Defensive deductions in County Match |
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You are North. You are playing your first ever match for the County A Team so the pressure is on.
Your partner opens a 12-15NT and you double West's 4♠ .
You lead the ♣ K , partner encourages and West ruffs, before leading the ♦ Q.
What can you deduce about West's hand, what card do you play to this trick, and how do you plan the defence?
We won the match 101-37 but I got this one wrong. See if you can do better than I did.
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Show Answer |
West has no Clubs and must have at least seven Spades for their bid. That leaves six cards in the red suits. You have five Hearts, there are two in Dummy, South must have two to open 1 NT, so West can have at most two.
West hasn't attempted to draw trumps so must need to ruff Diamond losers in Dummy before doing so.
You need to get the lead in your partner's hand so they can lead trumps. Therefore either you duck the ♦ Q or take your ♦ A and switch to a low heart.
If you win and continue Clubs you allow Declarer five club ruffs, three diamond ruffs, the ♥ K and the ♠ K.
Keeping Declarer to just two Diamond ruffs makes all the difference.
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