Leaving the Kiddies on the Street

Dlr:
North
Vul:
E-W
North
♠ A 5 4
A 9 8 3
J 3 2
♣ K J 8
South
♠ Q J 10
K 7 6 5
A K 8 5
♣ Q 2
West North East South
1♣ Pass 1
Pass 2 Pass 4
All Pass

When learning the game, many players are taught to draw trumps early when they declare. As they become more experienced, they learn to delay drawing trumps when its necessary to ruff losers first. Polish star Krzysztof Moszczynski takes this idea one step further on this amusing deal from the 1989 Polish national trials:

Moszczynski, South, received the opening lead of the ♠2 (fourth best). He played low from dummy and captured East’s 7 with the queen.

Although it’s possible to immediately play the trump ace-king, a 4-1 split could spell trouble. So declarer first went about dislodging the ♣A. The ♣Q was won by West, who continued with a club. Moszczynski won with the king and played the ♣J next, discarding a diamond. Both defenders followed.

Declarer crossed to a high diamond and took the spade finesse. When that held, the ♠A was cashed, the defenders following throughout. After a diamond to the king, declarer exited with a diamond, West winning the Q. This was the remarkable end position:

Dlr:
Vul:
North
A 9 8 3

South
K 7 6 5

West got out with another diamond. Moszczynski ruffed with dummy’3. East overruffed with the ♥Q which declarer topped with the king. Moszczynski then played a low trump to dummy, inserting the 8 when West followed low. East won the 10 and conceded the last two tricks even though he had started with ♥Q J 10 2. This was the full deal:

Note the importance of not touching trumps on this layout.

Dlr:
Vul:
North
♠ A 5 4
A 9 8 3
J 3 2
♣ K J 8
West
♠ K 9 6 2
4
Q 10 6 4
♣ A 9 5 4
East
♠ 8 7 3
Q J 10 2
9 7
♣ 10 7 6 3
South
♠ Q J 10
K 7 6 5
A K 8 5
♣ Q 2

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