DEFENSIVE PROBLEM #20

Rubber bridge
East dealer
East-West vulnerable

NORTH (dummy)
9 4 3
A 7
Q J 9 8 5
6 5 3
EAST (you)
A
K 10 8
A 7 2
Q 10 8 7 4 2
SOUTHWESTNORTHEAST
1
1 NTPass2 NTPass
PassPass

West leads the spade queen.

Plan your defense.

Solution

NORTH
9 4 3
A 7
Q J 9 8 5
6 5 3
WEST
Q J 10 8 2
9 6 5 2
6 4 3
J
EAST
A
K 10 8
A 7 2
Q 10 8 7 4 2
SOUTH
K 7 6 5
Q J 4 3
K 10
A K 9

ROYAL SACRIFICE. As West cannot have much more in high cards than the spade honors he has already shown, East's only realistic hope for defeating the contract is to shut out dummy's diamonds. This can be accompished by shifting to the king of hearts at trick two, to kill dummy's side entry. If declarer holds up in hearts, East can continue with a second round. Later, guided by a count signal from partner, East can hold up the ace of diamonds until the second round of the suit.

(Based on a deal and analysis from the 1964 National Intercollegiate Bridge Tournament by William S. Root and Lawrence Rosler.)

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