13th April 2016
A declarer play problem from the Swiss Pairs held at Ilkley over Easter.
S 7
H QJ108764
D 64
C 1054
   


   
S AKQ832
H -
D AK52
C AQ3



N-S Game Pairs Dealer West
South
 West
 North
 East

1C 2H Pass
4S Pass
 Pass Pass


West leads the spade four, seven, nine, queen.
You draw trumps, they break 3-3, throwing small hearts from dummy.
What now?

Solution

West, for her opening bid, should have the ace and king of hearts and the king of clubs plus some minor honour(s).
If she has a doubleton diamond and the jack of clubs as well then an end play is possible.
Cash the ace and king of diamonds, West plays the ten and queen and then lead a low club.
After winning the club jack West can cash the ace and king of hearts with South throwing diamonds, but then must concede a trick to the heart queen or club queen.

The full deal
Dealer West
 S
 7    
N-S Game
 H
 QJ108764    
    D 64    
    C 1054
    
S
 J54
     S
 1096
H
 AK32
     H
 95
D
 QT
     D
 J9873
C
 KJ92
     C
 876
    S
 AKQ832
    
    H
 -
    
    D
 AK52
    
    C
 AQ3
    

The best game is four hearts, but only one pair found this.
One unfortunate pair opened the West hand one heart, the bidding proceeded Pass, Pass, Double and everyone passed.  Declarer was only able to make the ace and king of trumps for -1100!

Thanks to Neil Thomas for reporting this deal