28th March 2018

A deal from the Tollemache final in February.
Dealer S Game All.

S -
H 963
D K9753
C J10873
   


   
S QJ974
H AKJ
D AQ
C K52

South
West
North
East
2NT
Pass
3NT
Pass
Pass
Pass



After a short auction you reach a poor contract.   West leads the club four to East's ace and East returns a heart.  How do you play?

Solution

If the king of clubs is still in your hand after trick one you have gone off.  To force an entry to dummy you must unblock the club king and hope that East cannot return a club before you unblock the diamonds.  On a heart return you can win the ace, cash the top diamonds and play a club.  When you get to dummy you cash the diamonds, which fortunately break, and take the heart finesse for your ninth trick.

The full deal was




S
-
   

H
963
   
    D K9753
   
    C J10873
   
S
10862
    S
AK53
H
72
    H
Q10854
D
J64
    D
1082
C
Q964
    C
A
    S
QJ974
   
    H
AKJ
   
    D
AQ
   
    C
K52
   

Thanks to John Holland for reporting this deal