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Updated 16th August 2026 |
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Hand of the week, week commencing, Sunday 12th November 2023
Partner leads ♠7 plan your defence.
Dealer: South Vuln: N/S
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| W | N | E | S |
| 1NT | |||
| Pass | 3NT | End |
The secret of this hand is not to take your Club Ace too quickly and thereby hopefully creating an illusion. What illusion? - you will see shortly.
After winning the first trick with the Spade Ace declarer now plays a club towards dummy playing dummy's King. Gut reaction would be to take the Ace as you are capturing something worthwhile. However if declarer's main suit is clubs then he may come back to hand and finesse the remaining Queen. Declarer does indeed return to hand with the Heart King and now plays another club up to the remaining Queen. Now you take your Ace (that's all you have left) and return a Spade respecting partner's original Spade lead.
Now declarer plays a second Heart. You can now pounce with your Ace and return your last Spade. You and your partner have now manufactured 2 Spade Tricks 1 Heart trick and miraculously 4 club tricks. The illusion you created in Clubs made declarer think West had the Club Ace and if you hade Aced it immediately then declarer would have no choice but to finesse West for the missing Club Jack and he would get home by way of 2 Spades, 3 Hearts, 2 Diamonds and 2 clubs to make his contract but your cunning illusion worked wonders.
(Maybe declarer could hold up the first trick and then EW might not find this defence and West might not get all her clubs going.)
| You can also play out the following hand to see how the hand pans out. (You need bridgvu.exe programme and it is available free from http://www.haroldschogger.com/movies.html ) |
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alternatively watch the film of the hand being played out by going to www.haroldschogger.com/movies2.htm
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