NEW TO THE TABLE. PLAY OF THE HAND
North Dealer None vulnerable
A42
J32
AKQ8
KJ5
KQJ 97653
T95 AK
T9632 75
Q8 T972
T8
Q8764
J4
A643
Richard quite rightly states 4 is the preferable game contract instead of 3NT as 3NT has almost no chance of making. It is therefore slightly ironic that on the actual hand with very good declarer play 3NT can make due to the favourable location of the Q, AK, and as West can also be squeezed in the black suits.
Assuming North is declarer with a normal lead from East. After holding up for 2 rounds declarer leads a to the J and then finesses the J. North now plays another round of . Afterwards East now has:
97
AK
-
T97
When are continued East either has to discard a or discard 2 , 2, or a and a . If East discards a then North has 4, 4, and a trick to make their contract. If East discards 2 winners then they are virtually marked as protecting and so a switch to a low is marked to establish a winner and then North will have 3, 4, 1, and 1 trick to make their contract. Similarly if they give up a and a .
North must be careful to discard from dummy and not a , and there perhaps lies East’s best chance ..... the smooth discard of a on the third will give North a small opportunity to go wrong and there is also a chance that West might produce a stopper. Making 3NT is by no means easy and only very very experienced players are likely to foresee the necessity to take the finesse at trick 5 to avoid blocking the suit if East does discard a and also to retain the K as an entry to cash the winner if East discards 2 .
East instead of having the less likely AK might also have made similar discards protecting the Kx in which case West will be able to cash their winning when they get in with the A for down 1.
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