Test Your Play


1. Matchpoints

Dlr:
South
Vul:
None
North
♠ A 10 9 5 3 2
J 10
8
♣ K Q 9 3
South
♠ Q J
K Q 9
A K 7 3
♣ A J 10 6
WEst North East South
2NT
Pass 3(1) Pass 3♠
Pass 6♠(2) All Pass

(1) Transfer.
(2) I had to get you to 6♠ somehow.

West leads the ♣4. You win the opening lead with the jack and play the ♠Q which holds. When you continue with the ♠J, West follows, you play low, and East discards a heart. How do you continue?

CLICK HERE FOR SOLUTION

Clearly you need to try to arrange a trump coup, which means ruffing twice in dummy and ending in your hand at trick 11 with dummy holding the ♠A 10. Equally clear is that East has the A given the lead and West’s spade holding.

Cash the A, ruff a diamond and lead a heart. If East ducks, he loses the A as you can discard a heart on the K and wind up losing a spade trick. Period.

Say that East goes up with the A and returns a heart (as good as a diamond or a club). Win the K, ruff a diamond, and get back to your hand with a club. (To make this, you must find West with at least two clubs.)

Dummy remains with the ♠A 10 and the ♣K Q. You remain with the Q, the ♦K and the ♣A 6. Play your red-suit winners, discarding clubs, and wind up with the last two tricks. If West ruffs a red winner, overruff, cash the ♠A and take the last two tricks with clubs.

Thanks to Mircea Giurgeu of Petersburg ON and Dave Longstaff of Waterloo ON for this one.

2.IMPs

Dlr:
South
Vul:
E-W
North
♠ A 2
A 6 4 3 2
A 7 5 3 2
♣ A
South
♠ Q J 10 9 8 6 5 3
8
10
♣ Q 6 4
WEst North East South
4♠
Pass 4NT(1) Pass 5(2)
Pass 6♠ All Pass

(1) RKCB, 1430.
(2) 0 or 3 key cards.

Opening lead: ♠4.

Partner has given you an “aces and spaces” dummy. Now what are you going to do with it?

CLICK HERE FOR SOLUTION

TStart by going up with the ♠A. The ♠K may drop from East, and even if doesn’t, you will remain with a low trump in dummy to ruff a club. If you duck, East may win and return a spade, and you’ll be in trouble.

The idea is to set up a long trick in one of the red suits for a club discard while ruffing your other club. The play should go like this assuming you arbitrarily decide to set up dummy’s fifth heart:♠A (assume East follows low), A, heart ruff, A, heart ruff, ♣A, heart ruff. If West overruffs, having led low from K–x (the actual lead when this deal was played) and three hearts, you can still get rid of both clubs via a club ruff and the fifth heart.

If the third heart ruff lives, ruff a club and discard your last club on the fifth heart, losing just one trick to the ♠K.

Notice that if you duck the spade at trick one, you cannot make the contract if West led from K–x–x, even if West has four hearts and a friendly 3=4=3=3 pattern because West will ruff the established heart low and still have the trump king. You need West to have an even friendlier 3=4=4=2 pattern with the ♣K x! Sure.

Thanks to Jon Shuster, Gainesville FL.

The Zoom Room is available Monday through Friday, 3:30 pm-5:30 pm (Eastern).

Getting help is easier than ever with the ACBL Zoom Chat service.
Simply click the "Join Zoom Chat" button below to be taken to our dedicated zoom room.
Once there, click the "Launch Meeting" button to start your session. To hear us and vice-versa - don't forget to "Join with computer audio."

If the Zoom Room isn't available and you need answers, you can email us at membership@acbl.org.

Join Zoom Chat