Dealer
: South
Vuln : Both |
HAND
OF THE WEEK #42
Watch the Spots by Matthew
Granovetter
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Declarer
was planning to duck the heart, because he
could not afford
for you to get on play and lead a club
through his king.
Did you work out to play the jack of
hearts on the second
round of the suit? The jack and
the 8 are equal cards. Here's
why. Partner's 10 should
indicate 10-9 doubleton, so you
can afford to play
that jack, preventing declarer from ducking
the second
heart trick to partner. If you play low on the
second
heart lead, West wins the trick with the 9 and declarer
has
nine tricks: two spades, four hearts, two diamonds
and a
club.
Perhaps
declarer should have tried the 6 of hearts at
trick two (before
playing the queen). It would have
been almost impossible
for East to play the jack on
this trick. But East might play
the 8 of hearts on the
6, if the 6 is led first. And then
declarer does not
know to play low, since West could easily
hold the
3 or 5. In fact, if you played the 8 on the actual
problem
(on the second round of hearts), you probably
beat the hand,
since declarer can't be sure where the
5 is (West
might have started with 10-9-5), and
declarer can't afford
to duck the trick. (So take half
credit if you played the
8.)
For
those of you who play Smith Echo, this is
not
the
time for West to signal with 10-x of hearts. His
10 must
indicate the 9, so partner can make the
right play on the
next trick.
Have
a nice weekend!
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