Wroclaw 2013: Daily Play Problem IV

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Source: 24th European Youth Team Championships BulletinsClick Aqui  to read Daily Play Problem Nº 3.

West leads the king of hearts; you win with your ace when East follows low. Two rounds of trumps pulled all the trumps
from the opponents. Now the question is, how do you play your clubs when West had queen-jack doubleton of spades?
You basically have two alternatives:
1. Do you cash the king of clubs and finesse with the jack?
2. Do you play ace and king of clubs hoping to drop queen second?

Try to find a solution before you continue reading…

Solution:

If you finessed in clubs you went down in your contract since East had the queen and shifted to a diamond. You know that the big danger is to let East in and you want to avoid a diamond return through your hand as long as it is possible. If you play ace and king of clubs and no queen is seen, you exit with your last heart from dummy. West is now endplayed and has to either help you with a ruff and discard in hearts or lead away from the ace of diamonds. If West had queen -third in clubs, he can simply cash his queen but is then endplayed again. If it proves that West had queen-fourth in clubs he has to have the ace singleton in diamonds and a low diamond from both hands then will give us the last needed trick!