April 2013 - 57

Solutions to Test Your Play
1.

ࡕKJ97
ࡖQ6
ࡗ J 10 4 2
ࡔ J 10 2

2.

Problems are on page 55.

ࡕKJ3
ࡖA843
ࡗA542
ࡔQ9

ࡕ A Q 10 8 2
ࡖAK
ࡗA83
ࡔAK5

ࡕA7
ࡖKJ652
ࡗ3
ࡔ A K J 10 8

Assuming 2-2 spades, and assuming
the second heart doesn't get ruffed,
you have a 100% play. Cash a second
heart, then two rounds of spades ending in dummy, keeping two dummy
entries in spades, and lead the ࡗJ.
1. Say East ducks and West wins.
West is endplayed. A club return immediately ends the problem, and you
are playing for a possible overtrick if
the remaining diamond honor drops
doubleton. If West returns a diamond,
play low from dummy and, assuming
the 9 drives out your ace, play the ࡗ8
to drive out the remaining honor. Now
dummy's 10 can be used to discard a
club.
2. If East covers, win the ace, cross
to dummy with a trump and lead a
low diamond towards your now-doubleton ࡗ8. If East takes the trick with
the 9 and plays a club, win, and use
your ࡗ8 to drive out the remaining
honor, again setting up dummy's ࡗ10
for a club discard.
If West wins the ࡗ8 with the 9,
there are now two diamonds remaining - an honor and a low diamond
- and West has a wonderful choice
of evils. Either diamond return allows
you to set up dummy's remaining
diamond for a club pitch (you cover
the low one with the 10, of course). A
club return is also fatal for the defense. A heart return is the worst for
them: You ruff in dummy, discarding a
diamond from your hand, and take the
club finesse for a possible overtrick.

For openers, you must reduce to
a three-card end position where you
have the ࡖK J and a club and West
the ࡖQ 10 9. You lead your club,
West ruffs and is trump endplayed.
In order to reach this ending, West
must have started with three or four
clubs. Therefore, your first move is to
find out which and play accordingly.
So after finding out the bad news in
trumps, cash the ࡔA K (pitching a
diamond from dummy) and see what
happens.
Scenario I: Clubs are 3-3. In order
to arrive at the desired ending, West
must have started with a 3=4=3=3
pattern including the ࡕQ as you must
discard a club on a third spade to
arrive at the winning ending where
you must remain with one club. Play
the ࡗA, ruff a diamond, cash the ࡕA,
take the spade finesse discarding a
club on the ࡕK, and ruff another diamond. Now lead your fifth club. West
ruffs, but you take the last two tricks
with the ࡖK J.
Scenario II: West has four clubs. To
survive this club division, West must
be either 2=4=3=4 or 3=4=2=4, and
you have to ruff twice in your hand to
reduce to the proper trump length.
When West has four clubs, you must
not cash a fourth club prematurely as
you will be squeezing the dummy. Say
you start with the ࡗA and a diamond
ruff and then play the ࡕA and a low
spade towards dummy's K-J. If West
plays the queen, believe him, win the

ࡕK and ruff a second diamond. If
West plays the ࡕ9 and ࡕ10, chances
are that West has the ࡕQ and was
afraid to lead from either queen. Also,
a doubleton spade lead would likely
be more attractive than low from four
small. So if you are right, win the ࡕK
and ruff a spade to bring about the
desired ending.
❒

Kantar: Wrong way
The first problem of Eddie Kantar's
Test Your Play column in March
has the wrong hand as declarer.
The error was noticed by an alert
reader (more alert than the editors,
apparently), and Kantar responded
as follows:
"I have South playing 6ࡔ when
North, who has responded 2ࡔ
to partner's 1NT opening, should
be the declarer. West has led out
of turn! (If everyone accepts the
lead, doesn't play continue with
South the declarer?) Not only that,
but North, who leaped to 6ࡔ in
the auction, defended his action
in the bidding diagram with the
quip, 'We're behind in this match.
Besides, I won't have to play it.' He
was wrong. He did have to play it!
"The guy that wrote to tell me
about this likes my books. I told him
the next one will be titled Who is the
Declarer?"

April 2013 Bridge Bulletin

57
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of April 2013
