Source:IBPAColumn Service NOV 2020Tim Bourke**Source: wikipedia:Tim Bourke “is an Australian bridge player and writer. His joint project with Justin Corfield “the Art of Declarer Play” won the International Bridge Press Book of the Year award in 2014.IMPs Dealer South. N/S Vul
Q 10 6
A 9 2
A K 7 4 3
A 4
A K J 4 2
6
9 8 6
K J 9 3
West
North
East
South
1
21
3
Pass
4
Pass
4NT
Pass
5
Pass
6
End
1. 5+ hearts and 5+ in a minor suit
West led a hopeful 2.
After winning the trick with dummy’s ace as East followed, West’s five-card minor suit was revealed to be clubs. The lead reeked of being a singleton and suggested that West would have at least one trump.
Declarer counted ten top tricks and noted that it was improbable that he could develop an extra trick in each minor. Instead, he decided to ruff two clubs high in dummy and hope that he could make five trumps in hand.
At trick two, declarer cashed the ace of clubs and led a club towards his king. When East produced a second club declarer was almost home. As the clubs were now known to be five-two, declarer ruffed a club in dummy with the ten of spades then ruffed a heart back to hand. Declarer’s last club was ruffed in dummy with the queen, with East discarding a heart.
Declarer continued with the ace, king and jack of trumps, discarding low diamonds from table. This left him with a trump and two diamonds in hand while East had a high trump and two diamonds.
Finally, declarer condensed his two apparent losers to one by crossing to dummy with a diamond to the king to lead dummy’s carefully preserved nine of hearts.
What could East do? If he ruffed high, declarer would discard his last diamond and make his twelfth trick with the four of trumps. Discarding would do no better, for then declarer would ruff the heart with his trump, making the contract.
The complete deal:
Q 10 6
A 9 2
A K 7 4 3
A 4
