lordorange

I would play as follows: West holds 6-card♠ on the bidding and (I hope) you played ♣AK leaving two entries to dummy. You know that west has 3 trumps, that leaves 4 cards in the red suits. If by any chance west has only a 5-card spade, it will come out in the wash anyway. Your source of tricks should be diamonds, not hearts. Play a trump to Q in dummy and lead a low diamond to ruff high. Play to ♥K and another low ♦ for a high ruff. Now you know that west has 3 or 4 diamonds left. Play a trump to dummy preserving your entry and ruff a low diamond. Cross with your last trump to dummy and play ♦AQ for your contract. It would have been easier to ruff a small diamond immediately at trick 4 preserving another entry. Henry

Yes, thanks Dcvetkov an interesting problem indeed. I disagree with Nigel latest comment that a spade to J will win, as west simply takes the K and plays another diamond for you to ruff and East has one more trump than you. You can actually work things out by the bidding and play to the first two tricks. You have already a lot of information. (reading Kelsey at the moment so I'm in the mood, btw I posted some problems from his book in the book-review section here) Here we go: East didn't double at first or over-called (no 5-card hearts, hopefully) so has less than an opening. There are 15 hcp outstanding, so hopefully East has only three kings. East should also hold 4 hearts, leaving west with one. You know west has a 4-card diamonds, that leaves 8-cards in the black suits. Therefore East is fairly balanced as well with 4 hearts and 3 diamonds, having 6 cards in the black suits. You gave East already K♥ and in the first trick K♦ East/west can only force you once in diamonds otherwise you lose control. You need to keep the 4th diamond in North as a thread or exit card and you need a club for the last entry to dummy to play that card. So I suggest: Trick 1: duck the lead Trick 2: take the return in dummy with ace. Trick 3: play ♥J, if not covered Trick 4: play another ♥ and cover whatever East plays with 10 or ace. Trick 5: play club for finesse. Trick 6: ruff diamond return Trick 7: play club to dummy Trick 8: play heart and cover Trick 9: play last heart, throw a spade from dummy. Trick 10: play club to dummy Trick 11: play diamond from dummy Trick 12 & 13 cash the spade return. You have to pay a little attention what west is throwing (keeping a single ♠K and ♦Q and ♣10 is rather cheeky. :) If East covers at trick 3, you play a club from hand and proceed along the lines as above. Even if East returns a ♠ at trick 6 to break up your intentions, it doesn't help, the rest of the tricks are yours. Henry

Sorry that I forgot to mention that the contract is 5♦, however it is deductable from the comments ( 8 of trumps with west and 11 tricks). Have another good look and spend some time on it :D Henry

Killing Defence at Bridge by H.Kelsey On page 130 this problem appears: [hv=n=skj106hk3d843cak72&w=s73hj10975da5c9654&e=s9852hq84dkj7cqj3&s=saq4ha62dq10962c108]399|300|[/hv] South opened a weak NT (12-14) and after 2♣ by North and 2♦ by South, North settles for 3NT. You are in the East seat and partner leads ♥J that takes the trick. West continues with ♥9 and you drop your Q under dummy's K. Declarer now plays ♦3 from dummy. how do you defend? I like this problem and Kelsey's analyses. He let you play ♦K , play your last ♥ and West is left with the remaining hearts and an entry in ♦A. A clear example of killing defence But put yourself in declarer's seat and your level is advanced or expert would you play the hand like that? In my opinion, after the first two tricks your trail of thoughts should be along the lines of: since East didn't play ♥Q on the lead, he must have 3 hearts and West has 5. There are 8 tricks for grabs, let's look at the diamonds. If I play a diamond and East takes, my heart stop will disappear and when west has the other top in diamonds and thus an entry, I can't make more. What are my other chances? A 3-3 in clubs maybe, that can only be achieved when I run the spades and someone has to discard. Let's find out some more about the hand. So, simply run your four card spade and watch the signs. On the lay of the cards, west will probably throw two clubs and you can exit from North with a small club underleading A and K. When you get in again with the ♥ace (or diamond) you simply take your three club tricks for contract. Henry

Killing Defence at Bridge On page 150 there is another hand that needs correction. [hv=n=skj5hqdj10763caj62&w=s10974h5dq952ckq94&e=s832hj863dk84c873&s=saq6hak109742dac105]399|300|[/hv] South is in 6♥ and receives the lead of ♣K. The 2 is played from the dummy, your partner plays the three and declarer the five. How do you continue? Kelsey correctly concludes that declarer can make his contract by trump reduction and let you lead your trump 5 to beat the contract. But why did declarer throw away the contract at trick 1 and there is no mention of it? Declarer can see that the contract is solid but a club trick and a possible 4/1 in trumps. He should therefore play on trump reduction and use the club as exit card in an endplay. So, in your mind, take trick 1 with the ace and play ♦ace. cross to ♥Q and play a diamond for a ruff. Cash ♥ace and cross to ♠J. play a diamond for another ruff, play ♥ A and back to ♠K. Play another diamond and ruff again. Now you have K and 10 of hearts left with a small club. Just exit with the club and wait for the play into your hand. Simple to exercise in your mind and you can play in accordance. Henry

Killing Defence at Bridge by H.Kelsey. A good book for intermediate level players who'll learn about counting, signals and planning their play to improve their game. My copy is dated 1997 and has a foreword by Ron Klinger stating that he reads and re-read it several times each year. This makes me wonder whether he found the same mistakes that I found or that he just didn't bother to correct them. I found about 10 of them, which is not that much considering the total hands in the book, but still someone needs to address them. Let's look at page 47 where there is the following hand: [hv=n=s94haq10852dkj7c86&w=sj1072hk7d83cq10542&e=sq5hj964d1092cak93&s=sak863h3daq654cj7]399|300|[/hv] You are East and your partner leads ♣4 to your king and South plays the seven. How should you continue? Kelsey's analyse that South must hold 5/5 in spades and diamonds and two clubs. He suggests a forcing play and continues with ♣ ace and a small club. This is all correct, but then he remarks " With West holding the eight of trumps there is no way for South to make eleven tricks after a third round of clubs" I'm sorry but I beg to differ..... can you see how South makes? (By means of clear plan with a high percentage of success) Henry

I'm in the ♥J lead camp. The lead cuts communication between opps. LHO likely to be with max 4 in minors. RHO could be 5-2 in the majors on the bidding. Declarer bid 4♠ confidently so partner will have 6/8 hcp. In defense: Whether or not partner can take the first trick, he'll signal where his entry is and what suit to lead next. If partner holds ♥K in five (ducking the 1st trick if Ace is not in dummy), declarer probably starts on trumps after taking the Ace in dummy and he'll have a bit of a surprise, partner possibly void, you holding four. On a ♠ lead then, you can take the trick and play the suit partner asked for. He'll cash his ♥K and a you'll have an uppercut with the 9 when he returns a ♥. Declarer can also play on the minors but have to open the suit and may hit your partner's entry. A clear way to a killing defense if it works. Somehow I don't see the same thing happening when you lead a ♣. If declarer holds ATx(x) and the KQ are divided, you've given a trick away that declarer usually doesn't get. Dummy is short and you may have given declarer the chance to eliminate the suit and a possible ♦ discard. He could also ruff C's in W playing the hand for one loser in ♠and two in ♦. In case N has ♣A, he'll not have a ♦ top and I'd be rather worried as defender that I've been too slow. .

The hand is a beauty. Partner has doubled first to show values and Spades. Then he made a cue GF, showing a strong hand, with singleton or void in Hearts (confirmed by my holdings). My 4 Diamond bid has shown 5+D. He cued with 5 Clubs. Partner may be decided against the use of RKC because of the void. Partner has taken over the captaincy of the bidding and is clearly looking for slam, maybe even a Grand. He's also asking me for values with his cue bid. (If partner holds DK, he knows I must have values elsewhere) I cannot take over the captaincy, by signing off in 5 or 6 Diamonds. My bid therefore is 5 Spades ( a cue of course, if I had Spades, I'd have wasted already two opportunities to show them). I'll show him the Ace he was looking for and await further developments. Partner may bid 7 Diamonds...... I always have happy partners, but regularly disappoint them by overbidding. :) ;)

In a suit contract, If the K is on side, running the J and with RHO covering means 2 tricks. If the K is off side, running the J with give you 2 tricks. Even playing small to Q gives you 2 tricks. I don't think there is a best, just play as needed in the situation. In a no trump contract however, the same as above. But there is an extra chance. You could also try playing a small one to the J. If it holds the K is probably off-side, You should then play the A and a small one back. When there is Kxx with LHO, you'll win another trick with the Q, making 3 tricks. So maybe running the J is not the best after all??

Sorry, but pass for me... You'll have more information to decide on your action the second time around, I can't see the hurry. If opponents have the Spade suit supported, fine, as said already by others, you wouldn't be able to compete with that. So wait for a LHO bid to enter the auction and you can judge even better on his bidding what action should be taken, (if any). In this situation, where opps hands are not limited yet, you shouldn't give away where the HCP in your partnership are. East might introduce a second suit and again you get a better picture of what's going on. Btw, against a suit contract, I would rather not that partner leads a Heart, I would prefer a minor instead. Does this answer make me an expert? :P

1. 2NT now, gives the following message to partner, a. Don't like your spades, b. I have stop(s) in opps. suit, c. I have more than a minimum (as oppose to bidding 1NT) In addition to all this your hand should play in NT this time, as it will almost guarantee you 7 tricks already (as said by others as well) and ample time to set up other tricks. 2. You know partner has minimum 15hcp and you have 12, making it 27 at least. If partner has 3 Hearts with a stop, you will make that trick(s) in defense as well. So expect e/w to go down 3 or 4 and double for the second time, but now for penalties!. If partner has no stop, than a 3NT from our side will go down, but against 2H defending, East will still not be making his contract, if the Hearts are something like 6-2, (likely on this bidding). I don't think that West will have too many points so declarer has to play trumps from his hand. Keep playing clubs, declarer has to ruff at some stage and play from under his kings (that's where probably his points are). In fact the lead should be the Ace of Clubs! Partner may have the King, because he wouldn't have opened with a bad Heart suit and bad clubs. But if he hasn't got the King, you can be sure of extra Heart tricks. It would have been more helpful if the vulnerability was given. .