This deal provides a perfect sequel to the one I reviewed last time. Clearly, none of the Wests read it, or if they did, they ignored it.
Board 24 from Wednesday 10/02/2021
Dealer W Nil Vul
Why do we have TRUMPS? What a huge asset trumps in dummy can be for any declarer, and East’s void in opponents’ spade suit is an extra asset that should not be wasted. We did have another example of an awful opening lead when one North led “fourth highest of longest and strongest”, which was the eight of clubs! With such a good holding of honours at the top of the suit, it is far too dangerous to lead a low card, especially if you have both the king and queen. Declarer made the best of this slip up by North and asked for the jack from dummy. There was nothing to lose by trying the jack, because declarer’s one diamond loser could later go on the ace of clubs. The diamond loser went on the ace of clubs at trick two! That is not what occurred when all other Norths made the proper opening lead of the KING of clubs. All these declarers could have made twelve tricks now, by using dummy’s trumps to ruff THREE spades before drawing any trumps. Follow the play through and see for yourself. But there is another way to make twelve tricks. Using dummy to best advantage entails using what resources you have, and dummy has a long side suit, in diamonds, which can be established after losing one diamond only. However, declarer must be careful to use all of dummy’s ENTRY cards in such a way that when the diamond suit is established, declarer ends up in dummy after drawing out all the opposing trumps.
Can you see how that is possible? Play the hand out by clicking here and see for yourself, it will be a great exercise in declarer play for you. Sad to say, apart from the one declarer who received the lead of the eight of clubs, not one declarer made more than ten tricks, and as happened last week when I reviewed such a hand, many failed to make even the ten required for game. But making only the game you have bid is never good enough if others are making more, which is why you need to pay attention to these possibilities every time you play a hand.
QJ62
8
Q73
KQT85