Right Technique Rewarded by J. Jacoby

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The Telegraph – 16 Ene 1988

The North American Collegiate Bridge Championship is a par contest. Responsibility for preparation of the deals rests with Jeff Rubens, co-editor of The Bridge World magazine. In a par contest, participants can be certain of one thing — each deal will possess an element that will reward correct technique.

In today’s deal, taken from the 1986 contest, South’s bidding showed 23 or 24 high-card points. North wisely bid six no-trump, since the heart slam would fail in the trump suit. But even six no-trump was doomed if declarer made one careless play.aaxx

When the Q was led, declarer could see that winning 12 tricks depended upon the hearts dividing 3-2. Many contestants won the spade king and immediately played a low heart. West won the trick and continued spades. And now, try as declarer might, there was no way to squeeze out the 12th trick because proper transportation was lacking.

The right technique is to win the spade king and bang down A-K of hearts. When declarer gets the bad news about hearts, he can cash A-K of clubs and then run his diamonds and the club queen. As the last minor-suit winner is played, dummy has  A-8 and  6-5. West holds  J-10 and  Q-J.

But West must discard ahead of dummy. If he throws a spade, dummy’s  A-8 will provide two winners. If he throws a heart, declarer will shed the low spade from dummy and give up a heart, taking the rest of the tricks.