January 2013 - 57

Solutions to Test Your Play
1. For openers, it appears that
diamonds are 4-3. If West had two
or five diamonds, he probably would
have returned the suit to get or give a
ruff. Of course, he might have had a
singleton!
Once you come to the 4-3 diamond
conclusion, the rest is clear. Cash two
more diamonds then a second high
club and ruff a club. If everyone follows to everything, cross to the A
and lead a heart intending to finesse
the jack if West follows. Even if you
lose to a doubleton queen, East must
lead a spade or give you a ruff and a
sluff, and you make your contract.
If West turns up with Q-x, win
the king, return to your hand with a
trump, and lead up to the Q 10 looking to snatch a possible overtrick.
If you try to ruff the club before
cashing diamonds, you could be
in trouble if either defender has a
doubleton club. If East has it, he will
overruff dummy and exit safely with
a red card forcing you to play spades.
If West has a doubleton club and discards a diamond, you will fear stripping diamonds: If West started with
three, he will ruff the third diamond.
Better to cash those two diamond
winners before ruffing a club.
Finally, in the unlikely case where
a diamond honor is ruffed before you
have stripped clubs, you will have
to get the spades right to make the
contract.
Thanks to Jon Shuster of Gainesville FL for this one.
2. Barring miracles, you must bring
in clubs for five tricks to make 3NT,
so you must create two dummy entries in spades to do this.
Think about the West hand for
a moment. For West to lead from

something like the A J 9 2 into the
3NT bidder indicates he has a tough
hand to lead from. If he had a fourcard major, he probably would have
chosen that lead. And if he had the
Q J x, he would have preferred that
lead, as well. If these inferences are
correct, your best bet is to play West
for the J 9 x or Q 9 x and lead a
low spade to the 8! If this drives out
an honor (East is unlikely to be strong
enough to have both spade honors as
that would give West a balanced 11
count to open first seat vulnerable),
your A 10 will provide you with
those two dummy entries.
Say East wins with the J and
returns a heart. Rise with the ace,
cross to the 10, cash the A and
if the 10 falls, drive out West's queen,
giving you at least nine sure tricks:
five clubs, two spades and a trick in
each red suit. If the 10 fails to appear,
give up a club to West and hope the
suit divides 3-3, once again giving you
nine tricks.
If East returns a diamond instead
of a heart, cover whatever is led,
and West, after winning the trick as
cheaply as possible, has no exit that
can prevent you from taking nine
tricks given that clubs and spades
both perform as needed.
Is there a fly in the ointment? What
if West, holding the J 9 x or Q 9 x
and the Q x x x, divines your entry
problem and plays a high spade at
trick three? Can you overcome this
play?
Win the A, play the A and drive
out the queen when the 10 drops. As
the only return that does not cost a
trick and give declarer an overtrick is
a club, say West returns a club. Now
what? An overtrick still beckons. It
works like this: Cash both remaining

Problems are on page 55.
clubs reducing to these five cards,
West to discard on the last club:

94
K9
AJ
-

 10 8
763
-
-

K7
AQ
Q
-

J5
 J 10
7
-

What can West do? If he discards a
spade, lead the 10. If East covers,
win the king, cross to the 8 and
assuming West has reduced to two
hearts and a diamond, you wind up
with 10 tricks: five clubs, three spades
plus a trick in each red suit. If East
fails to cover, you can win the second
spade with the king forcing West to
part either with a heart (blanking the
king) or the J (blanking the ace).
In the first case, cash the A; in the
second, exit with the Q and take the
last two tricks with the A Q. In both
cases, you wind up with 11 tricks!
Keep in mind that you know West's
distribution and honor-card holdings,
so you are not exactly playing with
mirrors.
If West discards a heart on the last
club, cash the A Q, West discarding a spade, and make an overtrick.
If West discards a diamond, lead the
10 to your king, East covering, and
exit a spade. West wins and cashes
the A, but must concede the last
two tricks to the A Q, once again
giving you an overtrick. This is one
time a brilliant defensive play was not
rewarded!
r

January 2013 Bridge Bulletin

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of January 2013