| Hand of the Month - April |
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April Hand of the Month (from RealBridge on 29/04/26)
North's 2♠ bid was weak. He starts by cashing the ♦A and ♦K before leading ♥10. How do you plan the play to make 10 tricks?
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| Show Answer |
Assuming that trumps behave, you have 1 spade loser and 2 further diamond losers in your hand. North has already shown all of his points for a weak bid by playing ♦ AK and presumably holding a spade honour. The club finesse is doomed!
It seems obvious to ruff one of those diamonds on table. It is tempting to try and ruff the second diamond loser with ♥9 but how do you return to your hand safely to draw the remanding trumps?
The better plan is to execute a simple squeeze on South who must have to hold on to ♣Q as well as ♦Q.
Having ruffed one diamond in dummy, lead a spade and duck to "rectify the count". You have now lost your 3 tricks. When North returns a spade (say), take ♠A and lead all your trumps. South will be down to just 3 cards so can't keep all his key cards!
Note that North could have defeated the contract by not starting off by cashing ♦A - but I'll leave you to work that one out! |
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