DECLARER PLAY PROBLEM #1

Rubber bridge
North dealer
East-West vulnerable

	NORTH ♠ A K J 10 ♥ 9 7 5 3 ♦ K ♣ 7 5 3 2
	SOUTH ♠ 6 5 4 ♥ A K J 10 8 6 4 ♦ — ♣ K 6 4

SOUTH	WEST	NORTH	EAST
—	—	Pass	Pass
4 ♥	Pass	Pass	Pass

Diamond ace, king, seven, ?

Plan the play.

Solution

	NORTH ♠ A K J 10 ♥ 9 7 5 3 ♦ K ♣ 7 5 3 2
WEST ♠ 8 7 ♥ 2 ♦ A J 8 6 4 3 ♣ A Q 10 8		EAST ♠ Q 9 3 2 ♥ Q ♦ Q 10 9 7 5 2 ♣ J 9
	SOUTH ♠ 6 5 4 ♥ A K J 10 8 6 4 ♦ — ♣ K 6 4

KEEP EAST OUT. South has nine sure winning tricks, and needs an extra trick in either spades or clubs to make the bid. The safest play is to discard a spade on the opening lead; then, the contract can be made even if the spade and club finesses are both wrong. West has no better play at trick two than to lead a spade. Declarer should win with dunimy's ace and draw trumps. Then, declarer should cash dummy's king of spades, then lead the jack of spades: if East covers with the queen, South can trump, later discarding a losing club on the spade ten; if East plays low or discards, South can discard a losing club (even if West had the spade queen, he could not beat the contract). The main purpose of these maneuvers is to develop a tenth trick without risking East's getting on lead to play a club through declarer's king. As the cards lie, any other line of play would fail against good defense.

(Based on a deal and analysis from the 1963 National Industrial Recreation Association Par-Hand Bridge Tournament by William S. Root and Lawrence Rosler.)

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