A NEAT MAGIC TRICK
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TEAMS.
DEALER EAST, ALL VUL.
Your South hand looks like this:
♠ KQJ109
♥ 876
♦ A32
♣ A10
East opens 1♦ and you overcall 1♠. West passes. North makes a jump cue-bid of 3♦ and thus describes support with four (or more) Spades and at least 12-13HLD:
| W | N | E | S |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1♦ | 1♠ | ||
| Pass | 3♦ | Pass | ? |
You have a flat 5-3-3-2, but in the name of your 14HCP you bid 4♠. West leads the 10 of Diamonds and your partner lays down his hand:
Contract: 4 Spades by South.
Lead: ♦10.
Count your winners.
Five Spades and the two minor-suit Aces give a total of seven tricks from the top and you therefore need three more. As usual, you need to determine the location of the missing honors as soon as possible by thinking back to the auction.
What can you see?
Your side’s 26HCP leave 14 to your opponents and it is all but possible that East has them all.
Which honors do you know that he holds?
King-Jack of Diamonds, King of Clubs and the Ace of Hearts accompanied by the Jack or Queen if he has 12 or 13 points. The Club finesse is bound to work.
And what about the other suits?
After losing one Diamond, you ruff your loser on the third round of the suit. However, you are unfortunately looking at conceding four tricks (three Hearts and one Diamond).
How to overcome the hurdle in Hearts?
By forcing East to play this suit himself.
Is this possible?
Yes, the “mirror” character of your two hands and the presence of certain well-known criteria should enable you to implement an elimination and endplay.
What are these criteria?
A large number of trumps (you have ten out of thirteen) and eliminable side suits. Let’s play the deal together.
First of all, what do you do after the opening lead?
The important thing is to protect yourself from a switch ‒ immediate or delayed ‒ to Hearts from West.
To do so you can either win the first trick with the Ace without touching dummy’s Queen or cover the Diamond 10 with the Queen and duck East’s King so that the latter cannot reach West’s hand with the Diamond 9.
Let’s say you opt for this second option. East continues with the 5, which you win with the Ace. You cash the King of Spades and West discards! You continue with the Queen of Spades.
How do you go on from there?
Draw East’s last trump with dummy’s Ace and let the Queen of Clubs run.
It holds. You continue with the 9 of Clubs to the Ace and East again plays small. Here is the position six cards from the end:
What is the winning line of play from here?
Ruff the 3 of Diamonds (elimination) and then play the Jack of Clubs, which East will cover. You use the opportunity to execute a loser on loser play and discard a Heart. On play with the King of Clubs, East will have to choose whether to cash the Ace of Hearts, promoting your King, or give you a ruff and discard. In the latter case, you discard a second Heart from your hand and ruff in dummy.
THE PRINCIPLE
For an elimination and endplay it is crucial that all the steps (complete or partial elimination, choice of exit card, etc.) are carried out with the right timing and logical use of your entries.
