Bridge Deal of the Week (Sep 28 2007)

Problem:

West   North   East   South
                                 2NT
pass     3♠¹      pass    4♣
pass     4♥       pass    5♣
pass     6♣      all pass

1 - transfer to clubs

This deal came up in the semifinals of a team game. The auction might not have been elegant, but it was certainly effective, for the final contract is quite sound. West leads the ♠2 playing fourth-best leads, you discard a diamond from dummy and capture East's queen with the ace. You play a club to the ace, West follows with the seven and East with the two. You now try a heart from dummy, East wins the ace and plays back a spade, you discard a heart on the ♠K. When you cash the ♥K, both opponents follow, but the jack does not appear. How do you proceed from this stage?

Hint:
You have to decide when to draw trumps and how to take care of the potential heart losers. You could draw a second round of trump with the queen, hoping that the suit divides 2-2, and then decide whether to play for hearts to be 3-3 or take the ruffing finesse in hearts. Or you could cater to West holding a doubleton heart and Jxx of trumps, and try to ruff a heart before drawing a second trump. Further hint : One of East's plays offers a subtle but vital inference that you can draw.

Click Here for the Solution / Discussion Board

Bridge Baron deal No: N2169-09000-98705-31267-09527-12783

You can download this deal in PPL format, and view it with Bridge Baron here :
Deal Of The Week