Trick 1 Problem
KJT97
5432
JT85
-
Q5 A64
7 6
K976 Q3
KQJT53 A987642
832
AKQJT98
A42
-
You're in 6 Hearts with a club lead.
1) What do you play from both hands at trick 1 ??
2) How do you make six with best defense ??
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--- Warning !!! The solution follows, so if you ---
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At trick one, you must ruff in both hands!
You then pull trump and lead the 8 of spades for a finesse, playing
dummy's 7 under your 8. East does best to duck else the spade suit
gives you all the tricks you need.
You repeat the finesse, East ducking again.
The position is now
JT9
54
JT85
-
- A
- -
K976 Q3
QJT53 A98764
2
AKQJT
A42
-
Now you turn your attention to diamonds, leading the Jack for a finesse.
If East doesn't cover, you pass it to West, playing the Ace of diamonds
later, dropping East's queen and finessing West's diamond 9 for 3 diamond
tricks.
If East does cover, you win and play another diamond. West can't rise with
the King, else you'll finesse his 9 later for two more diamond tricks,
pitching your losing spade. So West plays low (or the 9, it doesn't matter),
you come back to your hand to play another diamond. If West ducks again,
you haven't lost any diamond tricks and only have a spade to lose, making 6.
If West wins his diamond king, he's endplayed into giving you another dummy
entry to enjoy the good diamond, pitching your losing spade.
You need all your spade and diamond spots in both dummy and your hand to
make your slam. You can't afford to throw any away at trick one.