On the lead of the heart three, East takes the first trick with one of his, or her, honors and seeing that lone remaining heart in dummy, I think East would take a second heart trick immediately while it’s still there for the taking.
And now what? East wants to get off lead but has no good way to do it. With dummy on the table, East can see the trump ace sitting there above the king so there’s no way to work spades. Playing another heart might give declarer a ruff and sluff. Clubs are no good either, so I suspect East would try diamonds.
Declarer takes that first diamond trick, plays the trump ace hoping to remove East’s safe exit card, then plays two more diamonds and finally lays down another spade.
Forced to play the trump king on this trick, East is now trapped. He, or she, cannot play on clubs and hearts are no better.
Does that work?
bobbywolffMarch 13th, 2024 at 8:40 pm
Hi David,
By George, “No, I mean” by David, you have succeeded in making the spade game contract, subtracting the 4th loser, by throwing East on play at the right time, forcing him to either give away his trump trick or instead, a key ruff & sluff, in either case, fatal for his side.
Bravo to you and congratulations for your great “feel”, allowing the bidding and the play up to the key moment, to convince you, where the key cards were defensively placed and more importantly, the extra tenth trick gained, allowing you to shine as declarer.
Bridge has a way to reward its players with good feelings, when and if, they rise to the occasion.
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So…
Here’s what I think works here for South…
On the lead of the heart three, East takes the first trick with one of his, or her, honors and seeing that lone remaining heart in dummy, I think East would take a second heart trick immediately while it’s still there for the taking.
And now what? East wants to get off lead but has no good way to do it. With dummy on the table, East can see the trump ace sitting there above the king so there’s no way to work spades. Playing another heart might give declarer a ruff and sluff. Clubs are no good either, so I suspect East would try diamonds.
Declarer takes that first diamond trick, plays the trump ace hoping to remove East’s safe exit card, then plays two more diamonds and finally lays down another spade.
Forced to play the trump king on this trick, East is now trapped. He, or she, cannot play on clubs and hearts are no better.
Does that work?
Hi David,
By George, “No, I mean” by David, you have succeeded in making the spade game contract, subtracting the 4th loser, by throwing East on play at the right time, forcing him to either give away his trump trick or instead, a key ruff & sluff, in either case, fatal for his side.
Bravo to you and congratulations for your great “feel”, allowing the bidding and the play up to the key moment, to convince you, where the key cards were defensively placed and more importantly, the extra tenth trick gained, allowing you to shine as declarer.
Bridge has a way to reward its players with good feelings, when and if, they rise to the occasion.