Dealer
: South
Vuln : East-West |
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Did
you lead your singleton spade? If you
did, you defeated the
contract. At the table,
in a world championship, West was
on a very
high level and figured out this was the time
to
lead a trump and reduce declarer's ruffs.
Declarer didn't
mind. He drew four rounds
of trumps and led a spade to the
king. East
ducked and ducked again when the queen
was led.
But declarer returned to his hand
with a heart lead and led
the jack of spades,
claiming 11 tricks.
Does
any other lead defeat 5?
After
a heart lead, declarer is in trouble for
a strange reason...communications.
He must
draw all the trump to avoid a spade ruff
(though
he doesn't know it). Then East can
win his ace of spades
and return a heart,
killing the entry to the spade suit.
After a
club lead by West, again declarer must win
and play
four rounds of trumps. But then he
is due to lose one spade
trick and two club
tricks, so in both cases (heart or club
lead)
declarer will lead a spade before drawing all
the trumps,
and East will give West the spade
ruff. It turns out that
any lead but a trump
defeats the contract.
Yes,
North-South belonged in 3NT, which
is what North probably
should have bid over
1NT. But he was also on a high
level.
Have
a nice weekend! |