Source:IBPAColumn Service AUG 2022Tim 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. Both Vul
J 10 5 2
A 8 7 3
A 6 4
7 6
A K 9 7 4 3
2
K J 3
A K 8
West
North
East
South
1
Pass
3
Pass
4
Pass
4
Pass
4NT
Pass
5
Pass
6
Pass
Pass
Pass
Both North/South pairs in a team game bid to six spades on similar auctions. At both tables, West led the jack of hearts and both declarers won with dummy’s ace. At the first table, declarer continued with a low spade to his ace, thereby discovering that he had a trump loser. Eventually, this declarer took a diamond finesse and was one trick short of his contract.
At the second table, declarer ruffed a heart at trick two as a matter of general principle. Next, he cashed the ace and king of trumps, getting the same bad news as the declarer at the other table. Declarer led a diamond to the ace and ruffed a third heart. Then he cashed the ace and king of clubs and led the eight of clubs. West saw that if he ruffed, declarer would discard the fourth heart from dummy and he’d be endplayed, so, West discarded a diamond.
Now declarer was in a good position: he ruffed the club and ruffed dummy’s last heart, reducing everyone to three cards. When both defenders followed to the fourth round of hearts, declarer counted West for an original 3=4=4=2 shape. This meant that West had the queen of trumps and two diamonds remaining, Declarer remained with a trump and the king-jack of diamonds. So, declarer led his last trump to West’s queen and claimed the last two tricks as West had to lead a diamond into his king-jack tenace.
You should note that, once the first declarer failed to ruff a heart at trick two, he no longer had the entries to eliminate hearts from West’s hand. Also, when the second declarer decided to ruff a third heart instead of taking the diamond finesse, he played with the odds: an original 3=4=4=2 or 3=3=5=2 shape was, in combination, more likely than a beginning 3=5=3=2 distribution. If that had been the case, the diamond finesse would have been declarer’s best play for a twelfth trick.
The complete deal:
J 10 5 2
A 8 7 3
A 6 4
7 6
