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No. 21
K 6
10 8 6 5 2
K 10
Q J 10 8
Q J 10 8 7 4 5
3
A K 9
7 5 2
Q 6 3 9
7 5 2
6 3 A
5 2
A 9 2
Q J
A J 8 4
K 9 7 4
S
W N
E
1NT
2S 3H
P
3NT
All Pass
Opening Lead QS
How do you play?
Count
your tricks. You have 2 spades, 2 diamonds and can develop 3 clubs. You must loose the lead twice so you don't have the time to set up hearts. That leaves diamonds for the two extra tricks. Win the first
or second spade in the dummy, knock out the ace of clubs. Win the return and
finesse the diamond ten, cash the King and enter your hand with a club, cash the ace of diamonds – hoping the queen
falls. Success!
No. 20
S AQ
H KQJ
D 3
C J976432
South
S K
H A
D AKQ109864
C AKQ
This hand
was devised for the Intercollegiate Bridge Championship many years ago. Par for
North-South was to bid and make seven no-trump. The opening lead is the 7S. Your
up!
The only thing that could defeat you is a 4-0 diamond
spit. The hand can still be made if the 10 of clubs is stiff. Therefore play the ace of spades smothering the king. Then
the queen of spades pitching the ace of hearts. Then three rounds of hearts
pitching the AKQ of clubs. Now lead the J clubs. If the 10 of clubs falls run
the rest of the clubs, pitching your low diamonds. If it doesn’t fall play
a diamond and hope for no worse than a 3-1 break.
No. 19
S KQ8
H K108
D K1086
C KJ10
S A
H AQJ93
D A975
C A54
WEST NORTH EAST SOUTH
1 NT
Pass 3 H*
Pass
4 H Pass 4 NT
Pass
5 C Pass 5 NT
Pass
6 C Pass 7 H
All pass
*Natural game force
Opening Lead J of Spades. How do you play to give yourself the best chance of making your contract?
Win the AS, pull trumps in 3 rounds. Take the KQ of spades dumping diamonds. Take the AK of diamonds,
trump a diamond. If diamonds break 3–2 throw a club on the last diamond,
if they don’t break then you still have the club finesse to fall back on.
No. 18
North
A1087
765
8753
107
West East
3
J2
AJ3 Q642
AKQ104 J96
J863 Q952
South
KQ9654
K105
2
AK4
W N
E S
1S
2D 2S
P 4S
All Pass
West leads the AK of Diamonds. How do you play?
After trumping the 2nd Diamond. Play the KA of trumps, ruff
another diamond. Play the AK of Clubs and ruff a club and lead the 4th
diamond, do not ruff but throw a loser on a loser by discarding the 4 of hearts. West
on lead must give you a ruff sluff or lead up to your King of hearts.
No. 17
North
S 9863
H Q83
D QJ9
C AQ3
West East
S J7
S KQ1054
H 10762 H 9
D A5 D K874
C KJ1095 C 872
South
S A2
H AKJ54
D 10632
C 64
West North East South
1H
P 1S P
2D
P 3H P 4H
The
opening lead is the jack of clubs, queen wins. Declarer plays the Queen
of hearts and discards the 4 of hearts, west plays the 2 and East the 9. Trick
3 is 8 of hearts to the jack, east discards the 5 of spades. Declarer pulls trumps
with the ace & king, east discards the 7 and then the 8 of clubs. How
do you continue?
South obviously needs
2 diamond tricks with his QJ109, but the defenders will knock out the ace of spades and the last trump when they win the ace
& king of diamonds and lead the spades leaving south with no entry to the last diamond unless diamonds break 3 - 3. The hardest thing to recognize sometimes is that you have a squeeze position, and
if the squeeze does not materialize, you can fall back on the 3 – 3 diamond split.
We need one defender to hold both long spades and long diamonds.
Let’s follow
the play.
Trick # S W
N E
5 KH 10H 3C* 8C
*This is a key discard as we need to keep spades
6 2D AD JD** 4D
** Starting to unblock the 2 high diamonds
7 AS JS 3S 4S
8 3D 5D QD KD
9 2S 7S 6S KS
10 5H 5C 8S QS
Leaving the following
position.
North
S 9
H
D 9
C A
West East
S S 10
H H
D D 87
C K109 C
South
S
H
D 106
C 6
Now on the lead of
the club East is squeezed he must discard the 10 of spades or un-guard the diamonds.
Note, the Squeeze would be just as devastating if the east & west hands were reversed.
If the hands at the
end had been like this:
North
S 9
H
D 9
C A
West East
S S 10
H H
D 7 D 8
C K10 C 9
South
S
H
D 106
C 6
Then the diamonds
would have split 3 – 3 and now your unblocking the diamonds would have made it possible to overtake the 9 with the 10
and cash the 6 for your game going trick.
No. 16
North
S A83
H
K42
D
43
C
A9654
West East
S 976 S 54
H 10976 H AQJ853
D K1085 D Q62
C KJ C 108
South
S KQJ102
H ---
D AJ97
C Q732
S W N E
1S P 1NT* 2H *Forcing
3C 3H 4S
5H
5S P P P
Opening Lead 10 of
hearts. Clubs are 2-2 and spades 3-2, now what?
You have to give
to receive and you must keep control of the hand. Even with the great splits
you will need to trump the opening lead and play low clubs from both hands. They
will force you again in hearts. You then play low diamonds from both hands. They will force you again in hearts (best).
Take the K & Q of spades, play a club to dummy and pull the last trump, dumping a diamond. On the 5th club you can discard your other losing diamond.
If they don’t force
you again in hearts, you can ruff a diamond in dummy, pull trump and run the clubs to make your contract.
No.
15
K94
AK6
983
AK74
832 75
J1092 Q8743
J1052 4
32
QJ1065
AQJ106
5
AKQ76
98
N E S W
1NT P
3S P
4S P 4NT P
5H P 5NT P
6H P 7S All
Pass
Opening Lead J of hearts
What is your best play for 13 tricks?
The grand slam is cold when diamonds are 3-2.
Are they?
Draw 2 rounds of trumps, take the AK of diamonds.
If diamonds break, pull the last trump and claim. If diamonds break 4-1
and your second diamond is not trumped it means that the defender with 4 diamonds also has the case trump, so it is safe to
play the Q of diamonds, trump a diamond and return to hand by trumping a spade to pull the last trump and claim your contract.
No. 14
S
765
H
Q76
D
KQ42
C
A32
S QJ84 S ---
H 942 H J1085
D J103 D 987
C KQ5 C J98764
S AK10932
H AK3
D A65
C 10
West North
East South
-- -- -- 1S
Pass 2D
Pass 3S
Pass 4S
Pass 4NT
Pass 5D
Pass 5NT
Pass 6D
Pass 6S
All Pass
West leads the king of clubs, east follows with the 9 and Declarer wins the ace and plays
the ace of spades, east discarding the 4 of clubs.
How do you continue?
The slam can be made even with the 4-0 trump split if West has 4333 shape. Accordingly,
after the trump play at trick two, declarer cashes the AKQ of diamonds, ruffs a club, plays the AKQ of hearts and ruffs the
last club.
West has the QJ7 of spades and South the K109. Declarer
throws west in with the 9 of spades and West's must give the declarer the last two tricks by leading up to the K10.
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