Board 118, EW Vul. Del. E

          Martel

          S 3

          H T9754

          D JT4

          C Q962

Rodwell              Meckstroth

S AJ976               S T

H KQJ                H 8632

D 63                 D K9875

C AJ5                C T84

          Stansby

          S KQ8542

          H A

          D AQ2

          C K73

E    S    W    N

P    1S   1N   P

2C   2S   Dbl  All pass

This is the decisive board of the semifinal of USBC. Only 3 boards to go, Meltzer's team leading by 14 IMPs. Badly needing a score, Rodwell whipped this shaky 2S by Stansby. Stansby would have locked their win had he made his contract.

Rodwell led the King of hearts. Stansby won per force and played the King of spades, a clever manoeuvre to grab a timing. Since any return would cost a trick or help declarer to shorten his trumps, Rodwell correctly let the King hold. Stansby then played a club to Queen...

At this point, the only way to make the contract is to lead Diamond J or 10 from table, requiring DK onside, finesse the King without costing an entry.

unfortunately, stansby called a heart and ruff in hand, then exited with 8 of spades, Rodwell won the 9, and was said, for 3 minutes, he's replaying every cards in his mind before he exited with J of spades at the following situation.

          Martel

          S

          H T97

          D JT4

          C 96

Rodwell              Meckstroth

S AJ6                 S

H Q                  H 86

D 63                 D K987

C AJ                 C T8

          Stansby

          S Q54

          H

          D AQ2

          C K7

Rodwell still had Queen of hearts to exit if he got thrown-in again. There's no escape for the declarer.

Some commentators argued that Stansby should be able to "know"the King of diamonds was onside when the CQ held, since Rodwell was known to have SA, SJ, HK, HQ, CA...  Well, I am not conviced, there's still room  for the King of Diamonds in his hand, because, at least, you have no idea where the missing jacks(HJ & CJ at the moment)are.

Later, I found out that, actually, 2S can be made regardless the position of Diamond King. I guess unless one has met the situation before, it's very hard to spot it at the table.

You win the opening lead, play SK and it holds, now, comes the most crucial and sensational play, the Queen of Diamonds!

East can't duck this one. And since your clubs is intact at this point, a club return can't hurt you. The best East could do is to return a diamond, which you win in dummy... and then a one way straight line to reach the following situation, at which point you 've taken 6 tricks already:

          S

          H T9

          D J

          C 962

S AJ96                S

H                    H 8

D                    D 987

C AJ                 C T8     

           S Q85

          H

          D A

          C K7

Now you throw out the Ace of diamonds, no one can prevent you from scoring another 2 tricks.

In the situation one is playing a low level contract, and threatened by very long trumps in opponent's hand, the general idea, I think, is to score one's trump AS EARLY AS POSSIBLE and grab the side suit tricks along the way. Also, one needs to prevent defenders from shortening their trumps.The play of Queen of diamonds serves a double-shot purpose, if it holds, it scores an extra trick, if not, it create an entry in dummy so that declarer can shorten his trumps enough to endplay West.  

one more thing, it won't work if you play DQ before drawing one round of trump. Since east could return a trump, and with diamonds unlocked, west would grab the ace and exit with no cost. The difference here is that you didn't score a high trump before the endplay, and therefore it won't work, try it yourself if you are in doubt.

2004/06/13