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A deal from a
Manchester Bridge Club Duplicate on 19th April.
Dealer W EW Vul.
Justin Hackett opened
one heart on the North hand and was pleasantly surprised to hear his
partner, Martin Taylor, respond one spade. Justin now wanted to
bid five clubs, exclusion key card Blackwood, but unsure that partner
would interpret this correctly, settled for an unambiguous splinter in
support of spades. Martin was, unsurprisingly, not interested in
slam at this point, having a very minimum response. Justin, now
hoping that Martin's spades were better than jack to four, bid five
clubs to show the void and Martin cue bid his void heart. Justin
now made a grand slam try with six diamonds and Martin signed off in
small slam.
West led a diamond. What is the best line for the contract? Solution Win the diamond ace and ruff a heart low. Then play the king and ace of spades. If trumps are 2-2 and hearts no worse than 5-2 then you can ruff enough hearts to set them up. If trumps are 3-1 and hearts are 4-3, then again you can cross ruff and set up the hearts for diamond discards, to lose only one trump trick. This line gives you an approximate 68% chance of success. |
