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My summer tour of Ireland began in Dublin, where I played at the outstanding Regent Bridge Club. In today’s deal, my partner slipped on defense. To see if you can do better, cover the West/South cards. Defend as East.
Against five clubs, West leads the ♥J: king, ace, deuce. What next?
| Dlr: West | ♠ K 6 2 | |||||||||||||||||
| Vul: All | ♥ K | |||||||||||||||||
| ♦ A 10 9 8 5 4 | ||||||||||||||||||
| ♣ J 5 3 | ||||||||||||||||||
| ♠ A 5 4 | ♠ J 10 8 3 | |||||||||||||||||
| ♥ J 10 8 6 5 | ♥ A Q 7 4 3 | |||||||||||||||||
| ♦ K 6 | ♦ Q 7 3 2 | |||||||||||||||||
| ♣ 9 6 2 | ♣ — | |||||||||||||||||
| ♠ Q 9 7 | ||||||||||||||||||
| ♥ 9 2 | ||||||||||||||||||
| ♦ J | ||||||||||||||||||
| ♣ A K Q 10 8 7 4 | ||||||||||||||||||
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Opening lead ♥J
To beat this contract — and since not every North-South will reach game, you may need to beat it to avoid disaster — West must hold the ♠A, but unless you have a diamond or trump trick coming (unlikely), you will need two spades.
Entries
If declarer has enough entries to set up and run the diamonds, you are sunk. But if West had a singleton diamond, he might have led it. If South has one and can’t use the diamonds, he may have unavoidable spade losers.
At Trick Two, return a passive heart. As the cards lay, South must lose two spades. At my table, East shifted to the ♠J: seven, five, king. Declarer later led a spade to his nine and made his game.
Daily Question
You hold: ♠A 5 4 ♥J 10 8 6 5 ♦K 6 ♣9 6 2.
Your partner opens 1♦, you respond 1♥ and he bids 1♠.
What do you say?
