Hand 1 (Complete Layout). I demand a redeal - the
Queen is missing and North only has 12 cards
Hand 2 is lovely. You have to assess this hand accurately: You
need to engineer an entry to the North hand in
Diamonds. No other suit will do. You can afford to lose
2 Diamonds tricks in order to achieve that, as long as you give yourself the best chance of reaching Dummy's Hearts.
(a) If the Diamonds are 2-1, reaching Dummy is never a problem (neither is getting 12 tricks). (b) If
East has all three, you're irrevocably stuffed, but (c) when
West has all three outstanding Diamonds, you can assure yourself of the entry by cashing the
Ace at trick 2 and leading the
7 at trick 3. If West follows small, you overtake in Dummy. If East wins, the
's are 2-1 and (a) above applies. If West wins trick 3 and East shows out, you simply win the return in hand, and lead the
5, once again overtaking if West plays low. If West goes up with the King, the 5 is now an entry with your carefully preserved 2. Cashing the other top
at trick 2 is just in case Opps decide to give me a ruff 'n' sluff in Spades - doesn't really change anything)
Like I said, a
peach of a hand. I just wish I could be confident that I would find the answer if presented just as a hand, without any suggestion that it was a problem!
This is more of a problem at Match-pointed Pairs, of course. Do you give up the chance for 1 or 2 overtricks (by playing as above) or do you just lay down the Ace, hoping for a stiff King or any 2-1 split? At IMP scoring you would
definitely play as above, assuming you analysed the problem correctly, but at MP Pairs I think you're effectively
forced to get this one wrong by the scoring method.