Release 2.19r
News

New Hand of the Month for July

 

 

 

Recent Updates
News
9th Jul 2026 12:25 BST
Hand of the Month - July
9th Jul 2026 12:22 BST
Hand of the Month - June
25th Jun 2026 12:37 BST
0 0 0 0 0 0
Pages viewed in 2026
Hold up or Slam

05/03/2024 Board 15

This hand is from a Winter Teams match.  Both tables reached 3 NT by North, West having bid spades during the bidding.  East dutifully lead spades and North made the contract comfortable in both cases.

A better lead would be  Q.  Dummy should duck, and duck a second time if East continues with  J.  A good West will drop the ten to unblock and the defence will make 5 diamond tricks - one off!

The best contract is a club slam. There are 9 tricks in clubs and hearts.  The spade finesse makes 11.  Where will the extra trick come from?

 

Ruff any diamond continuation from East in your hand, retaining the  K on table.  After the spade finesse succeeds, it's a fairly straight-forward squeeze against West.  West obviously holds the  A and the spades, so can not guard against dummy's  K and your ♠ A 9. Play off all the trumps before delivering the squeeze play in hearts.

Comment