Help From the Defense

(1) 2NT= At least 5-5 in the minors

You are South playing in a pairs game. Partner’s 3♦ bid shows at least a limit raise in spades. You signed off but partner understandably went on to game. West starts with the ♥ 9. How do you plan to get to 10 tricks?

Solution

Declarer took the opening lead in hand with the ace to lead a club. West played low and dummy’s queen won the trick. After returning to hand with a low trump to the king, declarer led a second club. West rose with the ♣A and exited with a club to dummy’s king. Declarer threw a heart from hand and now had to decide how to continue.

If West had a second trump, it would be difficult to succeed unless the ♠Q was a doubleton. Instead, declarer went with the odds – there were there were more hearts outstanding than spades – and cashed the ♥K. When West followed with the ♥4, he was marked with an original
1=2=5=5 shape. This meant East had started with 4=4=2=3 distribution. Declarer’s saw that his only hope was to make the jack of trumps by reducing his trump length to two, one fewer than the number East now held.

Declarer ruffed a heart low then crossed back to dummy with the ♦A to ruff a second heart, reducing everyone to four cards. Declarer then exited with the ♦Q. West won with the king and tried to cash a second diamond. Alas, for the defense, East had only ♠Q 10 9 remaining, and had to ruff the third round of diamonds and then lead a trump, ensuring that dummy’s ♠J trumps would make a trick. Declarer took three trumps, two hearts, two heart ruffs, a diamond and two clubs for a total of 10 tricks. The full deal: