♠ K 7
♥ J 10 9 4
♦ ---
♣ K Q 10 9 8 6 3
♠ Q J 10 9 4 2 ♠ 8
♥ A 5 ♥ 8 6 3 2
♦ Q 10 9 6 ♦ K J 8 5 4 3
♣ A ♣ 5 2
♠ A 6 5 3
♥ K Q 7
♦ A 7 2
♣ J 7 4
South opened 1♣, West overcalled 1♠ and North blasted to 5♣.
West led the ♠Q won by the king in dummy. Declarer played a club taken by West. He returned a spade which was ruffed by East. He still had the ♥A to lose, so was down one.
"That sure was unlucky," whined South to his partner.
What's wrong with this picture?
Declarer had a blind spot. He should win the opening lead in his hand with the ♠A. He can then play the ♦A and discard the ♠K from dummy. Then the contract would be secure unless East-West could maneuver a heart ruff.
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I'm on vacation. I'll resume more regular blogging next week.
Instructive hand.
ReplyDeleteYes very instructive - I love hands like this - is it from your archives or did it come up recently? If the latter, I'd give credit to the winning declarer if there was one
ReplyDeleteRT
Thanks to both who commented.
ReplyDelete@Ross: The deal was a freebie from the International Bridge Press Association. Not sure if Tim Bourke (who submits the freebies) made it up or found it somewhere.