Played an interesting Teams Match with Samet (doru77) earlier today. After 2 Boards we were 26 (yes, twenty-six) IMPs to the good, helped along by the following hand -(hands rotated for ease of viewing)
Hand 1Samet played this one very well, but we were booked for a great Board here whatever happened, as it turned out.
North 
8653
82
KJ
Q9864
South AKQJ92
1065
96
K5
BiddingEast South West NorthNo 1
2
2
No 3
X All Pass
West led the King of Hearts, overtaken by East's Ace and a small Heart back to West's Queen. The Jack of Hearts now followed. Samet did well, ruffing with Dummy's 8. A Club to his King and West's Ace followed and all West could think of was to take their Ace of Diamonds. Ruffing high in Dummy seems like an obvious thing to do, but it's surprising how often Declarer's forget to do it and then wring their hands when East overruffs with the 7. If East holds the 10, there's nothing to be done, but why not give yourself that extra chance?
In practice, our team members were bidding and making 5
on this Board at the other table, so even -100 would have been a good result here, but +530 was the icing on the cake and the lions share of the 14 IMPs we clocked up on the Board.
Hand 2You are South at Green vs Red, Dealer North.
North KQ62
9862
A
KJ96
South 8743
-
Q7432
AQ52
BiddingNorth East South West1
(1) No 1
2
2
4
4
X
All Pass
I should perhaps explain that West doubled 4
in a nanosecond. If BBO would permit him to double "in a voice of thunder" I dare say he would have
. The lead was the Queen of Hearts, overtaken by East's Ace and ruffed in hand. How do you plan the play?
The other table was in an identical contract via a similar sequence, and the opening lead was a Heart there too. Maybe Declarer there didn't pick up the vibes I did. At trick 2 he played a Spade to the Queen. Now the Ace of Diamonds, a Heart ruffed in hand, Diamond ruffed in Dummy, another Heart ruff, then the Ace of Clubs and a Club to the King. 8 tricks so far, but I suspect Declarer hadn't fully forseen the end position.
North K6
9
-
J9
South -
-
Q74
Q5
Declarer now led a Club, but West, with AJ10 of Spades and J10 of Hearts was able to ruff, Cash the Ace of Spades and lead a Heart, forcing out Declarer's last trump and so he had to concede the last two tricks for one down.
At the other table, I played for West to have
AJ109 right from the start and didn't draw
any rounds of trumps. My expectation was that West would have 4522 shape. That would give East a singleton Spade, 4-card Heart support and 5 Diamonds, which I thought was consistent with the bidding. My plan was always to ruff
all of Dummy's Hearts, take 2 top Clubs and the Ace of Diamonds as entries to Dummy, ruff 1 Diamond in Dummy and then exit in Clubs.
After ruffing the opening Heart, I crossed with a small Club to the Jack, ruffed a Heart, a Club to the King (West didn't ruff (phew!)), Heart ruff, Diamond to the Ace, Heart ruff, and lastly a Diamond ruff. At this stage I've also made 8 tricks, but see the difference:
North KQ6
-
-
J9
South -
-
Q74
AQ
Now West is in a hopeless position when I lead a Club. West, with
AJ105 and the last Heart, is forced to ruff. If he cashes the A
, my KQ are top, and if he leads the last Heart I ruff
high and exit again with my last Club. North is now endplayed again by his own trumps to win and lead away from the Ace. In practice West tried the lead of the 10
, but I won with the Queen, and was still able to endplay West with my last Club, which he was forced to ruff.
The critical thing here was (1) to determine not to draw even a single round of trumps, (2) to ruff 4 Hearts in hand and (3) to take 2 top Clubs and the Ace of Diamonds while I was ruffing the Hearts. and only to go for a Diamond ruff in Dummy once
all of that had been accomplished. Once West followed to the first two Clubs and East to all 4 Heart tricks, I knew I was home.
