DECLARER PLAY PROBLEM #50
Rubber bridge
North dealer
East-West vulnerable
| NORTH ♠ 9 3 2 ♥ A K Q ♦ Q 8 7 6 ♣ A K Q |
||
| SOUTH ♠ A Q J 10 8 ♥ 10 6 4 3 ♦ A ♣ 8 6 5 |
| SOUTH | WEST | NORTH | EAST |
|---|---|---|---|
| — | — | 1 ♦ | Pass |
| 1 ♠ | Pass | 2 NT | Pass |
| 3 ♠ | Pass | 4 ♠ | Pass |
| 5 ♦ | Pass | 5 NT | Pass |
| 6 ♠ | Pass | Pass | Pass |
West leads the heart seven: queen, spade four, three. East leads the club jack.
Plan the play.
Solution
| NORTH ♠ 9 3 2 ♥ A K Q ♦ Q 8 7 6 ♣ A K Q |
||
| WEST ♠ 6 ♥ J 9 8 7 5 2 ♦ K 10 5 4 3 ♣ 7 |
EAST ♠ K 7 5 4 ♥ — ♦ J 9 2 ♣ J 10 9 4 3 2 | |
| SOUTH ♠ A Q J 10 8 ♥ 10 6 4 3 ♦ A ♣ 8 6 5 |
CHERRY SQUASH. Declarer should win the club shift in dummy and draw trumps, leading the nine of spades to keep the lead in dummy for a repeat finesse. The next order of business is to try to drop a short king of diamonds in an opponent's hand: diamond ace, club to dummy, diamond ruff, heart to dummy, leaving:
| NORTH ♠ — ♥ A ♦ Q 8 ♣ A |
||
| SOUTH ♠ Q ♥ 10 6 ♦ — ♣ 8 |
As the cards lie, declarer gets a complete count of the East-West hands on the second round of clubs. With or without that assistance, South should cash dummy's ace of clubs in the four-card ending. Then, if West keeps two hearts, declarer ruffs a diamond (which will drop the king if West started with that card); otherwise, declarer can cash the heart ace and the closed hand is high.
(Based on a deal and analysis from the 1965 National Intercollegiate Bridge Tournament by William S. Root, Lawrence Rosler and Jeff Rubens.)
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