Another Three-way Example
9
A Q 10 7
Q 7
A Q J 9 7 3
J 4 3
J 9 8 5
8 5 4 3 2
2
A Q 6 5 2
4
K J 10
K 8 5 4
K 10 8 7
K 6 3 2
A 9 6
10 6
Another deal with three potential strains. Game can be made in notrump,
hearts, or clubs from one side or the other.
Notrump
If North is declarer in
3 NT, East can set it with a
spade lead.
Declarer cannot play the
♠ K, because he will
eventually have to take the club finesses, and will then lose four
spades and a club. So declarer must duck, West winning the
♠ J.
Having grabbed a spade trick, West can shift to a diamond, and
East/West eventually get two spades, two diamonds, and a club.
Declared by South, though,
3 NT makes. There is no
way to put West in to lead diamonds.
Hearts
If South declares
4 ♥, he will have trouble after
a diamond lead. We know, for instance, that if South draws trumps, he
can come up with at most nine tricks, since it reverts to the notrump
situation discussed above - East gets two diamonds, a spade, and a club.
So South has to score an extra trump trick. Ruffing clubs in hand
is fruitless - he would be ruffing winners. So South wins the first
diamond, leads a heart to the ten and leads a spade. East flies the
ace and continues with two diamonds, forcing the ruff to occur in
the diamond suit. The situation is:
Stuck in dummy, South cannot get back to his hand to finish off the
trumps.
The diamond lead kills the entry to the South hand.
If North is declaring
4 ♥, however, East cannot
take more than three tricks. If he leads the diamond king to kill the
entry to trumps, he has just given up a trick, and declarer can simply
allow West to win a trump. All other leads sacrifice either
tricks or tempo.
Clubs
The
5 ♣ contracts are the easiest to follow.
With West on lead against a club game, a diamond lead immediately
sets up a third defensive trick.
Any lead from East gives North time to set up a spade to pitch his
diamond loser.