Play this slam

Questions and talk about interesting deals and situations.
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rod
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Play this slam

Post by rod »

Yesterday I declared this interesting hand against the computer.

North
♠ AQJ7
3
10765
♣ AKJ2

South
♠ K1042
AK5
KQ2
♣ 985

You're South in 6♠ with no opposing bidding. West leads the J. Plan the play.
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rod
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Posts: 190
Joined: 31 Jul 2019, 07:19
Location: Boambee East, NSW
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Re: Play this slam

Post by rod »

This is a marginal slam as you need either the A or ♣Q onside, plus another good thing to happen. Clearly diamonds should be tested before clubs. The devil is in the details.

Ruff your 5 at trick 2 and take AQJ of spades. Assume for the moment that spades split 3-2. Play a diamond to the King (do not play the Queen). If it holds, return to dummy with a club and play another diamond.

You're expecting here that West will not duck the first diamond holding the Ace. Playing the King makes it hard for them to do this, but in a strong game it could happen!

If East takes the first or second round of diamonds and returns a heart (best), you can toss a club from dummy and play your remaining top diamond(s). If the Jack drops you are home, otherwise the club finesse will be necessary.

If West had the A then you will need four club tricks. But first cash your red winners and your last trump. West will be squeezed if holding J and Qxxx in clubs.

If trumps split 4-1 then the plan is similar to the above but you'll have to decide when to pull the last trump, and this may limit your options by forcing a premature discard from dummy.
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