bridge

bridge

Neither vulnerable. South deals.

NORTH

xA Q 5

uJ 7 5 2

vK Q 10 4

wQ 5

WEST EAST

x9 8 xJ 10 7 4 3 2

uQ 10 8 u9

v9 7 3 2 v8 6

wJ 10 9 4 wK 8 7 2

SOUTH

xK 6

uA K 6 4 3

vA J 5

wA 6 3

The bidding:

SOUTH WEST NORTH EAST

1u Pass 2NT Pass

6u Pass Pass Pass

Opening lead: Jack of w

To make the most of this play problem, cover the East-West hands with your thumbs and decide how you play six hearts after the lead of the jack of clubs.

North’s jump to two no trump was a forcing raise in hearts. With such a powerful hand, South’s jump to the small slam was merited.

Your first problem comes at trick one. Do you cover with dummy’s queen?

It is unlikely that West is leading from the king, but it cannot cost to cover. Unfortunately, East produces the king, so you win with the ace. What next?

Since you will take all the tricks if the queen of hearts drops, there is no reason not to cash the ace and king of trumps. But so far this is not your day — East discards a spade on the second round of trumps and, since the queen has not appeared, you have to lose a trump trick. To avoid a club loser, you must dispose of two clubs on dummy’s spades and diamonds. Which suit should you tackle first?

It seems natural to go after the spades first but, if you do so here, West will ruff the third spade and you have no way to avoid losing a club trick. Is that sheer bad luck or faulty technique?

Even if the third round of spades is not ruffed, you will still need West, the defender with the winning trump, to follow to three rounds of diamonds if you are to discard your remaining club. Therefore, it is correct to take three rounds of diamonds first. If the suit breaks 3-3, you then take three rounds of spades before leading the 13th diamond, and all is well.

Here, however, West shows up with four diamonds, so you can first take one club discard on the long diamond before tackling spades, and the slam rolls home.

2011 Tribune Media Services