All News

The Most Likely Way Home.

“Home” is achieving the right number of tricks to make your contract. There is no chance of an overtrick but we are in a slightly tenuous slam. So, let’s be happy with 12 tricks.

 

You showed a good raise to 5♦ by doubling and then converting partner’s 4♠ bid back to diamonds. Your partner thought so and with good holdings in all suits except clubs, raised the contract one level.

Had West led a heart, then your task of making 12 tricks would have been more straightforward since you could ruff one losing heart in the dummy and discard your ♣10 on the ♠A in dummy. However, West led a high club which made life more complex as hearts could not be played before the club loser had been discarded.   

At one table, South won ♣A, cashed ♠Q and crossed to dummy with a trump intending to discard both one small club and a heart on the top two spades. Then, all that would be required would be for the pre-emptor to hold the ♥A and a heart from dummy would secure the contract’s success.

That was fine in theory but when East ruffed the third round of spades, declarer had to over-ruff and now had nowhere for the third heart to be discarded, as declarer had to use dummy’s remaining trump as an entry to play a heart towards the king. They finished up with two heart losers, one down.

These were the four hands:

 

South could have survived had they just played one high spade discarding the club before playing a heart from dummy. East could win and play a second heart which South could ruff. It would not then matter if East ruffed the third round of spades as South had no more losers to throw on the ♠K.

Alternatively, South could apply the Vacant Space principle whereby East with seven hearts, is unlikely to hold three diamonds. After cashing ♠Q, South can play two rounds of trumps finishing in dummy before playing their two high spades discarding the two losers in comfort.

All successful lines rely on East having no more than two trumps and all rely on East holding the ♥A. It was a shame our declarer failed when trumps broke 2-2. If South only played one round of trumps in crossing to dummy, they had to play dummy’s heart after playing just one of dummy’s high spades. East could win and play a second round of diamonds but declarer could finish in dummy and then play the third round of spades in comfort. Timing… Vacant Spaces…laced with a little good fortune. The end result should have been +1370.

 Same Contract on "Jan’s Day"

Yes, 6♦ once again and this time, you have a trump problem.

West led ♠J which you win to play a diamond to the king on which East discards a low heart. Over to you.

Richard Solomon

Go Back View All News Items