Bridge Deal of the Week (May 25 2007)

Problem:

The Auction:
West   North   East   South
                                 1♥
pass     1♠       pass   2♣
pass     2♦¹      pass    3♦
pass     3♥       pass   4NT²
pass     5♥²    pass     6♥
all pass

1 - Fourth Suit Forcing to game
2 - RKC Blackwood
3 - 2 Keycards without the trump queen

You are East on this deal, on lead against 6♥. First, a quick comment about the bidding. The 1♠ bid by North is a terrible choice. The 4-3-3-3 hand pattern along with no intermediate spots warrants a limit raise. Having chosen to force to game, a two-over-one game forcing 2♣ is a better call than 1♠, as it will simplify the rest of the auction. In any case, the auction has revealed a lot about declarer's hand.

Against high-level contracts, your partnership has the useful agreement of leading the king from ace-king to ask for count, so you lead the ♠K. Partner plays the ♠10, showing even number of cards in the suit. What next?

Hint:
Partner has shown even number of spades, which has to be four in this case, so you know that a spade trick is not cashing. Should you go passive and play another spade, knowing declarer is going to ruff, or should you do something else?

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Bridge Baron deal No: N3712-42870-24243-43348-40897-50169

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Deal Of The Week