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Drawing Trumps.

Today we are going to concentrate on the play and defence of a rather freaky deal. We will return to an issue regarding the bidding of this board tomorrow.

The bidding below is very straightforward. At adverse vulnerability, West leapt to 4 which was followed by a further leap by North. With their rather modest trump suit, South would have awaited dummy with interest and perhaps trepidation.

 

 

West led 10 with East following to trick 1 with 8. What is your line of play?

“Just drawing trumps and claiming” would be your preferred approach but how do you draw trumps? We can tell you that East did not hold KJx or else there would be no story.

There are three aspects to deciding on the best line. The first is that West has taken a very aggressive action in the bidding without the top two heart honours. Indeed, if the lead of 10 denied the J, then their only top heart was the Q. At adverse vulnerability, one would think that not only would West have an extremely long suit, about 8-carded, but that they might have an honour or two outside, perhaps K.

The second point is that West led a heart which may well deny their holding a side-suit singleton. A singleton might have been led seeking a ruff.

Next is the fact that we only need to make 12 tricks. We can afford a trump loser.

The first point above rather contradicts the other two in the approach one would take…plus one other point still to be made.

If West held KJx, we can lay down A, cross to hand and lead a second spade towards dummy’s Q9. We would only lose to the K. The agonising lay-out is when West has Kxx (East Jx) and then plays low on the second round of the suit.

It does feel right to start off with the A. Of course, both opponents follow with small trumps. How then to get to the South hand? It’s time to raise another point. While West seems to deny a side-suit singleton, they could easily have a side-suit void. With only 3 diamonds missing, that void would most likely be in diamonds though on such a freaky deal, East could hold 8 clubs! However, it seems safe enough to try a club to the ace.

There is a third way of getting to the South hand: ruffing the K. You do not need a discard. Is that the safest way? Maybe.

So, whether or not you cashed A at trick 2, you played either a club or ruffed K to get to the South hand. If you had not cashed the A, you still had to decide how to play the trump suit. Had you laid down the A and then ruffed a heart, you were about to get good and possibly very bad news.

Similarly, if you had not cashed A and elected to play small to 9, the spotlight would fall on East….and my guess is that East would find the right switch:

 

Laying down A at trick 2 was fine as long as you returned to hand with a club. Crossing with a club at trick 2 (the ace not being cashed)  was also fine as long as you played a spade to the Q. If not, then East should be a little more imaginative than return a safe heart. From East’s point of view, West might have a diamond honour. They did not but would have been happy with West’s card. 

Anyone who ruffed the K after cashing A would not be happy if West could win K and play a third round of hearts.

At a few tables, West led a small club. That might seem like a singleton but declarer could get into trouble if they did not play an immediate spade to the queen, though were East to win J, they are more likely to return a low club than the contract-beating diamond.

What then should West lead at trick 1? As long as South held A, they will make K but say North holds that card? It seems unlikely that East holds A. West could try an odd looking Q lead just in case East wins trick 1. That would suggest switching to the higher of the minor suits. Alternatively, they could lead a club and should East gain the lead quickly, hope they get the return right.

16 tables bid to 6. A heart was led 13 times and a club 3 times. All bar three Souths made their slam, the three who failed all receiving a heart lead. Well, most did draw trumps (I wonder how?) and claim.

Richard Solomon

 

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