February 2021 - 63

IT'S

Advanced Players

SOLUTIONS TO

TEST YOUR PLAY

Problems are on page 61.

1

	
 10 9
	
AKQ8
	
KQ74
	
652
 3		
N
 10 7 6 5 4 3	 W
E
 J 5		
S
 A K 4 3		
	
AQJ842
	
9
	
 A 10 8
	
 J 10 8

	
KQ74
	
A732
	
4
	
8765
 10 8 6 5		
J932
N
 K Q J 9		 W
 10 8 5 4
E
 3 2		

65
S
 A Q 4		
K92
	
A
	
6
	
 A K Q J 10 9 8 7
	
 J 10 3

2
K765
J2
9632
Q97

What you might have to deal with is
East having K-x-x-x of spades. If so,
you must play carefully, very carefully, to
arrange a trump coup. This is what you
should do.
Win the A (crucial), cross to the A
and run the 10 and 9. Assuming
both spades win and West discards on
the second spade, ruff a heart, cross to
the K and ruff a high heart, reducing to
the A Q and a diamond. Next, cross to
dummy's last diamond entry, needing to
find East with at least three diamonds.
Assuming East has a third diamond,
you are now in dummy with two red
cards and in your hand with the A Q.
Lead a red card and take the last two
tricks.
The theme of this hand should be
" What can go wrong? " On this deal, it
would be East holding four spades to the
king and then playing for it. The suggested line won't cost you if East started with
either a singleton, doubleton or tripleton K, but it will turn you into a local
hero if East started with the four spades
headed by the king.

The heart lead has destroyed your
entry to the K Q. What you must do is
duck the opening lead - quickly. If West
can be tempted to lead a second heart,
you can win the ace, discard the A (applause) and use the K Q to discard two
clubs and make your contract, scoring
eight diamond tricks, the A and the
K Q.
Isn't bridge a great game!

YOUR
CALL

IYC 2020 Top Scores

Congratulations to the top online It's Your Call
winners for last year! To view the full list, go
to the December results on the IYC web page
on MyACBL, scroll to the bottom and select
YTD Top 100.

Rick Prouser, Portland OR	

439

Jeff Fang, Rowland Heights CA	

439

Martin Henneberger, Coquitlam BC	

437

Bill McKenna, Darien IL	

434

David C. Shepler, Knoxville TN	

433

Phillip Grothus, Houston TX	

431

Christopher Donnelly, Belmont MA	

430

Alexander J. Ornstein, New York NY	

429

Jon C. Brissman, Indianapolis IN	

428

Brad Theurer, Gaithersburg MD	

427

Dianne E. Isfeld, Coquitlam BC	

426

Dayou Zhou, San Diego CA	

424

Michael Dimich, Burnaby BC	

421

Andrew Eastwood, Savannah GA	

421

Ronald W. Vickery, Oro Valley AZ	

418

Jonathan Green, Melbourne FL	

417

Adam Pawlowski, Kutno, Poland	

416

Robert P. Giragosian, Bakersfield CA	

414

Alexander Kolesnik, Los Angeles CA	

414

Bruce Altshuler, Los Angeles CA	

413

Steven Handley, Edmonds WA	

411

Roger Webb, Amherst MA	

411

H. Paul Davis, Cupertino CA	

410

Jarek Wyganowski, Fargo ND	

410

Gene Benedict, Perrysburg OH	

409

Zizhuo Wang, Minneapolis MN	

409

Ming-Xiang Li, Fremont CA	

407

Charles L. Seelbach, Lexington KY	

406

Mark Chen, Oak Hill VA	

405

John Lindsey II, Lutz FL	

404

James E. Scavone, Bellevue WA	

404

Richard Higgins, Hot Springs Village AR	 404
Bob Simkins, Decatur GA	

404

Andrei Prodan, Mississauga ON	

403

John Langer, Santa Clarita CA	

403

Michael Zeller, Dallastown PA	

403

Greg Frank, Hot Springs Village AR	

403

Ron C. Stearns, Westminster CA	

401

Stephen McConnell, Evanston IL	

400

February 2021 | Bridge Bulletin | 63
February 2021

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of February 2021
