Dealer
: East
Vuln : Both |
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In
the final of last summer's Grand National Teams,
Jeff Meckstroth
(South) won the ace of hearts at
trick three and led a spade
to his
10 when East
followed smoothly with the 6.
Here's
an extra quiz question for you. Double-
dummy, can 4 be
defeated (even if declarer
guesses spades)?
Answer:
Well, after cashing the ace and king of
clubs, West can't
play any more clubs and he
can't shift to hearts, because that
gives
declarer
his second entry to dummy. If hearts are never
played,
declarer has only the king of diamonds
as an entry and East
can
safely split his spade
honors when spades are led. Or so it
seems.
But ... suppose West finds the unlikely diamond
shift at trick
three.
Declarer can win in hand and
lead another diamond to the king.
Then
he leads
a spade. East must split, so declarer wins with
the
king and
leads a third round of diamonds.
East wins the trick and no
matter
what he leads,
declarer is back in position to take another
spade
finesse.
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