Declarer had to exercise a little extra care in the play in order to fulfil the contract. He had to cross a few hurdles, so to speak. See if you can find the play.
Contract: 6 S by south. West leads the D K. Plan the play.
Bidding comment: North’s 4 D was the splinter bid, suggesting a good main suit, four trumps, singleton or void in diamond, and a control in club. With three aces in hand, south applied 4NT, RKC. Through the 5 H reply, he came to know that his partner had two key-cards without the queen of trumps. Since this marked the A-K in trumps in north’s hand, he duly bid the slam.
Analysis: If spades are 3-2, the play poses no threat. If they are 4-1, you need to be a bit careful.
Play: Declarer won the ace and played a spade to dummy’s ace, both the defenders following suit with small cards. Entering hand by C A, declarer tabled the S T. West covered it with the jack and dummy won with the king, east showing out.
Declarer made a key play now. Can you guess what it is?
Declarer exited in S8 from the table and there was no defence. West tried to force the dummy by playing a second diamond. Declarer ruffed with the S 4, entered hand by the H A, drew the last trump, and claimed the balance. The complete hands were:
Discussion: There were some interesting points:
South was not unduly worried about the quality of trumps in his hand for he knew the response to RKC would clarify the trump situation. When north showed two key-cards, it had to be the S A-K. South felt that the slam would have an excellent chance and bid it confidently.
South led to the trump ace at trick two to provide for a singleton honour in east’s hand.
South led the S T from his hand at the second turn so as to provide for S Q-J-x-x with west.
He had to be careful to exit in S 8 from the dummy so as to accept the force with the S 4. If he unthinkingly plays a spade from dummy to the nine in his hand at trick five or even at trick three, west will win with the queen and a diamond continuation by him will promote a trump trick for the defence.
Play out the deal with a deck of cards. You will appreciate why it is necessary to play the way as the declarer did.
E-mail: ls4bridge@gmail.com
