Lead: 4

West’s natural lead afer this bidding is the 4. The reader will appreciate that South’s proper course is to play low from dummy and win with the A. Then the Ace of hearts if forced out and dummy’s  Q 10 represent a certain entry.

If South makes the mistake of putting on the 10 or Q in trick 1, East may return the gift by contributing his K. East should note that dummy is short of entries and should retain the King so that he can top dummy’s other honour. West will hold up his A for one round and dummy will be dead.

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