Hand of the week commencing
Sunday 25th May 2008
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East
Dealer |
ª |
A
K 8 7 5
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Neither
Vulnerable |
© |
8
5 |
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¨ |
10
6 4 |
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§ |
K
9 6 |
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N |
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|
ª |
J
6 4 3 2
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|
ª |
10 |
|
© |
Q
4 3 2 |
|
W
E |
© |
K J 10 7 |
|
¨ |
Q
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|
¨ |
8
7 5 2 |
|
§ |
10
7 2 |
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|
§ |
A
Q 5 3 |
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S |
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ª |
Q
9 |
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© |
A
9 6 |
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¨ |
A
K J 9 3 |
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§ |
J
8 4 |
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W |
N |
E |
S |
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NO |
1NT
* * 15-17 |
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NO |
2© ** |
DBL |
2ª
** transfer |
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NO |
2NT |
NO
|
3NT |
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NO |
NO |
NO |
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West leads ©2
plan your play
Initially, you have 6 winners
:- 3 Spades, 1 Heart and 2 Diamonds. The lead suggests that West has only 4
since he lead the ©2
so there is no real need to duck the first Heart, particularly as there is a
Club problem too.
After
winning the first trick you know that going after the Spade suit will only bring
in 2 extra tricks (if the suit breaks) and that there are more chances from the
Diamond suit. You might need to finesse the Diamond Queen, but if you do that
you will need to cash all your Spades first, since you have transportation
problems. So the decision is to finesse the Diamond. However if you are going to
take the percentage Diamond finesse why not cash the Ace first, to see if there
is any singleton Queens in either of the defender’s hands. You now get a nice
surprise when west produces a singleton Queen. You now run for home and pick up
an 83% score from making 3 Spades, 1
Heart and 5 Diamonds. If you really need a top top score you might finesse the
Spade nine when East produces the 10 as West is now twice as likely to have the
Spade Jack (Law of restricted choice). You have the Diamond 10 as entry to dummy
when the Queen fell first time around.
Now
you will make 10 tricks for 100% score.