Barnet Shenkin


How Do You Know ? by Barnet Shenkin prev/next

Here is a Defensive problem I saw recently .Those who have participated in my Defensive classes should be able to give the right answer. Can you
Dlr: North
Vul: None
N♠102
♥AQJ
♦Q10965
♣KQ2
 
W♠
♥
♦
♣

  E♠KQJ64
♥982
♦A73
♣107
  S♠
♥
♦
♣

 
 ?
WestNorthEastSouth
   1♦ 1♠
2N 
 P 3N
P
 P
       


Your partner leads the ♠ 8. Declarer plays low from Dummy it is your play. What is your plan to beat the contract? First you should ask yourself what is Declarer's likely hand . The cards he has are the ♠ Ace,  the ♥ King and the ♣ Ace. He also may have the ♦ J or the ♣ J What are Declarer's spades. You know he has either A9xx or A9X. Can you apply your knowledge from the opening lead to work out Declarer's spade holding and find the winning play ?


Send in your answer and reason to Barnet@shenkinbridge.com

Here is the whole hand

The full hand is as shown below
Dlr: North
Vul: None
N♠102
♥AQJ
♦Q10965
♣KQ2
 
W♠85
♥10653
♦K84
♣J654
  E♠KQJ64
♥982
♦A73
♣107
  S♠A973
♥K107
♦J2
♣A983
 

If you played the  ♠J and Declarer won  the Ace , partner could win the ♦K  and then play his second spade. When you win the  ♦ Ace you will cash the fifth spade for the setting trick. But what if Declarer ducks the first trick ? Then partner will not not have a third spade to play when he wins the  ♦ K. So if partner started with just 2 spades you must let Declarer win the first trick with the 9. That gives him only 8 top tricks. Partner can win his ♦K and play a second spade and when you win the ♦ Ace then you can take three spade winners. But you should ask what if partner has led from 875 0r 873 of spades and Declarer had the ♣J ? Then you would have given away the contract by playing low.

The answer is ,with three cards in partners unsupported suit, he must lead a low one . So when you see the 8 spot, he must only have 2. Had he led the the 3 eg he must have 3 and you would have played the ♠ J.

So if you don't already play that way here is an excellent example to show you why you should. All those making the right play, there were a few, should pat themselves on the back but even better if you worked out the reason why.



     
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