That is why dummy play needs to be planned well before embarking on the play at trick 1 onwards. When tricks appear to be lying in abundance with no apparent danger that is the time when the declarer should ask himself the vital question. "Can any distribution defeat me?" Once he ponders over all the possible breaks of adversity and has the foresight, the timing and the skill to overcome such unforeseen obstacles, he has every chance of overcoming the toughest odds to reach his coveted target - the making of his contract.
Today's deal is a classic example of how to plan well in advance the dummy play and keep the proper timing to avert the sudden adverse distribution that can surprise many an unwary declarer and lead hum into the alley of defeat.
North south reach a contract of 6S with the opponents keeping a silence over the following bidding on NS hands:
The bidding:
The opening lead after this long protracted bidding sequence was the KC from west. As south how would you go about in the making of your little slam? Assessing the potential of both hands one can see that south has no loser in trumps, diamonds, clubs or even hearts apart from the possible loser in the queen of hearts if it is held 4 times. For with the AK in dummy and a possible ruff alternate available, only a 4-1 heart break can cause some problem for the declarer. But then the declarer need not have all 13 tricks, for he has bid a little slam which calls for an assured play to make 12 tricks. On a second glance, when you look at the 2 hands you feel that there is really no problem at all in this seemingly easy contract to make. for the solid trumps and the top honours in the red suits pose no real danger if declarer can knock the trump out and give up the heart queen trick to the opponents.
With his in mind, the declarer as most of us will do, at the table, ruffed the KC with his low trump and tested the trumps with the AS. His first obstacle surfaced immediately when west showed out discarding a heart. Still hoping there was no real danger to the contract even with west holding 4 trumps, south left the trumps alone for the moment, to get the hearts going by ruffing in dummy. For that purpose, he played the ace and king of hearts at trick 3 and 4. To his utter shock and great disappointment, east, who held a singleton heart, ruffed with his 6S to return a trump - a good move by the defence to thwart declarer's plans of getting his second suit going. South won in hand and played the JH in the hope that when west covers it with the QH, he would ruff high with the KS and return to hand with a trump to knock out east's remaining trumps and so claim the contract of, 6S. But alas! The defence was alert enough not to let the golden opportunity of downing the cold slam go by. West rejected covering the JH, knowing partner is ruffing hearts. So west's correct defence lay in not covering the JH with the queen. Now south was a dead duck. If he did not ruff high, east held trumps to ruff and if he ruffed high, the declarer would eventually have to lose a trick to the QH.
How did you play with WE hands as under?
Can you spot the correct play if you have also failed likewise? Yes, when trumps become known to be 4-0, south should be circumspect on the heart break too. And the contract becomes Ice, if only the heart blockage is removed with taking any risk. The neat solution lies in laying off the albatrosses around his neck even though they are his potential winners - yes the AK of hearts and the ace of diamonds. Running all 4 trumps he discards the ace of diamonds on the 4th trump and the AK of hearts on the KQ of diamonds. Now he gives up the QH and claims - 6S contract made in a neat and tidy way.
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NORTH
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K 5 3
A K
A
10 9 6 5 4 3 2
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SOUTH
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A Q J 10 9 4
J 10 9 8 7
K Q
-
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S W N E
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1S P 2C P
2H P 3D P
3H P 3S P
4C P 4D P
4S P 5H P
5D P 6S All Pass
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WEST EAST
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- 8 7 6 2
Q 6 5 4 2 3
10 8 7 4 J 9 6 5 3 2
A K Q J 8 7
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