Score ten points 3

As south you are declarer in 3NT after east has opened 1♠.

E/NS		♠	7 5 4
		♥	A 8 5 2
		♦	J 7 6
		♣	J 9 5
		♠	A K 2
		♥	Q J
		♦	A Q 9 4
		♣	A 10 8 3

West leads ♠Q, you duck. West continues with ♠6, you win with ♠A. Make your choice by clicking A, B or C and find out whether your line of play is the correct one. EW do not make any mistakes.

A I continue with ♣3 to dummy's ♣9

B I continue with ♣8 and play ♣5 from dummy

E/NS		♠	7 5 4
		♥	A 8 5 2
		♦	J 7 6
		♣	J 9 5
		♠	A K 2
		♥	Q J
		♦	A Q 9 4
		♣	A 10 8 3

East wins with ♣K and plays back a spade, west discards a heart.

A I overtake ♥J with ♥A and play ♣J

B I overtake ♥J with ♥A and play ♣5

C I overtake ♥J with ♥A and play ♦6 to ♦Q

E/NS		♠	7 5 4
		♥	A 8 5 2
		♦	J 7 6
		♣	J 9 5
		♠	A K 2
		♥	Q J
		♦	A Q 9 4
		♣	A 10 8 3

East covers with ♣Q. You win with ♣A. You are stuck in your hand now. The way you play, you only make the contract if east has started with the bare ♦K. But that card does not drop when you cash ♦A. You are two down. 1 point

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E/NS		♠	7 5 4
		♥	A 8 5 2
		♦	J 7 6
		♣	J 9 5
		♠	A K 2
		♥	Q J
		♦	A Q 9 4
		♣	A 10 8 3

East wins with ♣K and plays back a spade, west discards a heart.

A I overtake ♥J with ♥A and play ♣J

B I overtake ♥J with ♥A and play ♦6 to ♦Q

E/NS		♠	7 5 4
		♥	A 8 5 2
		♦	J 7 6
		♣	J 9 5
		♠	A K 2
		♥	Q J
		♦	A Q 9 4
		♣	A 10 8 3

♦Q wins the trick.

You have put all of your money on ♦K doubleton in east for that player now has two spades and ♥K to cash (worse: the heart suit is wide open) and EW have so far made a spade and a club. Your only chance now therefore is cashing ♦A, hoping to drop ♦K, so you can cross to ♦J in order to finesse in clubs. But ♦K does not drop and down you are. P.S. To save something out of the ruins, you now must decide whether you continue with a red suit (winning in the given lay-out, which you can see if you Click here for all hands, you will 'only' go two down) or cash ♣A (winning if east had the bare ♣KQ, you will then only go one down; but losing in the given lay-out: three down!). 3 points.

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E/NS		♠	7 5 4
		♥	A 8 5 2
		♦	J 7 6
		♣	J 9 5
		♠	A K 2
		♥	Q J
		♦	A Q 9 4
		♣	A 10 8 3

East covers with ♣Q. Your foresight is rewarded. In ♣9 you again have an entry in dummy. So you cross with ♣3 to ♣9, the club suit turns out to be 3-3 in EW.

A I play ♦J

B I play ♦6

E/NS		♠	7 5 4
		♥	A 8 5 2
		♦	J 7 6
		♣	J 9 5
		♠	A K 2
		♥	Q J
		♦	A Q 9 4
		♣	A 10 8 3

East follows with a small club. You win with ♣8. Thereafter ♣Q drops under ♣A but you cannot cross to dummy for the diamond finesse. And since ♦K does not drop under ♦A you end up two down. The way you play you only have a chance if east has the bare ♦K or ♣KQ. In the second case he would have to play ♣Q in the second club trick; you would win and cross with ♣8 to ♣J in order to take the diamond finesse. Still you would only have eight tricks but east would be in trouble on the last club so you would make your contract. But the chance of ♣KQ bare is small; and in practice they are not bare. 2 points.

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E/NS		♠	7 5 4
		♥	A 8 5 2
		♦	J 7 6
		♣	J 9 5
		♠	A K 2
		♥	Q J
		♦	A Q 9 4
		♣	A 10 8 3

East covers with ♦K. You win and cash the thirteenth club on which west discards a heart and east a diamond. You cash ♦A but unfortunately do not bring down ♦10. You are down one. You played rather well, but you can do better. 6 points.

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E/NS		♠	7 5 4
		♥	A 8 5 2
		♦	J 7 6
		♣	J 9 5
		♠	A K 2
		♥	Q J
		♦	A Q 9 4
		♣	A 10 8 3

East plays a small diamond, you insert ♦Q which wins the trick. You cash the thirteenth club on which west discards a heart. Now choose in each of the following three cases:

If east discards a spade on the thirteenth club

A I play ♥Q

B I cash ♦A

If east discards a heart on the thirteenth club

C I cash ♦A

D I play ♥Q

If east discards a diamond on the thirteenth club

E I cash ♦A

F I play ♥Q

E/NS		♠	7 5 4
		♥	A 8 5 2
		♦	J 7 6
		♣	J 9 5
		♠	A K 2
		♥	Q J
		♦	A Q 9 4
		♣	A 10 8 3

You have drawn the wrong conclusion from east's discard. What do we know about him? He is 100% certain to hold 5-3-2-3 or 5-2-3-3. The only thing we do not know is: did he have ♥Kxx and ♦Kx (5-3-2-3) or the opposite (5-2-3-3)?

From his discard you can read what he had.
- If he discards a diamond, he now certainly has ♦K bare: cash ♦A.
- If he discards a heart he had ♥Kxx and therefore ♦Kx: cash ♦A.
- If he discards a free spade, there are two possibilities:
1. If he does so to keep ♦Kx, you do well by now playing ♥Q.
2. A very clever east player however might, now holding ♦K bare (and therefore 5-3-2-3), yet throw a spade to keep ♥Kx. By playing now ♥Q you will then go down: east makes chuckling noises and a spade and two hearts. Pity, yet playing ♥Q was your best chance (this is why: west discarded a heart in the third spade trick while he could easily miss a club; this suggests a five card heart suit, although south cannot be certain). Just congratulate east with his fine defence...

8 points, Well played. Click here to go back to the last question or click here for all hands.

E/NS		♠	7 5 4
		♥	A 8 5 2
		♦	J 7 6
		♣	J 9 5
		♠	A K 2
		♥	Q J
		♦	A Q 9 4
		♣	A 10 8 3

You have drawn the right conclusion from east's discard. Click here for the reasons. Very well played. 10 points. Click here to go back to the last question or click here for all hands.

Epilogue

As south you are declarer in 3NT after east has opened 1♠.

E/NS		♠	7 5 4
		♥	A 8 5 2
		♦	J 7 6
		♣	J 9 5
♠	Q 6			♠	J 10 9 8 3
♥	10 9 7 6 4			♥	K 3
♦	10 5 3			♦	K 8 2
♣	7 6 2			♣	K Q 4
		♠	A K 2
		♥	Q J
		♦	A Q 9 4
		♣	A 10 8 3

South ducks the ♠Q-lead, hoping it to be a singleton. Alas, west produces another spade and south sees there is work to be done (with hindsight it would have been better to win the lead).
Now west hast shown up with ♠Q, it is safe to assume all other honour cards to be with east: ♥K, ♦K en ♣KQ.
Since east will always make a trick from ♣KQ, it is best to play a club from hand at once.

Take care

Declarer needs excellent timing. He has to finesse in both minor suits by leading from dummy while he has only one entry card there: ♥A. So it is essential to leave ♣J9 in dummy. Therefore he starts with ♣8 from hand. East wins with ♣K* and presses on with a spade.

Two finesses

Now south can finesse twice. He overtakes ♥J with ♥A and plays ♣J. If east covers ♣J, south wins and crosses to dummy's ♣9. Then he plays a small diamond to ♦Q. If east does not cover ♣J, south at once finesses with ♦Q. Then south cashes the rest of the clubs.
East turns out to have had three clubs and therefore 5-3-2-3 or 5-2-3-3. On the thirteenth club he can discard:
A heart: this means he had ♥Kxx (5-3-2-3) and therefore ♦Kx. So ♦K is bare now: south cashes ♦A.
A diamond: this means he had ♦Kxx (5-2-3-3) and now bares ♦K: south cashes ♦A.
A spade: this is the trickiest. South assumes the distribution to be as in the diagram above (best chance since west discarded a heart in the third spade trick), so east is protecting ♦K. South therefore plays ♥Q, expecting to throw in east. If so, east can cash two spades but then, in trick twelve, must play away from ♦Kx. East could however very cleverly have thrown a spade to keep ♥Kx (he then had from the start ♦Kx, 5-3-2-3). The throw-in then fails and after the play south offers east a drink.

* If in trick two east ducks ♣8, south plays ♣3 to ♣J (or first ♣A), wins the return, overtakes ♥J with ♥A, finesses with ♦Q, cashes ♣A and plays the thirteenth club. He has now arrived in the same situation as in the last question.
Obviously he is dependent on the clubs being 3-3. The fact that east in practice won the second trick (the first club trick) with ♣K means this suit is 3-3 (or east has the bare ♣KQ). Because holding ♣KQxx he would have ducked (remember: 'EW do not make mistakes') after which south would have been unable to make his contract.