♠ T ♥ 9765 ♦ A9632 ♣ AKQ	E-W Vulnerable             West     North    East     South                                        1♦         Pass             2♠         Dbl       Pass    4♥             Pass    Pass    Pass               West’s 2♠ (showing long Spades and not much else)             pushed N-S into the precarious contract of 4♥.  Look at             what happened in actual play, and then figure out how you             would have done better as Declarer.
Dummy   West            East          Declarer
♠ A872 ♥ A432 ♦ 7 ♣ J982

 

West led the ♠K, won by Declarer’s Ace.  With six side-suit tricks it would be necessary to score four trump tricks, and as the trump suit was so weak it was apparent that some ruffing would be required.  One line that would clearly not work would be to get the enemy trumps out of the way first, that would leave Declarer a trick short (scoring only three trump tricks).  So Declarer cashed the ♥A at Trick 2, and then, leaving three enemy trumps at large, he played on the side-suits.  His general plan was to let the opponents take their trumps whenever they wished, but that was all they would get.  He started with Dummy’s high Clubs, but West ruffed the third round and played another Spade.  Dummy ruffed, East over-ruffed and cashed her high Heart, leaving Declarer with just 9 tricks.

 

How could Declarer have done better?

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