Bridge Corner
By Gary Mitchell, Oct 20, 2006

The bidding

An opening bid of 2 Clubs is game-forcing. North’s three Diamond response promised at least five Diamonds with at least two of the top three honors. After North’s 3NT bid, South decided that slam was a good bet.

The play

Declarer trumped the opening lead, pulled trump and led the Club Ace and Queen. West, being no fool, did not take the King. South exited with a third Club, which West won, and West exited with the fourth Club. Declarer still had to lose a Spade for down one. “Bad luck, partner!”

Declarer’s plan was not terrible—it was just not the best plan available. With the way the cards are, declarer has an absolute, sure thing. Can you find it?

When you trump the first Diamond, and play the Ace of Hearts, East shows out. West has two more Hearts. Pull one more and then play a little Heart to West’s 10. West is on lead, and whatever suit he leads puts you in dummy for your Diamond winners. 

A cute part of this is that West can try to foil your plan by playing his top two Hearts first, but this will fail if you trumped the opening Diamond lead with a high Heart and saved your deuce for an exit card! Fun, isn’t it?




Questions: gary@smabridge.com 

Lessons: 152-6351.