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Deal of the Week (Mar 24, 2006) Click here for Archives
Problem:

The Auction:
South  West  North  East
1H      1S       2S*     pass
3H       pass    4H     all pass

* limit raise or better in hearts

Bidding Explanation:
North's 2S by agreement showed a limit raise or better in hearts. South's bid of 3H was conservative, especially since he had a 6th heart and a singleton diamond. However, his action was not unreasonable considering that he had only 11 High Card Points, and the King of Spades was not worth much after West's 1S overcall. North had enough in reserve to bid 4H.

The opening lead is the King of Diamonds (East-West lead the King from KQ). Plan the play.

Solution:
Win the King of Diamonds with the Ace, and draw trumps in two rounds. Play the King of Clubs and a club to the Ace. Now, play the Jack of Diamonds and pitch a club from hand, west winning the Queen. There are three possible scenarios:

a) West has no more clubs. In this case, West is endplayed, and has to play a diamond giving you a ruff-and-discard, or play a spade in which case you will score your King of Spades.

b) West plays a club, and East follows. This means that clubs are 3-3, and the 4th club in dummy is now a winner. You can therefore discard a spade loser from hand on the master club.

c) West plays a club, and East discards. You ruff this in hand, enter dummy with a heart, play the last club and pitch a spade endplaying West. West has to play a diamond and give you a ruff-and-discard or play a spade allowing you to score your King.
 762
 AJ93
 AJ
 A763
 AQ1094 Deal  J3
 6  54
 KQ8  10976432
 QJ54  109
 K85
 KQ10872
 5
 K82

As long as West has the Queen of Diamonds (which is almost 100% after the opening lead) the suggested line of play is guaranteed to work for any lie of the opposing cards.

Analysis:
Bridge Baron suggested a number of double dummy lines of play that would succeed for the current lie of cards, i.e. West having 4 clubs. For example, if the King of Diamonds is ducked at trick 1, it is still possible to endplay West whenever he has 4 clubs. However, this play (and the other double dummy plays) would fail for certain other scenarios, like when West has a doubleton club. The suggested play is the only line of play that caters to all the possible scenarios.

Bridge Baron's Line of Play:
Bridge Baron took the suggested line of play, drawing two rounds of trumps and playing the King-Ace of clubs followed by the Jack of Diamonds, discarding a club. When West exited with a club and East discarded, Bridge Baron ruffed the club in hand, entered dummy with a trump, and played the last club discarding a spade from hand and endplaying West.
Par Contract Analysis:

Bridge Baron deal No : 4902312017280763537079641888

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