Intermediate and newcomer players - sharpen your game with this series of tutorials. You can browse the index by topic, or read them in order. Learn even more at ACBL's Learn page.
West leads a Spade, low from Dummy, won by East’s Jack. East looks at Dummy and realizes that it’s useless for Declarer’s purposes. Well, almost! There is that doubleton Diamond, a potential ruffing value if Declarer happens to have ♦AKx. So, East promptly shifts to a trump, snuffing out that threat.
Declarer still has four potential losers, with no way of reaching Dummy for the Club finesse. He may decide that the best chance now is to play for East to have Qxx in Diamonds. So he draws trumps, and plays ♦AK and a low Diamond, hoping to throw in East. If the plan works then East will be forced to give Declarer his 10th trick in one of the black suits. But our E-W are made of sterner stuff and you can be sure that East will jettison his ♦Q under the Ace or the King, allowing West to win the third Diamond trick. Just in case East is having a nap, is there any way for West to wake him up and encourage him to dump that ♦Q? |