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  Hand1

North is playing the hand in clubs. East starts with the ♠A which wins then switches to Q which West wins with the A and leads another which North wins with the K. Plan the play to win the remaining tricks.

Lead a small ♣ to ♣A . East will show out. It is easy then then to finesse the ♣Q - Lead a ♣ If West plays the ♣10 , you play the ♣J  and the ♣Q falls on your ♣K . If West play ♣Q, you play ♣K and the ♣10 falls on your ♣J . If you start with ♣K then you will lose a trick to the ♣Q.

With the opponents trumps removed, play a small ♦ to ♦Q, then a small ♦ back to ♦A , followed by ♦K . North's fourth ♦ can now be ruffed in dummy. If you start with ♦A, followed by ♦K then ♦Q you will be in the wrong hand. In this instance all is not lost as you can get back to your hand by ruffing a spade. If you try to get back to North using a club then you won't have a trump left in dummy so will lose a trick to the ♦J.

 

  Hand2

East is playing in No Trumps. South leads the 2. How many tricks can east make?

On a diamond lead, there is a way for east to make all 13 tricks. East can count only 10 immediate winners (6 clubs, 2 diamonds and 2 spades) and so should be careful not just to play out all the top tricks (the defence will eventually win and then have winning diamonds). The goal is to make as many tricks as possible…. not just enough for game!
The best chance is to win the lead with  K  and play the spades immediately. Start with the ♠ K  to avoid blocking the suit and then play the ♠ 9 towards ♠ AJ, planning to play the Jack so as to take a “finesse”. If the missing ♠ Q is in the south hand then the Jack will win the trick and then the Ace can take the Queen. East will now have 5 spade , 2 diamond and 6 club tricks, making all 13 without having to play the heart suit!

  Danger for Declarer - 3/8/26

I picked out board 14 from last Monday's hand as it illustrates the importance of taking a moment as declarer in planning your play and identifying any dangers.

The bidding should go 

N E S W
  P 1NT P
2  P 2♠  P
3NT P P P

 

 

 

 

Straight forward auction; North showing they have 5 spades (2 ) and enough points for game (3NT); South showing they cannot support North in spades (passing 3NT). N/S have 14 points each, so enough for game.

West is on lead and should lead 5♣. Those that did were rewarded by holding declarer to 6 tricks. "28 points and we could only make 6 tricks partner", I hear declarer say. But could declarer have done better?

 

No doubt trick 1 went 5♣, 8♣ , 10♣., Q♣. At some point declarer has to take a finesse in spades to establish 9 tricks. The heart finesse works but only gives you 3 tricks. The diamond finesse can be taken either way but whichever way you decide it will only give you 3 tricks. The Q♣  & A♠ gives you 8 tricks so you need to finesse for the K♠ . This loses to East, who will lead a ♣ and you are dead in the water! The defence take another 5 tricks!

Rewind to trick one. Suppose you, as declarer, play the 4♣ instead of Q♣. East will lead another ♣. You play the Q. And East wins with the A. They will play other ♣ to clear out your K. But the danger has gone. You only had 5 clubs between you which meant they had 8. Clubs is the danger suit despite holding K & Q. They can split 4-4, 5-3, 7-1, 8-0 or as in this case 6-2. With the exception of 4-4 East will now be out of clubs. You can can take all your finesses into the East hand knowing that if they fail East cannot lead clubs. You should end up making 10 tricks. 

Let's now look at what the defence should do if declarer lets the 10♣ win. East leads the 6♣  and declarer puts up the Q♣. Should West play A♣ or duck? West knows declarer has the K♣, so partner started with 2 clubs. West's only entry is Q♥ which cannot win, so in this case yes take the trick. However if West held an entry in another suit they should duck knowing that the K♣ will fall on their A♣  and they can take their long club tricks. This assumes that declarer cannot make the required tricks in the other suits. This sometimes happens & the A♣ never wins a trick ...

Swap the 2♣ and 2♦ so the split is now 5-3. Same lead, 5♣, 10♣ wins the trick. Another club is led by East and declarer plays Q♣. Should West now play the A♣? Can West work out their partner started with 3 clubs? If East has led 6♣ and not 2♣ where is the 2♣? Declarer played the 4♣ on the first trick. Why would they do that? East must have the 2♣ so West can duck knowing that East can play another club when they get in.

Something to think about in this hand as declarer and defenders.

However, that is not the end of the story. If you use the play it again feature it turns out that declarer can make 10 tricks without the safety play - Q♣ , 4 hearts, 4 diamonds & A♠ , but only because the computer can see all 4 hands (known as double-dummy) & find a line of play to do that. All the cards need to be in the right place. The safety play is still the best course of action for declarer!