frSurfer

You play 6 ♠ in South and receive a club lead: the 3. A careful declarer must forecast his communications: you are short an entry in hand to draw trumps when they break 4-2! Any idea? North ♠ J ♥ AJ985 ♦ QJ643 ♣ K5 South ♠ AKQ763 ♥ 74 ♦ K7 ♣ AJ7 Solution: You have 1 ♦ loser and provided the ♠ behave themselves, you should be able to pitch a low ♥ on the 3rd ♦ honor. A careful declarer must forecast his communications: you are short an entry in hand to draw trumps when they break 4-2! Actually, there's a way to cope with the issue: being a good player, West wouldn't have underlead the ♣ Queen against a slam, fearing this would give you your 12th trick, right? Do refuse the free ♣ finesse and play Dummy's King at trick 1. Then: ♠ Jack, hold your breath and finesse the club Queen... It succeeds! (Who said "of course"?) 3 more rounds of trump are necessary, then ♦ King and you're home. A lazy declarer would have gone down 2... Well done partner!