Dealer
: South
Vuln : East-West |
HAMMAN'S
TIPS #41
by Bob Hamman
the world's #1 ranked player
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Today
is April first, and this may look like an April Fool's
hand, but it isn't. When the hand was played, declarer
made the wrong guess by covering the 10 of spades with
the queen. He played West to have started with A-J-10-9
of spades. So declarer went one down in 1NT. Big deal,
you say. Well, at the other table, where I was sitting
North, my partner and I reached 3NT and made it!
West
led the jack of spades, and their convention card read: Jack
denies a higher honor. The jig was up. East realized
that his ace was going to take air on the next
round, so he desperately tried to beat the contract by
winning the first trick and shifting to a heart. My partner
ducked two rounds of hearts, and West returned to spades.
Declarer won the king, played ace and queen of diamonds,
a club to the king and the jack of diamonds. The spade
queen was an entry for the last two diamond winners, so
we took nine tricks: two spades, one heart, four diamonds
and two clubs.
My
tip is this: Don't play that the lead of the jack denies
a higher honor. It's more likely to help declarer than partner.
MANY
NEW BOOKS NOW IN STORE
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Q
8 6
10
7 4
J
10 8 7 4
K
3
East 