Example: 828 IBPA Column Service.
Dealer East E/W Vul
A 10 4 7 5 A Q J 5 3 Q 6 5 |
||
7 Q J 9 3 10 8 7 4 9 4 3 2 |
K 8 3 A K 10 6 4 2 K 10 8 7 |
|
Q J 9 6 5 2 8 2 K 9 6 A j |
The Auction:
West | North | East | South |
— | — | 1 | 1 |
3 | 4 | End |
West led the queen of hearts. East overtook this with the king to shift to the two of diamonds. As this looked suspiciously like a singleton, declarer paused to consider what he could do to prevent a diamond ruff.
He saw that playing the ace and another trump would succeed if trumps were 2-2. However, he suspected that East had three trumps to the king and that approach would see the defenders take a trump, two hearts and a diamond ruff.
So declarer decided to try and cut the transportation between the defenders’ hands. He won the second trick in dummy with the jack and led a low club to his jack.
When that held, declarer cashed the ace of clubs, led a low trump to dummy’s ace and played the queen of clubs. East covered that with the king but, instead of ruffing, declarer threw the eight of hearts from hand.
East tried to put West in by leading a low heart, but declarer ruffed and continued by leading the queen of trumps. East could take the king of trumps, but that was the end for the defence: declarer made five trumps, two clubs and three diamonds for a total of ten tricks.